Comparison of Pathologic Tumor Necrosis of Conventional Versus Ultrahypofractionated Preoperative Radiation Therapy in Localized Extremity Soft Tissue Sarcoma and Its Correlation With Clinical Outcomes.

Purpose: We aimed to determine if ultrahypofractionated radiation therapy (UHYPO-RT) delivering 6 Gy x 5 fractions yields similar tumor necrosis compared with conventional radiation therapy (CONV-RT) with 2 Gy x 25 fractions in soft tissue sarcoma. The clinical significance of tumor necrosis on loco-regional recurrence-free survival (LRFS), distant disease-free survival (DDFS), and overall survival (OS) were assessed.

Methods And Materials: Patients with localized soft tissue sarcoma treated with CONV-RT or UHYPO-RT followed by surgery were included.

A Scalable Radiomics- and Natural Language Processing-Based Machine Learning Pipeline to Distinguish Between Painful and Painless Thoracic Spinal Bone Metastases: Retrospective Algorithm Development and Validation Study.

Background: The identification of objective pain biomarkers can contribute to an improved understanding of pain, as well as its prognosis and better management. Hence, it has the potential to improve the quality of life of patients with cancer. Artificial intelligence can aid in the extraction of objective pain biomarkers for patients with cancer with bone metastases (BMs).

Radiomics-based machine learning models to distinguish between metastatic and healthy bone using lesion-center-based geometric regions of interest.

Radiomics-based machine learning classifiers have shown potential for detecting bone metastases (BM) and for evaluating BM response to radiotherapy (RT). However, current radiomics models require large datasets of images with expert-segmented 3D regions of interest (ROIs). Full ROI segmentation is time consuming and oncologists often outline just RT treatment fields in clinical practice.

Radiation-Induced Fibrosis in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer: A Review of Pathogenesis and Clinical Outcomes.

Radiotherapy-related fibrosis remains one of the most challenging treatment related side effects encountered by patients with head and neck cancer. Several established and ongoing novel therapies have been studied with paucity of data in how to best treat these patients. This review aims to provide researchers and health care providers with a comprehensive review on the presentation, etiology, and therapeutic options for this serious condition.

Stereotactic Radiosurgery for Atrioventricular Node Ablation in Swine: A Study on Efficacy and Dosimetric Evaluation of Organs at Risk.

Introduction Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) delivered to arrhythmogenic foci within the heart is a promising treatment modality. We dosimetrically evaluated the radiation dose to the organs at risk of four swine that were successfully treated with linear-accelerator-based SRS for atrioventricular (AV) node ablation. Materials and methods Single-chamber pacemakers were implanted in four large white breed swine.

Development of a generalizable natural language processing pipeline to extract physician-reported pain from clinical reports: Generated using publicly-available datasets and tested on institutional clinical reports for cancer patients with bone metastases.

Objective: The majority of cancer patients suffer from severe pain at the advanced stage of their illness. In most cases, cancer pain is underestimated by clinical staff and is not properly managed until it reaches a critical stage. Therefore, detecting and addressing cancer pain early can potentially improve the quality of life of cancer patients.

The role of pre-biopsy mpMRI in lymph node staging for prostate cancer.

Introduction: Prostate cancer (PCa) staging is an integral part in the management of prostate cancer. The gold standard for diagnosing lymph node invasion is a surgical lymphadenectomy, with no superior imaging modality available at the clinician's disposal. Our aim in this study is to identify if a pre-biopsy multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) can provide enough information about pelvic lymph nodes in intermediate and high risk PCa patients, and whether it can substitute further cross sectional imaging (CSI) modalities of the abdomen and pelvis in these risk categories.

Post-lumpectomy radiation therapy boost in breast cancer patients: evidence revisited.

Purpose: Radiation therapy is an integral part in the management of breast cancer after breast conservative surgery. In selected patients at high risk for local recurrence (LR), a boost radiation dose is commonly applied to the tumour bed.

Methods: We performed a review of the English literature using PubMed, Medline and Google Scholar for published manuscripts addressing the effect of boost radiation in breast cancer patients, focusing mainly on LR and overall survival (OS).

Predictors of Cardiac Sparing in Deep Inspiration Breath-Hold for Patients With Left Sided Breast Cancer.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate patient-related non-dosimetric predictors of cardiac sparing with the use of deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) in patients with left-sided breast cancer undergoing irradiation (RT). We retrospectively reviewed charts and treatment plans of one-hundred and three patients with left-sided breast cancer. All patients had both free-breathing (FB) and DIBH (with body surface tracking) plans available.

Randomized, Prospective, Open-label Phase III Trial Comparing Mebo Ointment With Biafine Cream for the Management of Acute Dermatitis During Radiotherapy for Breast Cancer.

Purpose: Acute radiation dermatitis is a common side-effect of radiotherapy in breast cancer and has a profound impact on patients' quality of life, due to pain and discomfort. The aim of this study is to compare the effect of β-sitosterol (Mebo) ointment to trolamine (Biafine) cream for the prevention and treatment of radiation dermatitis in breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant radiation therapy.

Materials And Methods: This is a prospective open-label randomized phase III study developed to assess the efficacy of 2 topical agents used for management of acute radiation dermatitis.

Evidence and temporality of the obesity paradox in coronary bypass surgery: an analysis of cause-specific mortality.

Objectives: We evaluated the presence of an 'obesity paradox' in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) patients, determined its time course and ascertained whether it is associated with improved cardiovascular (CV) survival versus non-CV survival.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of 3 prospectively collected databases was conducted. A fifteen-year Kaplan-Meier analysis in 7091 CABG patients was performed and repeated in 5 body mass index [BMI (kg/m2)] cohorts [Normal (18.

Effectiveness of radial artery-based multiarterial coronary artery bypass grafting: Role of body habitus.

Background: The multiarterial grafting survival advantage noted in the overall population undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting is not well defined in the obese. We investigated the early to late survival effects of the radial artery in left internal thoracic artery-based multiarterial bypass grafting (radial artery-multiarterial bypass grafting) versus single arterial bypass grafting (left internal thoracic artery-single arterial bypass grafting) in obese patients.

Methods: We analyzed 15-year Kaplan-Meier survival in 6102 patients receiving primary, left internal thoracic artery-based coronary artery bypass grafting with 2 or more grafts divided into body mass index groups: nonobese (<30 kg/m) and all-obese, comprised of mildly obese (30-35 kg/m) and morbidly obese (>35 kg/m).

Intraoperative Radiation Therapy: A Promising Treatment Modality in Head and Neck Cancer.

Every year, almost 62,000 are diagnosed with a head and neck cancer (HNC) and 13,000 will succumb to their disease. In the primary setting, intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) can be used as a boost in select patients in order to optimize local control. Addition of external beam radiation to limited volumes results in improved disease control over surgery and IORT alone.

Secondary Cleft Nasolabial Deformities: A New Classification System for Evaluation and Surgical Revision.

Introduction: Secondary or residual cleft lip and nasal deformities following primary unilateral or bilateral cleft lip repair are common. Many classification systems have been proposed to describe congenital cleft lip and palate deformities before repair. This article proposes a one-of-a-kind classification system for residual cleft deformities and describes its application to 136 cleft lip revision cases from cleft outreach missions worldwide.