Publications by authors named "Maroie Barkati"
Article Synopsis
- The Prostate Cancer Study 5 (PCS5) aimed to compare the effectiveness and side effects of two types of radiotherapy: conventional fractionated radiotherapy (CFRT) and hypofractionated radiotherapy (HFRT) for high-risk prostate cancer patients.
- The study included 329 patients who were randomly assigned to receive either CFRT or HFRT, with the primary focus on comparing toxicity and secondary outcomes like survival rates over a 5-year median follow-up.
- Results showed no significant differences in overall survival or other survival metrics between the two treatments, suggesting that HFRT could be adopted as a new standard treatment option for high-risk patients.
Article Synopsis
- A clinical trial called RADICALS-HD studied the effects of adding short-course androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) to postoperative radiotherapy in patients with localized prostate cancer after surgery.
- It involved 1480 patients, examining how ADT impacts metastasis-free survival compared to radiotherapy alone, and measured outcomes like distant metastasis and overall survival.
- The trial aimed to see if combining ADT with radiotherapy could improve the 10-year metastasis-free survival rate, potentially increasing it from 80% to 86%.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the effectiveness and optimal duration of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) combined with postoperative radiotherapy for patients with localized prostate cancer following radical prostatectomy.
- A randomised controlled trial, RADICALS-HD, compared short-course ADT (6 months) to long-course ADT (24 months) among participants who met specific criteria, including PSA levels and absence of metastatic disease.
- The primary outcome measured was metastasis-free survival, with the trial aiming to determine if longer ADT duration leads to better survival rates, involving over 1,500 patients from 2008 to 2015.
Purpose: Canadian radiation oncology professionals have a strong history of involvement in global oncology initiatives worldwide. This pan-Canadian survey-based study was conducted to determine the current level of engagement of Canadian radiation oncologists (ROs) and medical physicists (MPs) in global oncology initiatives and broaden the development of these activities.
Materials And Methods: This was a cross-sectional study.
Purpose: The addition of interstitial (IS) needles to intra-cavitary (IC) brachytherapy applicators is associated with improved outcomes in locally advanced cervical cancers involving parametrial tumor extensions. The purpose of this work was to validate a clinical workflow involving 3D-printed caps for a commercial IC split ring applicator that enable using IS needle trajectories tailored to each treatment.
Material And Methods: A dedicated software module was developed in this work allowing users to design patient-specific IS caps without knowledge of computer-aided design (CAD) software.
Objective: Gastric-type adenocarcinoma of the endocervix (GAS) is a rare form of human papillomavirus-independent cervical cancer commonly described as an insidious disease bearing a poor prognosis. Based on scarce data, uncertainty persists pertaining to its oncologic management.
Method: All cases of well-differentiated GAS treated at our institution from 2010 to 2021 were reviewed.
Background And Purpose: This pilot study aims to describe the advantages of combining metabolic and anatomic imaging modalities in brachytherapy (BT) planning for locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) and to evaluate the supplementary value of Fluoro(F)-Choline positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in comparison to 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) in this setting.
Materials And Methods: A prospective cohort of six patients with LACC was included in this study. Each patient underwent BT planning CT scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and both FDG and F-Choline PET/CT scans on the same day, with BT applicators in place.
Article Synopsis
- The study evaluates the safety of moderate hypofractionated radiation therapy (HF RT) compared to standard fractionation (SF RT) in high-risk prostate cancer patients, based on the hypothesis that HF RT may offer advantages due to prostate cancer's sensitivity to radiation.
- From February 2012 to March 2015, 329 high-risk patients participated in a trial, with participants randomized into HF and SF groups, both receiving androgen deprivation therapy, and researchers primarily focused on monitoring acute and delayed toxicity.
- Results indicated that while there were initially more acute gastrointestinal (GI) events in the HF group, this significance diminished over time; ultimately, no major differences in delayed GI-related adverse events were observed
Radiation-induced aortitis is a rare but potentially serious complication of radiotherapy. We report the case of a 46-year-old female with a history of cervical cancer who developed radiation-induced aortitis following two courses of concurrent chemoradiation. The patient was asymptomatic, and the condition was detected during a routine follow-up positron emission tomography (PET) scan.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) ligand positron emission tomography (PET) is increasingly integrated in prostate cancer management because of its diagnostic performance. We sought to evaluate the effect of PSMA-PET/computed tomography (CT)-guided intensification of radiation therapy (PSMAgRT) on patient outcomes. Here, we report secondary trial endpoints including the rate of new lesion detection, effect on prostate cancer management, and treatment-related toxicities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose This study aimed to evaluate if the F18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (F18-FDG PET) response after two weeks of chemoradiation for locoregionally advanced esophageal cancer (staged Tumor (T) 3 and/or Nodes (N)+ Metastases (M) 0) was linked to the pathologic response for patients undergoing surgery, to disease-free survival (DFS) or overall survival (OS). Materials and Methods Between March 2006 and September 2017, 40 patients were prospectively enrolled in our study, gave written consent, and had PET scans performed before treatment and after two weeks of chemoradiation. One patient did not undergo his two-week PET without informing study coordinators and was excluded from analyses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Purpose: Locally recurrent prostate cancer after radiotherapy merits an effective salvage strategy that mitigates the risk of adverse events. We report outcomes of a cohort enrolled across two institutions investigating MRI-guided tumor-targeted salvage high dose rate brachytherapy (HDR-BT).
