Reducing posttreatment dysphagia: Support for the relationship between radiation dose to the pharyngeal constrictors and swallowing outcomes.

Purpose: This study used prospective swallowing data to establish the following: (1) whether doses to the pharyngeal constrictor muscles (PCMs) were significantly associated with swallowing outcomes; and (2) a mean dose constraint to aim for in intensity modulated radiation therapy planning.

Methods And Materials: The PCMs were contoured and radiation dose data obtained for 55 patients with head and neck cancer. Associations between radiation dose and percentage of pharyngeal residue, penetration-aspiration and activity limitation measured at 6 months posttreatment were analyzed.

Practicalities of developing a breast magnetic resonance imaging screening service for women at high risk for breast cancer.

Background: Demand for screening breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for women with a hereditary predisposition to breast cancer has increased since the introduction of a medicare item number. To aid future service planning, we examined the practicalities of establishing and running a breast MRI screening programme for high risk women and to describe the early outcomes of our screening programme.

Methods: We undertook a retrospective audit of prospectively collected data.

Clinical experience of the first digital mammographic unit in Australia in its first year of use.

In April 2004, Melbourne's Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Australia's only stand-alone dedicated cancer hospital, became the first Australian site to offer digital mammography (DM). In the first year of DM operation, 1208 mammograms were performed on 1157 women; 17 new cases of invasive carcinoma and six new cases of ductal carcinoma-in-situ (DCIS) were detected; and 30 hook-wire needle localisations were conducted in 29 patients. We developed a unit policy to manage indeterminate microcalcifications newly demonstrated on DM that were not previously detected by conventional screen-film mammography (CM): those believed to have malignant morphology were recommended for biopsy, and those without were recommended for 6-month DM follow-up to confirm microcalcification stability.