Radiation therapy for painful heel spurs: results of a prospective randomized study.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of two different dose-fractionation schedules for radiation therapy (RT) in patients with painful heel spurs.

Patients And Methods: 130 patients were randomized into two groups: the low-dose (LD) group (n = 65 heels) received a total dose of 3.0 Gy given in two weekly fractions of 0.

[Functional outcome after megavoltage irradiation for heel spurs].

Purpose: To evaluate results on the functional outcome and to determine prognostic factors and long-term response to low-dose megavoltage irradiation.

Patients And Methods: A total dose of 6.0 Gy given in two weekly fractions of 1.

Neoadjuvant interstitial high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy combined with systemic chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer.

Background And Purpose: This is the first study investigating neoadjuvant interstitial high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy combined with chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer. The goal was to evaluate the type of surgical treatment, histopathologic response, side effects, local control, and survival.

Patients And Methods: 53 patients, who could not be treated with breast-conserving surgery due to initial tumor size (36/53) or due to an unfavorable breast-tumor ratio (17/53), were analyzed retrospectively.

Quantitative PSA RT-PCR for preoperative staging of prostate cancer.

Background: The clinical value of detecting prostate specific antigen (PSA) mRNA in the peripheral blood mononuclear cell fraction of patients (pts) by standard RT-PCR assays with localized prostate cancer remains controversial. We used a quantitative RT-PCR assay to measure the PSA mRNA copy number in addition to the qualitative PSA RT-PCR and correlated the results with clinical parameters.

Methods: Total RNA was extracted from the peripheral blood mononuclear cell fraction of 115 prostate cancer pts prior to radical retropubic prostatectomy (RP) who received 3 months of neoadjuvant androgen deprivation.

Human kallikrein 2 (hK2) mRNA in peripheral blood of patients with thyroid cancer: a novel molecular marker?

Purpose: To elucidate whether hK2 mRNA can be detected in peripheral blood of patients with thyroid disease using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

Methods: A nested RT-PCR protocol for the detection of hK2 mRNA was established, and blood samples of 72 patients with a history of thyroid cancer, 10 patients with current metastases of thyroid cancer, and 32 volunteers were tested.

Results: hK2-transcripts were significantly more often detected in patients with thyroid cancer (20/72=28%) than in the control group (2/32=6%, P = 0.