A radiopaque polymer hydrogel used as a fiducial marker in gynecologic-cancer patients receiving brachytherapy.

Purpose: We assessed a novel Food and Drug Administration-approved hydrogel, synthesized as absorbable iodinated particles, in gynecologic-cancer patients undergoing computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance (MR) based brachytherapy after external beam radiation.

Methods And Materials: Nineteen patients underwent CT-guided (n = 13) or MR-guided (n = 6) brachytherapy for gynecologic cancers. Seventy-seven hydrogel injections were placed.

Longitudinal study of acute haematologic toxicity in cervical cancer patients treated with chemoradiotherapy.

Introduction: Acute hematologic toxicity (HT) limits optimal delivery of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for patients with pelvic malignancies. We tested the hypothesis that pelvic bone marrow (PBM) dose-volume metrics were associated with weekly reductions in peripheral blood cell counts in cervical cancer patients undergoing CRT.

Methods: We included 102 cervical cancer patients treated with concurrent cisplatin (40 mg/m(2) /week) and pelvic radiotherapy treated at three US centres.

Demystifying NUT midline carcinoma: radiologic and pathologic correlations of an aggressive malignancy.

Objective: NUT midline carcinoma is a rare poorly differentiated aggressive subtype of squamous cell carcinoma. To date, fewer than 100 total cases have been reported.

Conclusion: Given the rarity of this disease process and lack of pathognomonic imaging findings, a definitive diagnosis based solely on imaging findings alone is untenable.

Dosimetric consequences of interobserver variability in delineating the organs at risk in gynecologic interstitial brachytherapy.

Purpose: To investigate the dosimetric variability associated with interobserver organ-at-risk delineation differences on computed tomography in patients undergoing gynecologic interstitial brachytherapy.

Methods And Materials: The rectum, bladder, and sigmoid of 14 patients treated with gynecologic interstitial brachytherapy were retrospectively contoured by 13 physicians. Geometric variability was calculated using κ statistics, conformity index (CIgen), and coefficient of variation (CV) of volumes contoured across physicians.

Clinical outcomes for gastric cancer following adjuvant chemoradiation utilizing intensity modulated versus three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy.

Purpose/objectives: To determine if intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in the post-operative setting for gastric cancer was associated with reduced toxicity compared to 3D conformal radiation therapy (3DCRT).

Materials/methods: This retrospective study includes 24 patients with stage IB-IIIB gastric cancer consecutively treated from 2001-2010. All underwent surgery followed by adjuvant chemoradiation.

An analysis of patient characteristics and clinical outcomes in primary pulmonary sarcoma.

Introduction: Literature concerning primary pulmonary sarcomas (PPS) is limited to small case series. This study examines, in a large cohort, the clinical characteristics and therapeutic strategies of PPS and their impact on overall survival (OS).

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (1988-2008).

The many faces of Behçet's disease.

A 23-year-old man with fevers, night sweats, lymphadenopathy, worsening vision, and aphthous ulcers was diagnosed with Behçet's disease. Multiple diagnostic imaging modalities were used to identify various multisystem complications associated with Behçet's disease including vascular thomboses, mediastinal fibrosis, chylothoraces, chylopericardium and coronary artery aneurysms.

SMURF1 amplification promotes invasiveness in pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is a deadly disease, and new therapeutic targets are urgently needed. We previously identified DNA amplification at 7q21-q22 in pancreatic cancer cell lines. Now, by high-resolution genomic profiling of human pancreatic cancer cell lines and human tumors (engrafted in immunodeficient mice to enrich the cancer epithelial fraction), we define a 325 Kb minimal amplicon spanning SMURF1, an E3 ubiquitin ligase and known negative regulator of transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) growth inhibitory signaling.

Array-based comparative genomic hybridization identifies localized DNA amplifications and homozygous deletions in pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer, the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States, is frequently associated with the amplification and deletion of specific oncogenes and tumor-suppressor genes (TSGs), respectively. To identify such novel alterations and to discover the underlying genes, we performed comparative genomic hybridization on a set of 22 human pancreatic cancer cell lines, using cDNA microarrays measuring approximately 26,000 human genes (thereby providing an average mapping resolution of <60 kb). To define the subset of amplified and deleted genes with correspondingly altered expression, we also profiled mRNA levels in parallel using the same cDNA microarray platform.