Sonographic elastography improves the sensitivity and specificity of axilla sampling in breast cancer: a prospective study.

We describe a study to determine whether elastography of axillary lymph nodes (LNs) combined with B-mode ultrasound (US) is capable of differentiating the benign from the metastatic state in patients with breast cancer. B-mode US, elastography and fine-needle aspiration of 90 axillary lymph nodes from 89 female patients with breast cancer are described in this report. Five elastographic patterns were observed as defined by the percentages of high elasticity according to pattern of distribution and degree of hardness of the target LNs.

Use of combined molecular biomarkers for prediction of clinical outcomes in locally advanced tonsillar cancers treated with chemoradiotherapy alone.

Background: Environmental exposures to tobacco, alcohol, human papillomavirus (HPV) and/or Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), all of which can perturb multiple cell cycle proteins or tumor suppressors, have been implicated in the pathogenesis of different subsets of head and neck cancers. The aim of this study was to investigate to which extent the virus infection by itself, and/or the altered cell cycle proteins, contributes to prognosis in locally advanced tonsillar squamous cell carcinomas (TSCCs) treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) alone.

Methods: Serial tumor tissue arrays from archival samples were tested for the presence of HPV genome integration or EBV episome by means of DNA sequencing, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and in situ hybridization.

A prognostic scoring system for locoregional control in nasopharyngeal carcinoma following conformal radiotherapy.

Purpose: This study established a prognostic scoring system for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), which estimates the probability of locoregional (LR) control following definitive conformal radiotherapy.

Methods And Materials: Patients with nondisseminated NPC at initial presentation (n = 630) were enrolled in this study. All patients had magnetic resonance imaging of the head and neck and were treated with conformal radiotherapy.

Sublethal irradiation induces vascular endothelial growth factor and promotes growth of hepatoma cells: implications for radiotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Purpose: To investigate the clinical benefit of additional radiotherapy to patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma treated with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and the molecular effects of radiation on gene expression in hepatoma cells.

Experimental Design: Between August 1996 and August 2003, 276 and 64 patients with American Joint Committee on Cancer stage T3N0M0 hepatocellular carcinoma receiving TACE alone and TACE followed by three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy, respectively, at our institution were studied. Clinical outcome and pattern of failure were analyzed for the association of survival benefit with radiotherapy.

Prognostic index score and clinical prediction model of local regional recurrence after mastectomy in breast cancer patients.

Purpose: To develop clinical prediction models for local regional recurrence (LRR) of breast carcinoma after mastectomy that will be superior to the conventional measures of tumor size and nodal status.

Methods And Materials: Clinical information from 1,010 invasive breast cancer patients who had primary modified radical mastectomy formed the database of the training and testing of clinical prognostic and prediction models of LRR. Cox proportional hazards analysis and Bayesian tree analysis were the core methodologies from which these models were built.

Breast cancer and dietary factors in Taiwanese women.

Objectives: To examine the effect of the consumption of dietary factors on the risk of breast cancer in a case-control study in Taiwan.

Methods: Two-hundred-and-fifty cases and 219 age-matched controls between the ages of 25 and 74 were interviewed in person between 1996 and 1999. Usual consumption of dietary habits including 100 foods was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire and a nutrient database developed and validated in Taiwanese populations.

Extended-field radiotherapy and high-dose-rate brachytherapy with concurrent and adjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy for locally advanced cervical cancer: a phase I/II study.

Objective: The purpose of this prospective study was to investigate the toxicity and efficacy of integrating extended-field para-aortic and pelvic external radiation, high-dose-rate intracavity brachytherapy, and concurrent and adjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy for locally advanced cervical cancer.

Method: A phase I/II study was performed from 1998 to 2003 including sixty-three patients with both clinical FIGO and MRI/CT-based TNM stage IIB-IVA cervical cancer. Patients were treated with extended-field external radiation to the para-aortic and pelvic regions with 45 Gy in 25 fractions, and an additional boost to the gross nodes to 50.

How aggressive should we be in patients with stage IV colorectal cancer?

Purpose: The prognosis for metastatic colorectal cancer is grave. Whether to perform surgical resection or palliative treatment remains controversial for this advanced disease. In this retrospective study, we collected data from patients with Stage IV colorectal cancer to identify prognostic factors for predicting selection criteria for surgical treatment in patients with metastatic disease.

Dosimetric analysis and comparison of three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy and intensity-modulated radiation therapy for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and radiation-induced liver disease.

Purpose: This study compares the difference in dose-volume data between three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and previously documented radiation-induced liver disease (RILD) after 3D-CRT.

Materials And Methods: Between November 1993 and December 1999, 68 patients with HCC were treated with 3D-CRT at our institution. Twelve of them were diagnosed with RILD within 4 months of completion of 3D-CRT.

Improvement of local control of T3 and T4 nasopharyngeal carcinoma by hyperfractionated radiotherapy and concomitant chemotherapy.

Purpose: When the primary tumor of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is treated at the base of skull and intracranium with conventional radiotherapy, the result is generally poor. In this report, we investigated whether hyperfractionated radiotherapy (HFRT) and concomitant chemotherapy (CCT) could achieve better local control and survival in NPC patients with T3 and T4 lesions.

Patients And Methods: Forty-eight patients (11 T3 and 37 T4 NPC) were treated with HFRT and CCT.

Locoregional failure of postmastectomy patients with 1-3 positive axillary lymph nodes without adjuvant radiotherapy.

Purpose: To analyze the incidence and risk factors for locoregional recurrence (LRR) in patients with breast cancer who had T1 or T2 primary tumor and 1-3 histologically involved axillary lymph nodes treated with modified radical mastectomy without adjuvant radiotherapy (RT).

Materials And Methods: Between April 1991 and December 1998, 125 patients with invasive breast cancer were treated with modified radical mastectomy and were found to have 1-3 positive axillary nodes. The median number of nodes examined was 17 (range 7-33).