Brachytherapy boost in loco-regionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a prospective randomized trial of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Background: The purpose was to determine whether a brachytherapy boost improves outcomes in patients with advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with standard chemo-radiotherapy.

Methods: Patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma WHO grades I-III and TNM stages III or non-metastatic stage IV were eligible for this phase III study. Patients were randomized to either arm (A) induction chemotherapy, followed by external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) with concomitant cisplatin (n = 139) or arm (B), the same schedule plus a brachytherapy boost to the nasopharynx (n = 135).

Improving the prognosis of pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma in developing countries: a Moroccan Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology study.

Background: The event-free survival (EFS) of children with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) exceeds 80% in high income countries (HIC), but little is known about this rate in developing countries.

Procedure: A prospective national protocol for children with classical HL was implemented in Morocco to increase EFS by careful risk stratification, providing each cycle of therapy on time, decreasing treatment abandonment, improving communication among healthcare providers, and improving data collection. Patients were stratified into a favorable risk group (Ann Arbor stages I and II, no B symptoms, no bulky disease, and no contiguous (E) lesions) and received four cycles of vinblastine, doxorubicin, methotrexate, and prednisone (VAMP) or an unfavorable risk group (all others) who received two cycles of vincristine, procarbazine, prednisone, and doxorubicin (OPPA) and four cycles of cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone (COPP).