[The benefits of radiotherapy in the treatment of tendinopathies].

Tendinopathies are disorders of the tendons, often caused by overuse. They often affect athletes and manual workers and represent a major medical challenge. Current treatments are numerous, including physiotherapy, anti-inflammatory drugs and sometimes surgery.

[Help and support for smoking cessation : an integral part of the treatment of ENT cancer].

Inform, prevent, educate and encourage are the key words must be the keywords of all stakeholders who take care of a patient with ENT cancer in order to potentiate the effectiveness of the different treatments but also to improve the quality of life of patients.

[Should fire cutters be thrown into the fire ?].

Spirituality (in addition to laughter) is inherent to humans. When their health deteriorates, especially in the field of oncology, people often seek help through it. Prayer is the most commonly used tool and is sometimes entrusted to a particular person believed to possess certain powers referred to as a «fire cutter».

[Dental management of head and neck irradiated patients].

The oncological management of head and neck tumours is well known and standardized. Radiotherapy is one of the effective tools. However, it induces major changes in healthy tissues: teeth, gums, mucous membranes, salivary glands and bones.

[Melanoma : the patient's care pathway. From diagnosis to therapy].

The management of melanoma is a typical example of a pluridisciplinary approach, in order to provide the patient with a rapid and adequate treatment plan after the initial diagnosis. Both in the domains of dermatology, pathology and oncology, enormous progress has been made. Recent advances permit a rapid access to diagnostic techniques using teledermoscopy, an improved diagnostic accuracy using dermoscopy, pre-interventional high-frequency ultrasound and optical coherence tomography, a determination of risk factors using immunohistochemistry and genetic analyses on the pathology samples.

[Locally advanced and metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma treated with cemiplimab].

The treatment of locally advanced or metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) essentially relies on surgery and eventually radiotherapy of the treated site and afferent lymph nodes. Unfortunately, some cases are no candidates for surgery or radiotherapy and a systemic treatment may be indicated. Chemotherapies are only partially efficacious and associated with potential toxicities.

[Could we consider that radiotherapy is effective outside the irradiation area ? The abscopal effect].

Radiotherapy is known for its action on local tumoral control. However, it is also able to induce immunomodulatory effects at a systemic level. The abscopal effect (from latin ab scopus which means «away from the target») is an illustration of this phenomenon.

Weekly cisplatin with radiotherapy for locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Purpose: Although commonly used for the treatment of locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) concomitant radio-chemotherapy (RT-CT) with weekly cisplatin has not been definitely studied. We conducted a single centre retrospective study with the aim to evaluate efficacy and acute toxicity of definitive concomitant RT-CT with 40 mg/m weekly cisplatin in patients with locally advanced HNSCC with a particular emphasis on RT modality (conventional or accelerated) and dose of cisplatin delivered.

Methods: One hundred and twelve consecutive patients were included.

[Multidisciplinary treatment of glioblastoma].

Glioblastoma is a primary brain tumor that occurs most often in elderly patients. Despite improved management, the prognosis of this cancer remains poor. This review describes the multidisciplinary management of the patient with glioblastoma.

[What is the standard treatment approach for a cervical lymph node metastasis from a squamous cell carcinoma of unknown origin?].

The diagnostic work-up of cervical lymph node metastases from an occult primary tumour in the head and neck region is well established. PET-scan, which was controversial, is nowadays an integral part of it. Common therapeutic strategies include neck dissection followed by extensive irradiation of pharyngeal mucosa and bilateral lymph node areas.

[Radiotherapy and urogenital Paget disease].

Urogenital Paget disease is usually treated by surgery. However, in case of recurrence or if multilating surgery is foreseen, radiotherapy seems to open a reasonable alternative. We report a successful treatment with radiotherapy in a patient with urogenital Paget's disease.

[Neoadjuvant chemotherapy in head and neck cancer].

Head and neck cancer represent 5% of all cancer and is often diagnosed at advanced stage. Treatment requires a multidisciplinary approach and relies on surgery, radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. In locally advanced disease, chemotherapy has been shown to improve survival, particularly when delivered concomitantly with radiotherapy (6.

[Monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of head and neck cancer].

Monoclonal antibodies are now part of the armamentarium available for the treatment of head and neck cancer. Cétuximab, a monoclonal antibody targeting EGFR, improves overall survival as compared with radiotherapy alone as radical treatment of locally advanced head and neck cancer. It is now reimbursed in Belgium after multidisciplinary discussion if cisplatin is contra-indicated.

[Head and neck tumors: standards of care and new approaches].

We intend to review the general value of radiotherapy in the management of head and neck cancer. Our aim is to define a treatment protocol which is evidence-based and therefore of use in daily clinical practice. There is general agreement on the efficacy of the concomitant schedules combining radiotherapy and chemotherapy, both in the adjuvant setting as well as in the exclusive non-surgical approach.

[How I treat...oropharyngeal mucositis associated with radiotherapy for head and neck cancer].

Oral mucositis the major acute effect of head and neck radiotherapy. According to the degree, irradiation may be compromised in dose and overall time with consequences on outcome. Up to now there is no standard accepted protocol.

[Mandibular osteoradionecrosis: sword of Damocles of radiotherapy for head and neck cancers?].

Radiotherapy of head and neck cancer is efficient but may have severe late effects. Although unfrequent, mandibular radionecrosis is the most dreadful. A cascade of events leads from hyposialia to bone destruction through extensive caries and trauma linked to tooth removal.

[Dosimetry of small-size photon beams].

A high performance standard radiotherapy treatment unit could be used to perform stereotactic radiosurgery. The dosimetric aspects of stereotactic irradiation with small size photon beams (energies from 5 to 25 MV produced by electron linear accelerator or gamma-rays produced by cobalt-60 treatment unit) are analyzed. The diameter of circular beams used are 5 to 40 millimeters wide at the isocenter of the treatment unit.

Reduction of the limitations for the calculations of shielding effects with Van de Geijn's computer program.

The possibilities for reducing in Van de Geijn's computer program the original limitations for the size and the position within the field of shielding blocks are explored. New methods are presented which are based on experimental measurements as well as more theoretical approaches, without need for any change in the program itself. Two typical clinical examples are presented and the precision obtained critically investigated.