Neoadjuvant radiotherapy dose escalation for locally advanced rectal cancers in the new era of radiotherapy: A review of literature.

Background: The standard treatment of locally advanced rectal cancers (LARC) consists on neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy followed by total mesorectal excision. Different data in literature showed a benefit on tumor downstaging and pathological complete response (pCR) rate using radiotherapy dose escalation, however there is shortage of studies regarding dose escalation using the innovative techniques for LARC (T3-4 or N1-2).

Aim: To analyze the role of neoadjuvant radiotherapy dose escalation for LARC using innovative radiotherapy techniques.

Almost one year of COVID-19 pandemic: how radiotherapy centers have counteracted its impact on cancer treatment in Lombardy, Italy. CODRAL/AIRO-L study.

Lombardy has represented the Italian and European epicenter of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Although most clinical efforts within hospitals were diverted towards the care of virally infected patients, therapies for patients with cancer, including radiotherapy (RT), have continued. During both the first and second pandemic waves, several national and regional organizations provided Italian and Lombardian RT departments with detailed guidelines aimed at ensuring safe treatments during the pandemic.

High-dose-rate brachytherapy as monotherapy for localized prostate cancer using three different doses - 14 years of single-centre experience.

Purpose: To evaluate clinical outcomes in patients with localized prostate cancer (LPC) treated with 3D conformal high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy (BT) as monotherapy.

Material And Methods: From March 2004 to November 2017, 277 men with LPC underwent 3D conformal HDR-BT as monotherapy, with a temporary implant. The dose prescription was: 38 Gy in 4 fractions (149 patients), 27 Gy in 2 fractions (41 patients), and 19-20 Gy in a single fraction (87 patients).

Management of grade 3 acute dermatitis with moist desquamation after adjuvant chest wall radiotherapy: a case report.

We reported a successful case management of G3 skin acute dermatitis in a 32-year-old woman affected by locally advanced breast cancer underwent adjuvant chest wall irradiation. Skin acute toxicity with dry desquamation areas was treated daily with dressing medication using physiological solution, oxygen therapy and applying hyaluronic acid gauze. At the end of radiotherapy treatment, G3 skin acute dermatitis with moist desquamation was observed, so the patient continued advanced wound dressing shifted to twice weekly with physiological solution, oxygen therapy and applying hydrocolloid dressing.

Back to (new) normality-A CODRAL/AIRO-L survey on cancer radiotherapy in Lombardy during Italian COVID-19 phase 2.

Background: Italy experienced one of the world's severest COVID-19 outbreak, with Lombardy being the most afflicted region. However, the imposed safety measures allowed to flatten the epidemic curve and hence to ease the restrictions and inaugurate, on the 4th of May 2020, the Italian phase (P) 2 of the pandemic. The present survey study, endorsed by CODRAL and AIRO-L, aimed to assess how radiotherapy (RT) departments in Lombardy have dealt with the recovery.

A national survey of AIRO (Italian Association of Radiation Oncology) brachytherapy (Interventional Radiotherapy) study group.

Purpose: To review brachytherapy resources and to explore current practice patterns in Italy.

Material And Methods: In 2016, on behalf of the Italian Association of Radiation Oncology (AIRO), the Brachytherapy Study Group proposed conducting a survey in order to identify brachytherapy practice patterns. An electronic questionnaire was sent to all radiotherapy centres in Italy, asking for: 1.

Equipment, staffing, and provision of radiotherapy in Lombardy, Italy: Results of three surveys performed between 2012 and 2016.

Introduction:: Several efforts are being implemented at the European level to measure provision of up-to-date radiation treatments across the continent.

Methods:: A snapshot survey involving all radiation oncology centers within Lombardy, Italy, was performed in 2012 and repeated in 2014 and 2016, in cooperation with regional governmental officers. Centers were asked to provide detailed information concerning all individual patients being treated on the index day, and to report data on available local resources.

Set-up errors in head and neck cancer treated with IMRT technique assessed by cone-beam computed tomography: a feasible protocol.

Purpose: To investigate set-up errors, suggest the adequate planning target volume (PTV) margin and image-guided radiotherapy frequency in head and neck (H&N) cancer treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) assessed by kV cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT).

Methods: We analyzed 360 CBCTs in 60 patients with H&N cancer treated with IMRT. The target delineation was contoured according to ICRU62.

Guidelines for the delineation of nodal regions of the head and neck on axial computed tomography images.

Delineation of target volumes is increasingly recognized as the most crucial step within the process of modern conformal radiotherapy. In the field of head and neck radiation oncology, the need for a standardized methodology in the delineation of nodal regions of the neck on computed tomography (CT) images has recently emerged. To address this issue, a consensus document has been prepared by the Head and Neck Working Party of the AIRO-Lombardia Cooperative Group, based on the proceedings of multidisciplinary meetings and on literature findings.

Accelerated radiation therapy for locally advanced squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity and oropharynx selected according to tumor cell kinetics--a phase II multicenter study.

Purpose: A Phase II multicenter trial testing an accelerated regimen of radiotherapy in locally advanced and inoperable cancers of the head and neck, in patients selected on the basis of 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine/DNA flow cytometry-derived tumor potential doubling time (Tpot).

Methods And Materials: From September 1992 to September 1993, 23 patients consecutively diagnosed to have locally advanced, inoperable carcinomas of the oral cavity and the oropharynx, with Tpot of < or = 5 days, received an accelerated radiotherapy regimen (AF) based on a modification of the concomitant boost technique: 2 Gy/fraction once a day, delivered 5 days a week up to 26 Gy, followed by 2 Gy/fraction twice a day, with a 6-h interval, one of the two fractions being delivered as a concomitant boost to reduced fields, up to 66 Gy total dose (off-cord reduction at 46 Gy), shortening the overall treatment time to 4.5 weeks.

[Radical radiotherapy in T2N0 glottic laryngeal carcinomas].

The present work analyzes the clinical results obtained at the Istituto del Radio in Brescia, Italy, using radiotherapy in the treatment of T2N0 glottic carcinomas. The analysis covers a sampling of 127 patients who had been treated using fixed field with 60Co or linear accelerator (high energy photons) technique delivering a minimum target dose of 60 Gy over the course of a 6-week period; 200 cGy a day. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate: treatment response 3 months after treatment was suspended using the WHO nomenclature; Overall Survival Rate and Actuarial Disease-Free Survival Rate at five and ten years from the end of treatment comparing the results obtained in cases of T2a and T2b; biological cost of treatment in terms of late recurrences.