A retrospective study of induction chemotherapy with docetaxel, cisplatinum, and 5-fluorouracil followed by concurrent radiotherapy with cetuximab in locally advanced head and neck cancer.

Background: The objective was to study the results of induction chemotherapy followed by external beam radiation therapy with concurrent cetuximab in the treatment of locally advanced head and neck cancer.

Methods: Seventeen patients with stage III or IV squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck who received docetaxel, cisplatinum, and 5-fluorouracil followed by radiation therapy with concurrent cetuximab were retrospectively analyzed. All radiation was delivered with image-guided intensity-modulated radiation treatments.

Treatment of recurrent high grade gliomas with hypofractionated stereotactic image-guided helical tomotherapy.

Objective: Salvage treatment of high grade gliomas that progress after standard therapy of resection and adjuvant chemoradiation therapy includes repeat surgical resection, second line chemotherapy, re-irradiation, or often a combination of the above. We present a series on patients treated with hypofractionated stereotactic image-guided helical tomotherapy and discuss the efficacy of this new technology in the treatment of high grade gliomas.

Materials And Methods: Between June 2005 and August of 2008, eight patients with recurrent high grade gliomas were treated with salvage radiation therapy using hypofractionated stereotactic image-guided helical tomotherapy after image documentation of disease progression.

Durable complete response of refractory, progressing metastatic melanoma after treatment with a patient-specific vaccine.

A patient with metastatic melanoma who experienced a durable complete response after treatment with a patient-specific vaccine has been described in this article. This 59-year-old woman presented with cervical spine metastases and, within the year, had experienced local disease progression and, despite various therapies, metastases to the axilla, rectum, gall bladder, and multiple soft-tissue sites. She had previously received radiation therapy, combination chemotherapy, interleukin-2 plus interferon biotherapy, and gamma knife radiosurgery, and undergone multiple surgical resections.

Overall survival benefit from postoperative radiation therapy for organ-confined, margin-positive prostate cancer.

Purpose: Radical prostatectomy for invasive prostate cancer is associated with positive margin rates in 10% to 50% of resected specimens. Postoperative radiation therapy may benefit patients who have organ-confined prostate cancer with positive margins.

Methods And Materials: We performed a retrospective analysis to examine whether adjunctive radiation therapy enhanced long-term survival for prostate cancer patients who underwent prostatectomy for localized prostate cancer but with positive margins.

Image-guided helical Tomotherapy for treatment of spine tumors.

Objectives: One of the most common indications for radiotherapy is treatment of the spine. The vast majority of cases are related to metastatic disease with primary tumors of the spine being rare. Conventional radiation therapy often plays an important role in the management of spine tumors although at times with significant side effects and disadvantages.