Expanded Radiosurgery Capabilities Utilizing Gamma Knife Icon™.

The indications and techniques for the treatment of intracranial lesions continue to evolve with the advent of novel technologies. The Gamma Knife Icon™ (GK Icon™) is the most recent model available from Elekta, providing a frameless solution for stereotactic radiosurgery. At our institution, 382 patients with 3,213 separate intracranial lesions have been treated with frameless stereotactic radiotherapy using the GK Icon.

Prostate brachytherapy procedural training: incorporation of related procedures in resident training and competency assessment.

Purpose: Inadequate procedural training is of increasing concern in resident training, especially in prostate brachytherapy (PB). Transperineal rectal spacer placement (TRSP) requires many of the same proficiencies as PB. This work describes the assessment of teaching techniques focusing on developing critical competencies for PB using related clinical procedures (TRSP).

Changing equipoise in the landscape of radiation for oligometastatic lung cancer.

There is growing interest in exploring use of local therapies in the management of oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to provide durable local and distant disease control. Prospective phase II studies have incorporated local therapy (predominantly stereotactic ablative radiotherapy or SABR) to both primary and metastatic sites. For patients who received these treatments, median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) exceeded that of historical controls treated with systemic therapy alone (9.

Financial Toxicity and Cancer Therapy: A Primer for Radiation Oncologists.

The diagnosis and treatment of cancer places patients at risk for serious financial consequences, which are detrimental to overall health and well-being. The concept of financial toxicity (FT) describes monetary and health implications related to the financial burden of receiving care. To investigate this important area, the authors first explore aspects of the modern American health care insurance system that relate to cancer care.

Pharmacologic Ascorbate Reduces Radiation-Induced Normal Tissue Toxicity and Enhances Tumor Radiosensitization in Pancreatic Cancer.

: Chemoradiation therapy is the mainstay for treatment of locally advanced, borderline resectable pancreatic cancer. Pharmacologic ascorbate (P-AscH, i.e.

Safety and efficacy of concurrent immune checkpoint inhibitors and hypofractionated body radiotherapy.

Integration of hypofractionated body radiotherapy (H-RT) into immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy may be a promising strategy to improve the outcomes of ICIs, although sufficient data is lacking regarding the safety and efficacy of this regimen. We, hereby, reviewed the safety and efficacy of this combination in 59 patients treated with H-RT during or within 8 weeks of ICI infusion and compared results with historical reports of ICI treatment alone. Most patients had RCC or melanoma.

Magnetic resonance elastography of the pancreas: Measurement reproducibility and relationship with age.

Purpose: To determine magnetic resonance elastography (MRE)-derived stiffness of pancreas in healthy volunteers with emphasis on: 1) short term and midterm repeatability; and 2) variance as a function of age.

Methods: Pancreatic MRE was performed on 22 healthy volunteers (age range:20-64years) in a 3T-scanner. For evaluation of reproducibility of stiffness estimates, the scans were repeated per volunteer on the same day (short term) and one month apart (midterm).

In vivo quantification of myocardial stiffness in hypertensive porcine hearts using MR elastography.

Purpose: To determine alteration in left ventricular (LV) myocardial stiffness (MS) with hypertension (HTN). Cardiac MR elastography (MRE) was used to estimate MS in HTN induced pigs and MRE-derived MS measurements were compared against LV pressure, thickness and circumferential strain.

Materials And Methods: Renal-wrapping surgery was performed to induce HTN in eight pigs.

In vivo magnetic resonance elastography to estimate left ventricular stiffness in a myocardial infarction induced porcine model.

Purpose: To estimate change in left ventricular (LV) end-systolic and end-diastolic myocardial stiffness (MS) in pigs induced with myocardial infarction (MI) with disease progression using cardiac magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) and to compare it against ex vivo mechanical testing, LV circumferential strain, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) relaxometry parameters (T , T , and extracellular volume fraction [ECV]).

Materials And Methods: MRI (1.5T) was performed on seven pigs, before surgery (Bx), and 10 (D10), and 21 (D21) days after creating MI.

Measuring age-dependent myocardial stiffness across the cardiac cycle using MR elastography: A reproducibility study.

Purpose: To assess reproducibility in measuring left ventricular (LV) myocardial stiffness in volunteers throughout the cardiac cycle using MR elastography (MRE) and to determine its correlation with age.

Methods: Cardiac MRE (CMRE) was performed on 29 normal volunteers, with ages ranging from 21 to 73 years. For assessing reproducibility of CMRE-derived stiffness measurements, scans were repeated per volunteer.

Manganoporphyrins and ascorbate enhance gemcitabine cytotoxicity in pancreatic cancer.

Pharmacological ascorbate (AscH(-)) selectively induces cytotoxicity in pancreatic cancer cells vs normal cells via the generation of extracellular hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), producing double-stranded DNA breaks and ultimately cell death. Catalytic manganoporphyrins (MnPs) can enhance ascorbate-induced cytotoxicity by increasing the rate of AscH(-) oxidation and therefore the rate of generation of H2O2. We hypothesized that combining MnPs and AscH(-) with the chemotherapeutic agent gemcitabine would further enhance pancreatic cancer cell cytotoxicity without increasing toxicity in normal pancreatic cells or other organs.

Manganoporphyrins increase ascorbate-induced cytotoxicity by enhancing H2O2 generation.

Renewed interest in using pharmacological ascorbate (AscH-) to treat cancer has prompted interest in leveraging its cytotoxic mechanism of action. A central feature of AscH- action in cancer cells is its ability to act as an electron donor to O2 for generating H2O2. We hypothesized that catalytic manganoporphyrins (MnP) would increase AscH- oxidation rates, thereby increasing H2O2 fluxes and cytotoxicity.

Impact of SOD-Mimetic Manganoporphyrins on Spin Trapping of Superoxide and Related Artifacts.

The superoxide dismutase (SOD)-mimetic effectiveness of [meso-tetrakis (R)porphyrinato]manganese with R = 1,3-di--ethylimidazolium-2-yl (Mn-TDEIP), 1,3-di--methylimidazolium-2-yl (Mn-TDMIP), 1,3-di--propylimidazolium-2-yl (Mn-TDPIP), -ethyl-2-pyridyl (Mn-T2EPyP), 4-sulphonatophenyl (Mn-TSP), 1-methyl-4-pyridyl (Mn-T4PyP), 4-carboxyphenyl (Mn-TBAP), and β-octabromomeso-tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl porphyrinato)manganese (MnBrTBAP) was compared with Cu, Zn SOD. Superoxide generated by reaction of xanthine oxidase with hypoxanthine was trapped with 5-tert-butoxycarbonyl-5-methyl-1-pyrroline -oxide (BMPO), forming BMPO-OOH, which was monitored by electron paramagnetic resonance. Manganoporphyrins with redox potentials ranging from -0.