Planned Dental Extractions After Radiation Therapy.

Importance: Nonrestorable teeth are recommended to be extracted prior to radiation therapy (RT). Occasionally, preradiation extractions introduce unacceptable delays in treatment initiation. Planned dental extractions immediately postradiation presents an alternative strategy, though outcomes are uncertain.

Radiation therapy for cT1-2 carcinoma of the palatine tonsil diagnosed via a simple tonsillectomy: Dosimetry and patterns of care in the IMRT era.

Objective: Small carcinomas of the palatine tonsil are often diagnosed via simple tonsillectomy, a maneuver with non-therapeutic intent. Herein, practice patterns for this unique situation are evaluated.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective review was performed across 10 facilities to identify patients with cT1-2 squamous carcinomas of the tonsil diagnosed by simple tonsillectomy between 2010 and 2018.

Virtual On-Treatment Visits: Implementation, Patient Perspectives, Barriers, Limitations, Benefits, and Opportunities.

Purpose: This study aimed to report our initial experience with weekly tele-video "virtual" on-treatment visits (vOTVs), describe the logistics of implementation, report the results of patient and physician surveys, and discuss the barriers, limitations, and benefits of vOTVs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods And Materials: vOTVs were piloted at 2 centers and within 1 week were expanded to 4 additional centers. Patients participating in vOTVs were surveyed about their satisfaction with vOTVs, the quality of vOTVs, and confidence in their physician's ability to manage their care through vOTVs, as well as their support of and preferences related to vOTVs.

Comparison of accelerated hypofractionation and stereotactic body radiotherapy for Stage 1 and node negative Stage 2 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Purpose: Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) and accelerated hypofractionated radiation therapy (AHRT) have favorable local control (LC) relative to conventional fractionation in the treatment of stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We report the results of our single institution experience with the treatment of early stage NSCLC with SBRT or AHRT in cases where SBRT was felt to be suboptimal.

Methods: One hundred and sixty patients with Stage 1 and node negative Stage 2 NSCLC were treated with SBRT or AHRT from 2003 to 2011.

Broad phenotypic changes associated with gain of radiation resistance in head and neck squamous cell cancer.

Aims: The central issue of resistance to radiation remains a significant challenge in the treatment of cancer despite improvements in treatment modality and emergence of new therapies. To facilitate the identification of molecular factors that elicit protection against ionizing radiation, we developed a matched model of radiation resistance for head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) and characterized its properties using quantitative mass spectrometry and complementary assays.

Results: Functional network analysis of proteomics data identified DNA replication and base excision repair, extracellular matrix-receptor interaction, cell cycle, focal adhesion, and regulation of actin cytoskeleton as significantly up- or downregulated networks in resistant (rSCC-61) HNSCC cells.

A nomogram for predicting distant brain failure in patients treated with gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery without whole brain radiotherapy.

Background: We review our single institution experience to determine predictive factors for early and delayed distant brain failure (DBF) after radiosurgery without whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) for brain metastases.

Materials And Methods: Between January 2000 and December 2010, a total of 464 patients were treated with Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) without WBRT for primary management of newly diagnosed brain metastases. Histology, systemic disease, RPA class, and number of metastases were evaluated as possible predictors of DBF rate.

Clinical and economic outcomes of patients with brain metastases based on symptoms: an argument for routine brain screening of those treated with upfront radiosurgery.

Background: Insurers have started to deny reimbursement for routine brain surveillance with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for brain metastases in favor of symptom-prompted imaging. The authors investigated the clinical and economic impact of symptomatic versus asymptomatic metastases and related these findings to the use of routine brain surveillance.

Methods: Between January 2000 and December 2010, 442 patients underwent upfront SRS for brain metastases.

Thoracic re-irradiation using stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) techniques as first or second course of treatment.

Background And Purpose: Management for in-field failures after thoracic radiation is poorly defined. We evaluated SBRT as an initial or second course of treatment re-irradiating in a prior high dose region.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-three patients were treated with re-irradiation defined by the prior 30 Gy isodose line.

Tumor histology predicts patterns of failure and survival in patients with brain metastases from lung cancer treated with gamma knife radiosurgery.

Background: We review our experience with lung cancer patients with newly diagnosed brain metastases treated with Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKRS).

Objective: To determine whether tumor histology predicts patient outcomes.

Methods: Between July 1, 2000, and December 31, 2010, 271 patients with brain metastases from primary lung cancer were treated with GKRS at our institution.

Biomarkers for response to neoadjuvant chemoradiation for rectal cancer.

Locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) is currently treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiation. Although approximately 45% of patients respond to neoadjuvant therapy with T-level downstaging, there is no effective method of predicting which patients will respond. Molecular biomarkers have been investigated for their ability to predict outcome in LARC treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiation.

Intermolecular complementation achieves high-specificity tumor targeting by anthrax toxin.

Anthrax toxin protective antigen (PrAg) forms a heptamer in which the binding site for lethal factor (LF) spans two adjacent monomers. This suggested that high cell-type specificity in tumor targeting could be obtained using monomers that generate functional LF-binding sites only through intermolecular complementation. We created PrAg mutants with mutations affecting different LF-binding subsites and containing either urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) or matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) cleavage sites.

Identification of the proteins required for biosynthesis of diphthamide, the target of bacterial ADP-ribosylating toxins on translation elongation factor 2.

Diphthamide, a posttranslational modification of translation elongation factor 2 that is conserved in all eukaryotes and archaebacteria and is the target of diphtheria toxin, is formed in yeast by the actions of five proteins, Dph1 to -5, and a still unidentified amidating enzyme. Dph2 and Dph5 were previously identified. Here, we report the identification of the remaining three yeast proteins (Dph1, -3, and -4) and show that all five Dph proteins have either functional (Dph1, -2, -3, and -5) or sequence (Dph4) homologs in mammals.