A correlation between residual DNA double-strand breaks and clonogenic measurements of radiosensitivity in fibroblasts from preradiotherapy cervix cancer patients.

Purpose: To study the relationship between residual DNA damage and clonogenic measurements of radiosensitivity in fibroblasts from pretreatment cervix cancer patients.

Methods And Materials: Early passage vaginal fibroblasts from nine preradiotherapy cervix cancer patients and two radiosensitive skin fibroblast cell strains were studied. Cell survival was measured by clonogenic assay following both high and low dose rate irradiation.

Multifractionated high-dose-rate brachytherapy with concomitant daily teletherapy for cervical cancer.

Background: High-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy has been the preferred treatment for cervical cancer at Wayne State University since 1987. The outcome of the first 105 patients treated is analyzed.

Purpose: To determine clinical efficacy of the HDR modality.

Hip stiffness following mixed conformal neutron and photon radiotherapy: a dose-volume relationship.

Purpose: To determine the relationship between dose, volume, and the incidence of hip stiffness in patients who received conformal neutron irradiation for prostate cancer.

Methods And Materials: A series of dose-searching studies using neutron irradiation for prostate cancer were performed to determine the optimal dose, fraction size, field size, technique, and proportions of photon and neutron dose. Neutron doses ranged from 9 to 20 Gy and photon doses ranged from 0 to 38 Gy.

Hyperfractionated conformal radiotherapy in locally advanced prostate cancer: results of a dose escalation study.

Purpose: This study was initiated to assess the incidence of chronic complications and histologic and biochemical control following hyperfractionated conformal radiotherapy in patients with locally advanced prostate cancer.

Methods And Materials: Between October 1991 and October 1994, 49 patients with locally advanced prostate cancer were entered on the first two dose levels of a prospective dose-escalation study using hyperfractionated three dimensional conformal radiotherapy. The first 25 patients received a minimum tumor dose of 78 Gy to the prostate and seminal vesicles in 6 weeks at 1.

Comparison of hyperfractionated conformal photon with conformal mixed neutron/photon irradiation in locally advanced prostate cancer.

In an attempt to improve the probability of complication-free local control for patients with locally advanced prostate cancer, a series of dose-finding studies have been conducted at Wayne State University using conformal neutron and hyperfractionated photon irradiation. In total, 96 patients with locally advanced prostate cancer (T3/T4 N0/N1 M0, and/or Gleason score > or = 8) were treated in two prospective studies. Forty-seven patients received conformal neutron/photon (15 NGy + 18 PhGy) and 49 patients were treated in a dose-escalation study using conformal photons (25 patients/78 Gy and 24 patients/83 Gy minimum dose).

Synovial sarcoma of the pharynx.

Synovial sarcoma is rarely seen in the head and neck region. A case of synovial sarcoma of the pharynx in a child is presented.

Uses of therapeutic x rays in medicine.

Treatment of diseases with x rays began within months of Roentgen's discovery, and within four years x rays were being used successfully for the treatment of skin cancers. Deep-seated cancers began to be treated successfully in the 1920's with the advent of "deep" x-ray units and, especially, once supervoltage therapy machines became available in the 1930's. The 1940's and 1950's saw significant growth of megavoltage therapy, initially with Van de Graaff generators and betatrons, and later with linear accelerators.

Is radiation-induced ovarian failure in rhesus monkeys preventable by luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonists?: Preliminary observations.

With the advent of cancer therapy, increasing numbers of cancer patients are achieving long term survival. Impaired ovarian function after radiation therapy has been reported in several studies. Some investigators have suggested that luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonists (LHRHa) can prevent radiation-induced ovarian injury in rodents.

Concurrent outbreaks of pertussis and Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection: clinical and epidemiological characteristics of illnesses manifested by cough.

Concurrent outbreaks of illnesses that were manifested by cough and that were suspected to be due to Bordetella pertussis and Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection were investigated in a midwestern town in Illinois. Three studies were conducted: questionnaires on the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of illness were administered to patients; serological tests were performed to confirm the presence of each pathogen and to develop case definitions for each illness; and case definitions were applied to responses to a mail-in questionnaire for estimating the magnitude of both outbreaks. In 135 cases of suspected pertussis and 42 cases of suspected mycoplasmal infection, subjects had a cough for > or = 14 days (the pertussis outbreak case definition).

Preliminary results of a hyperfractionated dose escalation study for locally advanced adenocarcinoma of the prostate.

The objective of this study was to build on our experience with 3-D conformal radiotherapy (CRT) by using a hyperfractionated dose escalation scheme to maximize the therapeutic ratio between improved local control and reduced morbidity in patients with locally advanced prostate cancer. Twenty patients with locally advanced (T3, T4) adenocarcinoma of the prostate were treated with a hyperfractionated radiotherapy schedule. All fields were designed with a conformal therapy based beam's eye view, 3-D planning system.

Long term follow-up of a case of Kasabach-Merritt syndrome successfully treated with radiotherapy and corticosteroids.

Kasabach-Merritt syndrome is the association of thrombocytopenia, spontaneous bleeding, and enlargement of a haemangioma. It is caused by an intense, self-perpetuating process of clot-formation and lysis within the abnormal vascular channels of the haemangioma, and results in consumption of platelets and clotting factors. Treatment involves ablation of the lesion with or without pharmacological manipulation of the coagulation and fibrinolytic systems.

Comparative effectiveness of avermectins and deltamethrin in suppressing oviposition in Lucilia cuprina (Diptera: Calliphoridae).

The activities of three avermectins and deltamethrin as oviposition suppressants were investigated with a laboratory bioassay in which gravid females of the blowfly Lucilia cuprina (Wiedemann) were exposed to treated oviposition targets. An easily comparable index of suppression, the oviposition suppression concentration (OSC), was defined. All four compounds were effective oviposition suppressants.

Comparison of high and low dose rate remote afterloading for cervix cancer and the importance of fractionation.

Analysis of the data obtained from a survey of 56 institutions treating a total of over 17,000 cervix cancer patients with high dose rate (HDR) remote afterloading, shows that the average fractionation regimen is about 5 fractions of 7.5 Gy each to Point A, regardless of stage of disease. Comparison with historical controls treated by the same clinicians at low dose rate (LDR), showed that 5-year survival was statistically significantly better for HDR versus LDR for Stage III patients (47.

Initial experience with a practical hyperfractionated accelerated radiotherapy regimen.

This paper presents early results of a trial of a three-fractions-per-day (TID) regimen that is more convenient to schedule than the Continuous Hyperfractionated Accelerated Radiotherapy (CHART) protocol currently being tested in Europe. The treatment schedule used in the CHART regimen has been modified from 36 fractions of 1.5 Gy TID in 12 days to 72 fractions of 1.

Recent developments in time-dose modelling.

Two recent innovations in time-dose models are reviewed: the linear-quadratic (L-Q) and the variable-exponent Time-Dose Factor (TDF) models. The basic L-Q equations for fractionated and continuous (brachytherapy) regimes are presented as well as those for incomplete repair and short half life radionuclides. None of these equations has provision for a repopulation factor, so a "wasted ERD" parameter is introduced, which is a linear function of overall treatment time, with incorporation of a lag time if desired.