Hyperthermia and radiation therapy for locally advanced or recurrent breast cancer.

Introduction: This study aims to report the outcome and toxicity of combined hyperthermia (HT) and radiation therapy (RT) in treatment of locally advanced or loco-regionally recurrent breast cancer.

Patients And Methods: Patients treated with HT and RT from January 1991 to December 2007 were reviewed. RT doses for previously irradiated patients were > 40 Gy and for RT naïve patients > 60 Gy, at 1.

Optimization for high-dose-rate brachytherapy of cervical cancer with adaptive simulated annealing and gradient descent.

Purpose: To validate an in-house optimization program that uses adaptive simulated annealing (ASA) and gradient descent (GD) algorithms and investigate features of physical dose and generalized equivalent uniform dose (gEUD)-based objective functions in high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy for cervical cancer.

Methods: Eight Syed/Neblett template-based cervical cancer HDR interstitial brachytherapy cases were used for this study. Brachytherapy treatment plans were first generated using inverse planning simulated annealing (IPSA).

Multi-institutional review of repeat irradiation of chest wall and breast for recurrent breast cancer.

Purpose: To review the toxicity and clinical outcomes for patients who underwent repeat chest wall or breast irradiation (RT) after local recurrence.

Methods And Materials: Between 1993 and 2005, 81 patients underwent repeat RT of the breast or chest wall for locally recurrent breast cancer at eight institutions. The median dose of the first course of RT was 60 Gy and was 48 Gy for the second course.

Preoperative chemoradiation for rectal cancer: results of multimodality management and analysis of prognostic factors.

Background: Our goals were to examine the impact of neoadjuvant chemoradiation for rectal cancer on surgical outcomes and to determine prognostic factors predicting improved survival.

Methods: Retrospective cohort of 56 male and 44 female patients.

Results: After preoperative chemoradiation, 73% of patients had sphincter-preserving surgery.

Supraclavicular nodal failure in patients with one to three positive axillary lymph nodes treated with breast conserving surgery and breast irradiation, without supraclavicular node radiation.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the risk factors associated with supraclavicular nodal failure (SCF) in patients with one to three positive axillary nodes treated with breast conserving surgery and axillary dissection without supraclavicular node radiation (S/C RT) to aid in the selection of patients for S/C RT. Two hundred two breast conservation patients with one to three positive axillary nodes on axillary dissection treated with breast irradiation without S/C RT and 20 patients with S/C RT between August 1985 and May 2002 were identified and retrospectively evaluated. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to determine SCF-free and overall survival curves.

Management of T1a breast cancer.

Identification of early-stage breast cancers has increased over the past 2 decades primarily because of mammographic screening. The general guidelines to management of breast cancer may not apply to the smallest of these tumors, as their metastatic potential may be smaller than larger tumors. Tumors < 5 mm (T1a) carry an excellent prognosis, despite a variety of treatment approaches.