Dosimetric Comparison of Isodose Surface Volume and Total Reference Air Kerma (TRAK) based Volume in Cervical Cancer Brachytherapy.

Objective: We aim to compare TRAK & TPS based isodose volumes in cervical cancer brachytherapy and assess the feasibility, accuracy and potential future implications of TRAK in this regard and as a newer emerging tool to assess treatment intensity in cervical cancer brachytherapy.

Methods: one hundred patients with histologically proven squamous cell carcinoma of cervix uteri were assessed for brachytherapy (after completion of external radiation) and prospectively enrolled for the study. 60 Gy, 75 Gy, and 85 Gy isodose volumes were obtained from the TPS (VTPS) for 50, 25 & 25 patients with Manchester, Fletcher & interstitial implant respectively, receiving various fractionation schedules by Ir192 HDR remote after-loading system.

Low mitochondrial DNA copy number is associated with poor prognosis and treatment resistance in glioblastoma.

Introduction: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content in several solid tumors was found to be lower than in their normal counterparts. However, there is paucity of literature on the clinical significance of mtDNA content in glioblastoma and its effect on treatment response. Hence, we studied the prognostic significance of mtDNA content in glioblastoma tumor tissue and the effect of mtDNA depletion in glioblastoma cells on response to treatment.

Aggressive Primary Pediatric Intracranial Malignant Melanoma: Sphinx of the Tissue Diagnosis.

It is often intriguing to suspect and confirm the diagnosis of primary malignant melanoma (PMM) in the brain without any evidence of neurocutaneous melanosis. We report a 16-year-old male patient with malignant melanoma which intraoperatively was small sized, soft, fleshy, hemorrhagic in appearance resembling hematoma. Interestingly, the histopathology showed prominent papillary architecture with a differential diagnosis of papillary meningioma and ependymoma and perplexed the tissue diagnosis.