Reduction of the treated volume to involved node radiation therapy as part of combined modality treatment for early stage aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Background And Purpose: This retrospective study investigated whether focused involved node radiation therapy (INRT) can safely replace involved field RT (IFRT) in patients with early stage aggressive NHL.

Patients And Methods: We included 258 patients with stage I/II aggressive NHL who received combined modality treatment (87%) or primary RT alone (13%). RT consisted of a total dose of 30-40 Gy in 15-20 fractions IFRT or INRT.

Diffusion-weighted MR imaging in head and neck cancer: comparison between half-fourier acquired single-shot turbo spin-echo and EPI techniques.

Background And Purpose: Several studies have reported on the clinical utility of DWI in head and neck cancer, but none of these studies compared HASTE with EPI-DWI in patients with head and neck cancer. The aim of our study was to compare detection and delineation of primary tumors and lymph nodes by using HASTE and EPI-DWI techniques in patients with HNSCC.

Materials And Methods: Twelve patients with HNSCC and a total of 12 primary tumors and 77 visualized lymph nodes on MR imaging underwent DWI by using both EPI-based and HASTE techniques.

Automated nephelometry of fibrinogen: analytical performance and observations during thrombolytic therapy.

We evaluated the performance of an automated nephelometric determination of fibrinogen, which is an integral part of the prothrombin time assay, in a new coagulation analyzer, the ACL-810 (Instrumentation Laboratory). Results were compared with those by a total clottable protein assay and with the thrombin clotting time assay for fibrinogen. In normal and slightly abnormal plasma, the performance of the ACL method was quite satisfactory (CV 3-10%).