Pudendal nerve and internal pudendal artery damage may contribute to radiation-induced erectile dysfunction.

Purpose/objectives: Erectile dysfunction is common after radiation therapy for prostate cancer; yet, the etiopathology of radiation-induced erectile dysfunction (RI-ED) remains poorly understood. A novel animal model was developed to study RI-ED, wherein stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) was used to irradiate the prostate, neurovascular bundles (NVB), and penile bulb (PB) of dogs. The purpose was to describe vascular and neurogenic injuries after the irradiation of only the NVB or the PB, and after irradiation of all 3 sites (prostate, NVB, and PB) with varying doses of radiation.

The growth of academic radiation oncology: a survey of endowed professorships in radiation oncology.

Purpose: The academic health of a medical specialty can be gauged by the level of university support through endowed professorships.

Methods And Materials: We conducted a survey of the 86 academic programs in radiation oncology to determine the current status of endowed chairs in this discipline.

Results: Over the past decade, the number of endowed chairs has more than doubled, and it has almost tripled over the past 13 years.

American Society of Clinical Oncology 2008 clinical practice guideline update: use of chemotherapy and radiation therapy protectants.

Purpose: To update a clinical practice guideline on the use of chemotherapy and radiation therapy protectants for patients with cancer.

Methods: An update committee reviewed literature published since the last guideline update in 2002.

Results: Thirty-nine reports met the inclusion criteria: palifermin and dexrazoxane, three reports (two studies) each; amifostine, 33 reports (31 studies); and mesna, no published randomized trials identified since 2002.

Influence of intravenous amifostine on xerostomia, tumor control, and survival after radiotherapy for head-and- neck cancer: 2-year follow-up of a prospective, randomized, phase III trial.

Purpose: To evaluate chronic xerostomia and tumor control 18 and 24 months after initial treatment with amifostine in a randomized controlled trial of patients with head-and-neck cancer; at 12 months after radiotherapy (RT), amifostine had been shown to reduce xerostomia without changing tumor control.

Methods And Materials: Adults with head-and-neck cancer who underwent once-daily RT for 5-7 weeks (total dose, 50-70 Gy) received either open-label amifostine (200 mg/m2 i.v.

A prospective, nonrandomized study of the impact of amifostine on subsequent hypothyroidism in irradiated patients with head and neck cancers.

The daily administration of subcutaneous amifostine to patients with head and neck cancers before each radiation fraction may reduce the long-term incidence of hypothyroidism (HT) after radiotherapy to the neck and may provide an additional indication for amifostine (Ethyol) use. Cancers of the head and neck afflict 40,000 patients yearly in the United States, and radiotherapy plays a pivotal role in the management of at least half of these patients. Patients commonly are treated with radiation alone, combined surgery and radiation, or definitive chemoradiotherapy.

Gross tumor volume, critical prognostic factor in patients treated with three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy for non-small-cell lung carcinoma.

Purpose: Three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) has recently become widely available with applications for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). These techniques represent a significant advance in the delivery of radiotherapy, including improved ability to delineate target contours, choose beam angles, and determine dose distributions more accurately than were previously available. The purpose of this study is to identify prognostic factors in a population of NSCLC patients treated with definitive 3D-CRT.