Evaluation of Heart Dose for Left-Sided Breast Cancer Patients Over an 11-Year Period Spanning the Transition From 2-Dimensional to 3-Dimensional Planning.

Introduction/background: We evaluated heart dose from left breast radiotherapy with 2-dimensional (2D) versus 3-dimensional (3D) plans.

Patients And Methods: Treatment plans from patients treated with standard fractionation for left breast cancer from 2003 to 2013 were reviewed, with patients grouped into 3 cohorts: 2003 to 2004 ("2D", with computed tomography scans for dose calculation but fields defined using simulation films; n = 29), 2005 to 2006 ("2D-post," after several influential articles on heart dose were published; n = 31), and 2007 to 2013 ("3D"; n = 256). All patients were treated with free-breathing technique.

Dose-Response Relationships for Meningioma Radiosurgery.

Objective: Dose-response relationships for meningioma radiosurgery are poorly characterized. We evaluated determinants of local recurrence for meningiomas treated with Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKRS), to guide future treatment approaches to optimize tumor control.

Materials And Methods: A total of 101 consecutive patients (108 tumors) who underwent GKRS for benign, atypical, or malignant meningiomas between 1998 and 2011 were studied.

Inverse Planned High-Dose-Rate Brachytherapy for Locoregionally Advanced Cervical Cancer: 4-Year Outcomes.

Purpose: Evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of image guided brachytherapy using inverse planning simulated annealing (IPSA) high-dose-rate brachytherapy (HDRB) boost for locoregionally advanced cervical cancer.

Methods And Materials: From December 2003 through September 2009, 111 patients with primary cervical cancer were treated definitively with IPSA-planned HDRB boost (28 Gy in 4 fractions) after external radiation at our institution. We performed a retrospective review of our experience using image guided brachytherapy.

Is there a role for an external beam boost in cervical cancer radiotherapy?

Objectives: Some patients are medically unfit for or averse to undergoing a brachytherapy boost as part of cervical cancer radiotherapy. In order to be able to definitively treat these patients, we assessed whether we could achieve a boost plan that would mimic our brachytherapy plans using external beam radiotherapy.

Methods: High dose rate brachytherapy plans of 20 patients with stage IIB cervical cancer treated with definitive chemoradiotherapy were included in this study.

Comparison of three-dimensional versus intensity-modulated radiotherapy techniques to treat breast and axillary level III and supraclavicular nodes in a prone versus supine position.

Background And Purpose: To determine the optimal method of targeting breast and regional nodes in selected breast cancer patients after axillary dissection, we compared the results of IMRT versus no IMRT, and CT-informed versus clinically-placed fields, in supine and prone positions.

Materials And Methods: Twelve consecutive breast cancer patients simulated both prone and supine provided the images for this study. Four techniques were used to target breast, level III axilla, and supraclavicular fossa in either position: a traditional three-field three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) plan, a four-field 3DCRT plan using a posterior axillary boost field, and two techniques using a CT-informed target volume consisting of an optimized 3DCRT plan (CT-planned 3D) and an intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plan.

Comparison of daily cone-beam computed tomography and kilovoltage planar imaging for target localization in prostate cancer patients following radical prostatectomy.

Purpose: To review our initial clinical experience with image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) for prostate bed localization in post-radical prostatectomy (RP) patients and to compare shift and acute toxicity results to our previously published IGRT experience with daily kV planar imaging.

Methods And Materials: Fifty patients treated with intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) who had image guidance using either CBCT (n = 23) or kV planar imaging (n = 27) following RP were analyzed. Shifts were recorded in anterior-posterior, superior-inferior, and left-right axes.

Head and neck radiotherapy compliance in an underserved patient population.

Objectives/hypothesis: Compliance to intensive multiweek radiation therapy (RT) regimens in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients is challenging, particularly among medically underserved patients with fewer financial and social resources. Treatment prolongation reduces local control and overall survival rates, making adherence to treatment a key factor in optimal outcome. We evaluated factors affecting compliance in medically underserved patients who received RT for HNC in a large municipal hospital setting in New York City.

Mosquito abundance is correlated with cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) colony size.

We measured the abundance of mosquitoes [primarily Aedes vexans (Meigen) and Culex tarsalis Coquillett] at cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota Vieillot) colonies of different sizes in southwestern Nebraska in 1999. Using CO2 traps placed inside and outside of colonies, we found that total mosquito abundance increased significantly with the number of active cliff swallow nests at a colony site. We found no effect of date or weather conditions on the number of mosquitoes caught it the different sites.