Postoperative management in laryngeal cancer with subglottic extension and histologically negative nodes: which patients need adjuvant radiotherapy?

We conducted a study of 19 patients who had laryngeal cancer with subglottic extension (LCSE) and pathologically negative lymph nodes (pN0) following total laryngectomy and neck dissection (TLND). These patients had undergone surgery during a 17-year period from 1986 through 2002. Of this group, 9 did not receive postoperative radiotherapy (non-RT group) and 10 did (RT group).

How intensive should radiotherapy for head and neck cancer with synchronous distant metastases be? Review of cases.

Purpose: Given the differences in treatment objectives among oncologists and complexities of standards of therapy for advanced head and neck cancer (HNC), we sought to determine whether HNC patients with simultaneous distant metastases (M1) benefit from aggressive therapeutic intervention.

Materials And Methods: Among the 1,988 patients diagnosed with HNC during a 22-year period, 7 patients with synchronous M1 tumors were identified. Of these individuals, 4 were treated with a prolonged course of radiotherapy for HNC (group A) and 3 were not (group B).

Does the negative node count affect disease-free survival in early-stage oral cavity cancer?

Purpose: We performed a retrospective study to determine whether there is a relationship between disease-free survival and negative lymph node count in patients with resected early-stage oral cavity cancers.

Materials And Methods: Of the 526 individuals diagnosed with carcinoma of the oral cavity between 1998 and 2005, 52 had undergone primary tumor resection and lymph node dissection of the neck for stage I or II disease. With a mean count of 27 examined negative nodes, these 52 patients were separated into groups with fewer than 27 or > or = 27 uninvolved lymph nodes and compared for disease-free survival.

Paraplegia of spinal epidural compression by metastatic breast cancer and urgent radiotherapy-timeliness for naught?

Four patients who became paraplegic because of spinal epidural compression by metastatic breast cancer were treated for palliation by external beam radiation. None of the four regained ambulation after therapy. Our findings place in question the urgent need for radiotherapy in these paralytic people with the disorder, especially when they are pain-free.

Post-laryngectomy stomal cancer recurrences, re-treatment decisions and outcomes: case series.

Objective: Post-laryngectomy stomal cancer recurrences pose management problems because aggressive therapeutic interventions have already often been employed. The purpose of this study is to describe the extent of peristomal cancer relapses, treatment decisions and patient outcomes.

Methods: Of the 429 individuals who underwent total laryngectomy for laryngeal cancer between 1985 and 2005, 11 patients developed recurrent tumour in the tracheal stoma.

Adhesion molecules in radiotherapy.

Recent studies have documented changes in adhesion molecule expression and function after exposure to ionizing radiation. Adhesion molecules mediate cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions and are essential for a variety of physiological and pathological processes including maintenance of normal tissue integrity as well as tumor development and progression. Consequently, modulation of adhesion molecules by radiation may have a role in radiation-induced tumor control and normal tissue damage by interfering with cell signaling, radioresistance, metastasis, angiogenesis, carcinogenesis, immune response, inflammation and fibrosis.