Oropharyngeal candidiasis caused by non-albicans yeast in patients receiving external beam radiotherapy for head-and-neck cancer.

Purpose: To characterize non-albicans Candida oral infections in patients with head-and-neck cancer receiving external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) with or without concurrent chemotherapy.

Methods And Materials: Thirty-seven patients with head-and-neck cancer received EBRT in 2.0-Gy daily fractions to a median dose of 60.

Concomitant weekly cisplatin and thoracic radiotherapy for Pancoast tumors of the lung: pilot experience of the San Antonio Cancer Institute.

Pancoast (superior sulcus tumors) comprise a subset of non-small-cell lung cancers that have a unique clinical presentation by virtue of the locoregional pattern of disease progression. We herein report a brief report on our group's pilot experience in managing these challenging lung neoplasms with an aggressive concomitant modality approach. These results and those of the recent Southwest Oncology-lead Intergroup prospective phase 2 trial (SWOG-9416/INT-0160) support the use of concomitant chemoradiation followed by an attempt at surgical resection.

Influence of radiotherapy on 6-sulphatoxymelatonin levels in the urine of brain cancer patients.

OBJECTIVES: The synthesis of melatonin, an endogenous compound synthesized by the pineal gland in the brain, is reported to be depressed in patients with primary cancers of the breast, prostate, stomach and rectum. It is not known whether patients with brain cancer exhibit altered melatonin synthesis. Also unknown is whether radiotherapy given to the region of the brain where the pineal gland is located affects the synthesis of melatonin.