Materials And Methods: Analysis of a prospective cohort of 88 patients treated across two institutions with MRI-guided salvage HDR-BT to visible local recurrence after radiotherapy (RT).
Image-guided Raman spectroscopy navigation system to improve transperineal prostate cancer detection. Part 2: in-vivo tumor-targeting using a classification model combining spectral and MRI-radiomics features.
J Biomed Opt
September 2022
Significance: The diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer (PCa) are limited by a lack of intraoperative information to accurately target tumors with needles for biopsy and brachytherapy. An innovative image-guidance technique using optical devices could improve the diagnostic yield of biopsy and efficacy of radiotherapy.
Aim: To evaluate the performance of multimodal PCa detection using biomolecular features from in-situ Raman spectroscopy (RS) combined with image-based (radiomics) features from multiparametric magnetic resonance images (mpMRI).
Introduction: We aimed to investigate several clinical and biochemical parameters, including palliative external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) to predict survival in patients with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) treated with radium-223 (Ra).
Methods: We tested known and possible prognostic parameters, including palliative EBRT, both prior and concurrent to Ra. Logrank test (Kaplan-Meier method) and Cox regression analysis were used to predict overall survival (OS).
QTc prolongation is linked to Torsade de Pointes, sudden cardiac death, and overall cardiovascular mortality. 754 prostate cancer patients undergoing brachytherapy were analyzed, prolonged QTc was defined as ≥450ms. A prolonged QTc was more frequent (10.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Purpose: Advances in high-dose-rate brachytherapy to treat prostate cancer hinge on improved accuracy in navigation and targeting while optimizing a streamlined workflow. Multimodal image registration and electromagnetic (EM) tracking are two technologies integrated into a prototype system in the early phase of clinical evaluation. We aim to report on the system's accuracy and workflow performance in support of tumor-targeted procedures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: We aimed to characterise a large cohort of non-invasive, human papillomavirus (HPV) and p53-independent verruciform lesions, such as 'vulvar acanthosis with altered differentiation' (VAAD), 'differentiated exophytic vulvar intra-epithelial lesion' (DEVIL) and 'verruciform lichen simplex chronicus' (vLSC).
Methods And Results: From January 2008 to December 2020 we retrospectively identified 36 eligible patients with verruciform non-invasive lesions (n = 36) and collected clinical, histological and follow-up parameters. Verruciform non-invasive lesions occurred at a median age of 71 years, with a median follow-up of 33.
Purpose: To evaluate the PSA outcomes and the late patient's reported health related quality of life (HRQOL) and toxicity after single-fraction High-Dose-Rate brachytherapy (HDRB) and Low-Dose-Rate brachytherapy (LDRB) for prostate cancer.
Methods: Men with low and favorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer across 3 centres were randomized between monotherapy brachytherapy with either Iodine-125 LDRB or 19 Gy single-fraction HDRB. Biochemical outcomes were evaluated using the Phoenix definition, PSA nadir and absolute PSA value <0.
Background: The recently published ASTRO cervical cancer guidelines recommend the use of modern radiotherapy. Imaging is now incorporated in the updated FIGO 2018 staging with a new stage IIIC. This study aims to evaluate the oncologic outcomes and predictors of survival using FIGO 2018 staging in a cohort of patients treated in an era of high-precision image-guided radiotherapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Long-term androgen deprivation therapy in men with high-risk prostate cancer is linked to a decrease in bone mineral density, but this does not significantly increase the risk of fractures.
- A study analyzed the bone mineral density changes after 28 months of therapy and supplementation with calcium and vitamin D in patients, revealing an average decrease of -3.2% across multiple sites without significant classification changes for most patients.
- The findings suggest that while there is a slight reduction in bone mineral density, calcium and vitamin D supplementation is generally effective in managing bone health for these patients on long-term therapy.
Purpose: Volumetric arc therapy (VMAT) is a radiation therapy (RT) technique that spares normal tissues from high and intermediate RT doses but increases the volume of tissues receiving low doses of RT compared with 3-dimensional conformal RT (3DCRT). We hypothesized that palliative VMAT would reduce the detriment to patient quality of life (QOL) compared with palliative 3DCRT.
Methods And Materials: This phase 2 trial randomized patients to palliative RT using VMAT or 3DCRT to 1 painful site of metastatic disease in the trunk.
Article Synopsis
- Radical hysterectomy with radiation has been used for treating endometrial cancer but can cause a lot of health problems.
- A new method called neoadjuvant radiotherapy followed by a different type of surgery is being studied to see if it's better.
- In a study of 30 patients, most had a good reaction to the treatment, and the research helps understand how effective this new method can be.
Purpose: To compare health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of high-dose-rate brachytherapy (HDRB) versus low dose-rate brachytherapy (LDRB) for localized prostate cancer in a multi-institutional phase 2 randomized trial.
Methods And Materials: Men with favorable-risk prostate cancer were randomized between monotherapy brachytherapy with either Iodine-125 LDRB to 144 Gy or single-fraction Iridium-192 HDRB to 19 Gy. HRQOL and urinary toxicity were recorded at baseline and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months using the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC)-26 scoring and the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS).