Stakeholder Insights into Autonomous Setup Correction by Radiation Therapists during High-Dose Prostate Radiotherapy.

Although online setup correction is beneficial during high-dose radiotherapy, little is known about the attitudes and concerns of stakeholders directly involved in this process. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to explore radiation oncologists' and therapists' insights on changes in workload, procedures, and professional practice resulting from involvement in therapist-autonomous online setup correction for patients receiving radiotherapy for prostate cancer. This was a single-center study with a qualitative design.

Adjuvant analgesics in neuropathic pain.

Conventional analgesics have limited efficacy in the management of neuropathic pain. An adjuvant analgesic is a drug that has a primary nonpain indication but which may be analgesic in certain circumstances, and many of these have established a role in the pharmacological treatment of neuropathic pain. The number needed to treat is an indirect statistical measure that can be used to compare relative efficacy of different adjuvant analgesics and, from this, there is currently insufficient evidence to suggest that any one adjuvant analgesic has absolute advantages over another.

Prostate delineation using CT and MRI for radiotherapy patients with bilateral hip prostheses.

Background And Purpose: Prostate cancer patients with bilateral hip prostheses (b-HP) are rare, but pose unique challenges for high-dose radiotherapy. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of b-HP on prostate delineation using CT and MR.

Methods And Materials: The planning CT and MR of 7 patients with b-HP were co-registered.

A randomized comparison of interfraction and intrafraction prostate motion with and without abdominal compression.

Background And Purpose: To quantify inter- and intrafraction prostate motion in a standard VacLok (VL) immobilization device or in the BodyFix (BF) system incorporating a compression element which may reduce abdominal movement.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-two patients were randomly assigned to VL or BF. Interfraction prostate motion >3 mm was corrected pre-treatment.

Gabapentin: a multimodal perioperative drug?

Gabapentin is a second generation anticonvulsant that is effective in the treatment of chronic neuropathic pain. It was not, until recently, thought to be useful in acute perioperative conditions. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that perioperative administration is efficacious for postoperative analgesia, preoperative anxiolysis, attenuation of the haemodynamic response to laryngoscopy and intubation, and preventing chronic post-surgical pain, postoperative nausea and vomiting, and delirium.

Anatomic boundaries of the clinical target volume (prostate bed) after radical prostatectomy.

Purpose: We sought to derive and validate an interdisciplinary consensus definition for the anatomic boundaries of the postoperative clinical target volume (CTV, prostate bed).

Methods And Materials: Thirty one patients who had planned for radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy were enrolled and underwent computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) simulation prior to radiotherapy. Through an iterative process of consultation and discussion, an interdisciplinary consensus definition was derived based on a review of published data, patterns of local failure, surgical practice, and radiologic anatomy.

What would pediatric infectious disease consultants recommend for management of culture-negative acute hematogenous osteomyelitis?

Objective: To assess the opinion of pediatric infectious disease (PID) specialists regarding the management of culture-negative acute hematogenous osteomyelitis.

Methods: A questionnaire that included a hypothetical case scenario of a 4-year-old boy with culture-negative osteomyelitis was distributed via a Web-based system to PID specialists across the United States.

Results: Of 481 eligible participants surveyed, 147 (31%) responded.

Intraocular pressure variation following retrobulbar anaesthesia among the different sex, age and ethnic groups in Malaysia.

A total of 114 patients (48 Chinese, 34 Malay and 32 Indian) undergoing extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) with intraocular lens implantation, were enrolled. All were given 3 ml of local anaesthetic (combination of equal amounts of lignocaine 2% and bupivacaine 0.5%) using retrobulbar technique.

Tuberculous retinal vasculitis.

A patient who was referred to the eye department for routine ocular assessment prior to commencement of antituberculous therapy was found to have periphlebitis in both eyes despite being visually asymptomatic. Fluorescein angiography confirms the presence of vasculitis without any retinal oedema or areas of non-perfusion, which may sometimes accompany the condition. Within 2 months of systemic treatment, the ocular signs regressed without any permanent effect on vision.

Scirrhous carcinoma of the stomach: radiologic and endoscopic diagnosis.

During a recent 10-year period, scirrhous tumors of the stomach were diagnosed at upper gastrointestinal examinations in 27 patients in whom pathologic correlation was available. Nineteen patients underwent double-contrast studies, and eight underwent single-contrast studies. Twenty-two of the 27 patients had primary gastric carcinoma, four had gastric involvement by metastatic breast cancer, and one had antral gastritis and scarring without evidence of malignancy.

Endogenous forms of fibrinogen in Hep G2 cells.

The three polypeptide chains of fibrinogen, A alpha, B beta and gamma chain, are synthesized on separate polysomes. Fully formed fibrinogen is a six chain, disulfide-linked, dimeric molecule with a molecular weight of 340kDa. Previous pulse-chase studies with L-35 S methionine using the human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line, Hep-G2, showed that the three chains are not immediately disulfide-linked and that there exist intermediate precursors as well as pools of A alpha and gamma chains (J.