Introduction: Chemoradiotherapy with MRI-guided brachytherapy boosts is the standard of care for locally advanced cervical cancer. Data from the RetroEMBRACE and EMBRACE I trials provide dose-response curves for target volumes and OAR. This study evaluated plan quality, safety and toxicity following escalation of the CTV_HR D90 prescription from 80-90 Gy to 85-95 Gy for two different applicator designs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Med Imaging Radiat Oncol
October 2024
Introduction: Paediatric cancers are rare, and most children requiring radiation therapy receive external beam radiation (EBRT). Although EBRT may offer organ preservation compared to surgery, it can be associated with significant late effects. Image-guided brachytherapy is a highly specialised technique offering both organ preservation and dose conformity to minimise late toxicity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Men with high-risk prostate cancer (PCa) are treated with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and radiation therapy, but the disease reoccurs in 30% of patients. Biochemical recurrence of PCa after treatment is influenced by tumor hypoxia. Tumors with high levels of hypoxia are aggressive, resistant to treatment, and have increased metastatic capacity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Toxicity from cervical brachytherapy has been demonstrated to correlate with the D2cm of the bladder, rectum, and bowel. This suggests a simplified version of knowledge-based planning investigating the relationship of the overlap distance for 2cm and the D2cm from planning may be possible. This work demonstrates the feasibility of simple knowledge-based planning to predict the D2cm, detect suboptimal plans, and improve plan quality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The management of older adults with cancer is rapidly becoming a significant challenge in radiation oncology (RO) practice. The education of future radiation oncologists in geriatric oncology is fundamental to ensuring that older adults receive high-quality care. Currently RO trainees receive little training and education in geriatric oncology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs the global population ages, the care of older adults with cancer is increasingly recognised as a growing challenge in oncology practice worldwide. At present, outcomes for older adults with cancer are worse than younger counterparts. The need for improved clinician education around geriatric oncology is internationally recognised as being fundamental to addressing this problem.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys
April 2022
Background: The presence of hypoxia is a poor prognostic factor in prostate cancer and the hypoxic tumor microenvironment promotes radioresistance. There is potential for drug radiotherapy combinations to improve the therapeutic ratio. We aimed to investigate whether hypoxia-associated genes could be used to identify FDA approved drugs for repurposing for the treatment of hypoxic prostate cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe history of radiotherapy is intertwined with research on hypoxia. There is level 1a evidence that giving hypoxia-targeting treatments with radiotherapy improves locoregional control and survival without compromising late side-effects. Despite coming in and out of vogue over decades, there is now an established role for hypoxia in driving molecular alterations promoting tumour progression and metastases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are a rare, heterogeneous tumour group. Radiotherapy improves local control. CT is used to plan radiotherapy, but has poor soft tissue definition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hypoxia is associated with a poor prognosis in prostate cancer. This work aimed to derive and validate a hypoxia-related mRNA signature for localized prostate cancer.
Method: Hypoxia genes were identified in vitro via RNA-sequencing and combined with in vivo gene co-expression analysis to generate a signature.
Purpose: Image-guided plan optimization with MRI and CT for interstitial and intracavitary brachytherapy is an established technique in treating cervical cancer. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of boosting the dose to the residual gross tumor volume (GTV-T) to 140% of the high-risk clinical target volume (HR-CTV) prescription.
Methods And Materials: Brachytherapy plans from 50 consecutive patients were analyzed in this study.
Purpose: Vaginal vault brachytherapy is an adjuvant treatment to reduce risk of local recurrence in endometrial cancer. Axial imaging has demonstrated the presence of air gaps between the surface of a cylindrical applicator and mucosal wall. The impact of these on dosimetry and applicability of the TG-43 formalism in the presence of air has been assessed.
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