Prone Positioning With Deep Inspiration Breath Hold for Left Breast Radiotherapy.

Background: With advances in treatment, outcomes for early-stage breast cancer are improving. We investigated the combination of prone position and deep inspiration breath hold to decrease cardiac doses for left-sided breast radiotherapy.

Material And Methods: Fifteen patients with left-sided breast cancer were enrolled on a single-institution prospective study.

Clinicopathological and Molecular Characteristics of Pleomorphic Invasive Lobular Carcinoma.

Pleomorphic invasive lobular carcinoma (PILC) is a distinct morphological and biologically aggressive variant of invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC). We hypothesized that was due to de novo activation of PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway in PILC resulting in higher proliferation rate and markers of cell cycle activation. We identified PILC and ILC tumors and tested for PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway activation by immunohistochemistry (PTEN and pS6K1) and gene expression analysis (by Nanostring nCounter system).

Pentoxifylline and vitamin E drug compliance after adjuvant breast radiation therapy.

Purpose: Breast fibrosis is a common late effect after therapeutic irradiation that can result in pain, poor cosmesis, and functional impairment. Randomized trials have demonstrated that radiation fibrosis may be preventable with a medication regimen of pentoxifylline and vitamin E. This study investigates patient compliance with pentoxifylline therapy while examining possible correlations to compliance.

Impact of prone versus supine positioning on small bowel dose with pelvic intensity modulated radiation therapy.

Purpose: To report the results of a prospective study that compares small bowel doses during prone and supine pelvic intensity modulated radiation therapy.

Methods And Materials: Ten patients receiving pelvic radiation therapy each had 2 intensity modulated radiation therapy plans generated: supine and prone on a belly board (PBB). Computed tomography on rails was performed weekly throughout treatment in both positions (10 scans per patient).

Role of Radiation Therapy in the Treatment of Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Radiation therapy has historically been the pillar of curative treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). With improved efficacy of systemic therapy and the ever-increasing recognition of treatment-related morbidity in long-term survivors, the role of radiotherapy has evolved significantly. Modern combined modality therapy (CMT) with multi-agent chemotherapy followed by involved site radiation therapy (ISRT) to initially involved sites of disease remains the gold standard for the majority of patients with HL.

Evaluation of impact of an external breast shield (FlexiShield) in electronic brachytherapy for breast IORT: A phantom study.

Purpose: To investigate Axxent (iCAD, Inc., San Jose, CA) electronic brachytherapy balloon deformation and its dosimetric impact because of an external flexible shield (FlexiShield [FS]; iCAD, Inc.).

Dosimetric evaluation of a "virtual" image-guidance alternative to explicit 6 degree of freedom robotic couch correction.

Purpose: Clinical evaluation of a "virtual" methodology for providing 6 degrees of freedom (6DOF) patient set-up corrections and comparison to corrections facilitated by a 6DOF robotic couch.

Methods: A total of 55 weekly in-room image-guidance computed tomographic (CT) scans were acquired using a CT-on-rails for 11 pelvic and head and neck cancer patients treated at our facility. Fusion of the CT-of-the-day to the simulation CT allowed prototype virtual 6DOF correction software to calculate the translations, single couch yaw, and beam-specific gantry and collimator rotations necessary to effectively reproduce the same corrections as a 6DOF robotic couch.

The role of radiation therapy in the control of locoregional and metastatic cancer.

High energy X-rays have been used for cancer therapy since their discovery in 1895. Major radiobiological discoveries and technological advances in radiation physics have greatly increased the accuracy of radiation. The recent integration of radiation therapy and imaging systems provides radiation oncologists with sophisticated dose delivery capability allowing continued improvements in the control of loco-regional and metastatic disease while decreasing toxicity.

Primary vaginal cancer and chemoradiotherapy: a patterns-of-care analysis.

Introduction: No prospective randomized trials exist to delineate the role of combined chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in the treatment of vaginal cancer (VC). We sought to describe the utilization rate of CRT and evaluate the potential survival benefit of CRT over radiotherapy alone in VC.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of the SEER-Medicare-linked database was performed analyzing women with VC treated with external beam radiation and/or brachytherapy and diagnosed between 1991 and 2005.

Evaluation of two tomotherapy-based techniques for the delivery of whole-breast intensity-modulated radiation therapy.

Purpose: To evaluate two different techniques for whole-breast treatments delivered using the Hi-ART II tomotherapy device.

Methods And Materials: Tomotherapy uses the standard rotational helical delivery. Topotherapy uses a stationary gantry while delivering intensity-modulated treatments.