Analysis of Radiation Therapy Quality Assurance in NRG Oncology RTOG 0848.

Purpose: NRG/Radiation Therapy Oncology Group 0848 is a 2-step randomized trial to evaluate the benefit of the addition of concurrent fluoropyrimidine and radiation therapy (RT) after adjuvant chemotherapy (second step) for patients with resected pancreatic head adenocarcinoma. Real-time quality assurance (QA) was performed on each patient who underwent RT. This analysis aims to evaluate adherence to protocol-specified contouring and treatment planning and to report the types and frequencies of deviations requiring revisions.

Interprofessional Image Verification Workshop for Physician and Physics Residents: A Multi-Institutional Experience.

Purpose: Verification of patient position through pretreatment setup imaging is crucial in modern radiation therapy. As treatment complexity increases and technology evolves, physicist-physician collaboration becomes imperative for safe and successful radiation delivery. Despite the importance of both, residency programs lack formal interprofessional education (IPE) activities or structured training for image verification.

Breaking Tradition to Bridge Bench and Bedside: Accelerating the MD-PhD-Residency Pathway.

Problem: Physician-scientists are individuals trained in both clinical practice and scientific research. Often, the goal of physician-scientist training is to address pressing questions in biomedical research. The established pathways to formally train such individuals are mainly MD-PhD programs and physician-scientist track residencies.

Predictors of Complete Response and Disease Recurrence Following Chemoradiation for Rectal Cancer.

Objective: Approximately 10-40% of rectal patients have a complete response (CR) to neoadjuvant chemoradiation (CRT), and these patients have improved survival. Thus, non-operative management ("watch-and-wait" approach) may be an option for select patients. We aimed to identify clinical predictors of CR following CRT.

Comparison of anal cancer outcomes in public and private hospital patients treated at a single radiation oncology center.

Objective: To compare clinical and treatment characteristics and outcomes in locally advanced anal cancer, a potentially curable disease, in patients referred from a public or private hospital.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 112 anal cancer patients from a public and a private hospital who received definitive chemoradiotherapy at the same cancer center between 2004 and 2013. Tumor stage, radiotherapy delay, radiotherapy duration, and unplanned treatment breaks ≥10 days were compared using t-test and χ(2) test.

Radiation therapy improves survival in rectal small cell cancer - Analysis of Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) data.

Background: Small cell carcinoma of the rectum is a rare neoplasm with scant literature to guide treatment. We used the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database to investigate the role of radiation therapy in the treatment of this cancer.

Methods: The SEER database (National Cancer Institute) was queried for locoregional cases of small cell rectal cancer.

Chemoradiation therapy versus chemotherapy alone for gastric cancer after R0 surgical resection: a meta-analysis of randomized trials.

Objective: Current national guidelines include category 1 recommendations for perioperative chemotherapy or adjuvant chemoradiation with surgical resection for patients with stage IB-IIIB gastric cancer. We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized trials in which chemotherapy was prospectively tested against chemoradiation with surgical resection.

Methods: We electronically searched PubMed and EMBASE for randomized, controlled clinical trials involving patients with gastric adenocarcinoma, status post-R0 resection.

Impact of marital status and race on outcomes of patients enrolled in Radiation Therapy Oncology Group prostate cancer trials.

Introduction: Previous studies by our group and others have demonstrated the importance of sociodemographic factors in cancer-related outcomes. The identification of these factors has led to novel approaches to the care of the high-risk cancer patient, specifically in the adoption of clinical interventions that convey similar benefits as favorable sociodemographic characteristics. This study examined the importance of marital status and race as prognostic indicators in men with prostate cancer.

Extrapleural pneumonectomy, photodynamic therapy and intensity modulated radiation therapy for the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) has recently been proposed for the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Here, we describe our experience with a multimodality approach for the treatment of mesothelioma, incorporating extrapleural pneumonectomy, intraoperative photodynamic therapy and postoperative hemithoracic IMRT. From 2004-2007, we treated 11 MPM patients with hemithoracic IMRT, 7 of whom had undergone porfimer sodium-mediated PDT as an intraoperative adjuvant to surgical debulking.

Patterns and levels of hypoxia in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas and their relationship to patient outcome.

Purpose: EF5, a 2-nitroimidazole hypoxia marker, was used to study the presence, levels, and prognostic significance of hypoxia in primary head and neck squamous cell tumors.

Methods And Materials: Twenty-two patients with newly diagnosed squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity, oropharynx, or larynx with at least 2 years of clinical follow-up were included in this study. Quantitative analyses of EF5 immunofluorescence was carried out, and these data were compared with patient outcome.

Megakaryoblastic leukemia factor-1 transduces cytoskeletal signals and induces smooth muscle cell differentiation from undifferentiated embryonic stem cells.

The SAP domain transcription factor myocardin plays a critical role in the transcriptional program regulating smooth muscle cell differentiation. In this report, we describe the capacity of myocardin to physically associate with megakaryoblastic leukemia factor-1 (MKL1) and characterize the function of MKL1 in smooth muscle cells (SMCs). The MKL1 gene is expressed in most human tissues and myocardin and MKL are co-expressed in SMCs.

Myocardin is a critical serum response factor cofactor in the transcriptional program regulating smooth muscle cell differentiation.

The SAP family transcription factor myocardin functionally synergizes with serum response factor (SRF) and plays an important role in cardiac development. To determine the function of myocardin in the smooth muscle cell (SMC) lineage, we mapped the pattern of myocardin gene expression and examined the molecular mechanisms underlying transcriptional activity of myocardin in SMCs and embryonic stem (ES) cells. The human and murine myocardin genes were expressed in vascular and visceral SMCs at levels equivalent to or exceeding those observed in the heart.