Simultaneous integrated boost for adjuvant treatment of breast cancer--intensity modulated vs. conventional radiotherapy: the IMRT-MC2 trial.

Background: Radiation therapy is an essential modality in the treatment of breast cancer. Addition of radiotherapy to surgery has significantly increased local control and survival rates of the disease. However, radiotherapy is also associated with side effects, such as tissue fibrosis or enhanced vascular morbidity.

IMRT for postoperative treatment of gastric cancer: covering large target volumes in the upper abdomen: a comparison of a step-and-shoot and an arc therapy approach.

Purpose: Data from the randomized Intergroup Trial 116 suggest effectiveness of adjuvant radiochemotherapy in patients with advanced gastric cancer. Late toxicity, however, especially with respect to the kidneys, may pose significant longtime problems. Intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) may reduce toxicity to organs at risk.

Should patients with locally advanced, non-metastatic carcinoma of the pancreas be irradiated?

A small number of patients exist with carcinoma of the pancreas with an inoperable but not metastasized tumor. Prospective randomized studies defined the standard of combined radiochemotherapy during the early 1980s for these patients. Since then, new drugs have shown considerable activity and in parallel improvements in radiotherapy treatment planning and delivery have been achieved.

Optimization of dose distributions for adjuvant locoregional radiotherapy of gastric cancer by IMRT.

Background And Purpose: Locoregional relapse is a problem frequently encountered with advanced gastric cancer. Data from the randomized Intergroup trial 116 suggest effectiveness of adjuvant radiochemotherapy, albeit with significant toxicity. The potential of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) to reduce toxicity by significantly reducing maximum and median doses to organs at risk while still applying sufficient dose to the target volume in the upper abdomen was studied.