Intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy using cisplatin with radiotherapy for Stage III squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix.

Purpose: To examine the effectiveness of concomitant intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy (IAIC) using cisplatin (CDDP) with radiotherapy for Stage III squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix.

Materials And Methods: We analyzed 29 cases of Stage III squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix treated with radiotherapy and IAIC of CDDP from 1991 to 2006. External-beam therapy was given to the whole pelvis using four opposing parallel fields with an 18-MV linear accelerator unit.

Radiation therapy for esophageal cancer in Japan: results of the Patterns of Care Study 1999-2001.

Purpose: To describe patient characteristics and the process of radiotherapy (RT) for patients with esophageal cancer treated between 1999 and 2001 in Japan.

Methods And Materials: The Japanese Patterns of Care Study (PCS) Working Group conducted a third nationwide survey of 76 institutions. Detailed information was accumulated on 621 patients with thoracic esophageal cancer who received RT.

Survey of stereotactic body radiation therapy in Japan by the Japan 3-D Conformal External Beam Radiotherapy Group.

Purpose: To recognize the current status of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) in Japan, using a nationwide survey conducted by the Japan 3-D Conformal External Beam Radiotherapy Group.

Methods And Materials: The questionnaire was sent by mail to 117 institutions. Ninety-four institutions (80%) responded by the end of November 2005.

National structure of radiation oncology in Japan with special reference to designated cancer care hospitals.

Background: The structure of radiation oncology in designated cancer care hospitals in Japan was investigated in terms of equipment, personnel, patient load, and geographic distribution, and compared with the structure in other radiotherapy facilities.

Methods: The Japanese Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (JASTRO) conducted a questionnaire survey about the national structure of radiation oncology in 2005. In the current study, the structures of 326 designated cancer care hospitals and the other 386 radiotherapy facilities in Japan were compared.

Clinical outcomes of stereotactic body radiotherapy for small lung lesions clinically diagnosed as primary lung cancer on radiologic examination.

Purpose: Image-guided biopsy occasionally fails to diagnose small lung lesions, which are highly suggestive of primary lung cancer. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the outcome of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for small lung lesions that were clinically diagnosed as primary lung cancer without pathologic confirmation.

Methods And Materials: A total of 115 patients were treated with SBRT in 12 institutions.

Dose-response relationship and dose optimization in radiotherapy of postoperative keloids.

Background And Purpose: The treatment dose and fractionation dose that are considered in postoperative keloids had been reported in the previous studies. We performed retrospective analysis to elucidate the factors influencing the treatment outcome.

Materials And Methods: From 1979 to 1994, 194 lesions in 119 patients received postoperative radiotherapy after excision with the total dose ranging from 16 Gy/8 fr to 40 Gy/8 fr (mean: biologically effective dose (BED) 33.

Geometrical differences in target volumes between slow CT and 4D CT imaging in stereotactic body radiotherapy for lung tumors in the upper and middle lobe.

Since stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) was started for patients with lung tumor in 1998 in our institution, x-ray fluoroscopic examination and slow computed tomography (CT) scan with a rotation time of 4 s have been routinely applied to determine target volumes. When lung tumor motion observed with x-ray fluoroscopy is larger than 8 mm, diaphragm control (DC) is used to reduce tumor motion during respiration. After the installation of a four-dimensional (4D) CT scanner in 2006, 4D CT images have been supplementarily acquired to determine target volumes.

Time-dependent cell disintegration kinetics in lung tumors after irradiation.

We study the time-dependent disintegration kinetics of tumor cells that did not survive radiotherapy treatment. To evaluate the cell disintegration rate after irradiation, we studied the volume changes of solitary lung tumors after stereotactic radiotherapy. The analysis is performed using two approximations: (1) tumor volume is a linear function of the total cell number in the tumor and (2) the cell disintegration rate is governed by the exponential decay with constant risk, which is defined by the initial cell number and a half-life T(1/2).

Japanese structure survey of radiation oncology in 2005 based on institutional stratification of patterns of care study.

Purpose: To evaluate the structure of radiation oncology in Japan in terms of equipment, personnel, patient load, and geographic distribution to identify and improve any deficiencies.

Methods And Materials: A questionnaire-based national structure survey was conducted between March 2006 and February 2007 by the Japanese Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology. These data were analyzed in terms of the institutional stratification of the Patterns of Care Study.

Stereotactic body radiotherapy for oligometastatic lung tumors.

Purpose: Since 1998, we have treated primary and oligometastatic lung tumors with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). The term "oligometastasis" is used to indicate a small number of metastases limited to an organ. We evaluated our clinical experience of SBRT for oligometastatic lung tumors.

Comparisons of the impact of systematic uncertainties in patient setup and prostate motion on doses to the target among different plans for definitive external-beam radiotherapy for prostate cancer.

Background: We aimed to compare the impact of systematic uncertainties in patient setup and prostate motion on three different external-beam radiotherapy protocols for prostate cancer.

Methods: To simulate possible near-maximum systematic errors, the isocenter position was shifted to eight points with +/-1.65 SD of the integrated uncertainty value along each axis that was expected to include 5%-95% of the total systematic uncertainties in each direction.

Evaluation of mass-like consolidation after stereotactic body radiation therapy for lung tumors.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of mass-like consolidation of the lung on computed tomography (CT) after stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) retrospectively.

Methods: Forty lung tumors in 37 patients who underwent SBRT were evaluated. Mass-like consolidation was defined as a dense consolidation that newly appeared over or around the original tumor, which included radiation-induced lung injury (RILI) and local recurrence.

Hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (HypoFXSRT) for stage I non-small cell lung cancer: updated results of 257 patients in a Japanese multi-institutional study.

Introduction: Hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (HypoFXSRT) has recently been used for the treatment of small lung tumors. We retrospectively analyzed the treatment outcome of HypoFXSRT for stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated in a Japanese multi-institutional study.

Methods: This is a retrospective study to review 257 patients with stage I NSCLC (median age, 74 years: 164 T1N0M0, 93 T2N0M0) were treated with HypoFXSRT alone at 14 institutions.

Radiotherapy for Erdheim-Chester disease.

A 42-year-old woman suffered from pain in both legs, and fever. She was diagnosed with Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD), based upon bone biopsy. Initially, she received steroid therapy, which led to temporary improvement.

Current status of stereotactic body radiotherapy for lung cancer.

Stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) for extracranial tumors has been recently performed to treat lung and liver cancers, and has subsequently been named stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). The advantages of hypofractionated radiotherapy for treating lung tumors are a shortened treatment course that requires fewer trips to the clinic than a conventional program, and the adoption of a smaller irradiated volume allowed by greater setup precision. This treatment is possible because the lung and liver are considered parallel organs at risk.

Interinstitutional variations in planning for stereotactic body radiation therapy for lung cancer.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess interinstitutional variations in planning for stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for lung cancer before the start of the Japan Clinical Oncology Group (JCOG) 0403 trial.

Methods And Materials: Eleven institutions created virtual plans for four cases of solitary lung cancer. The created plans should satisfy the target definitions and the dose constraints for the JCOG 0403 protocol.

[Impact of optimization algorithms on the intensity map in IMRT treatment planning.].

In inverse planning of IMRT, optimum intensity maps are generated using an optimization algorithm. In this paper, impacts of two different optimization algorithms on the intensity map in IMRT treatment planning were evaluated. These were from the steepest descent (SD) and simulated annealing (SA) methods.

Avascular necrosis of bilateral femoral head as a result of long-term steroid administration for radiation pneumonitis after tangential irradiation of the breast.

We report a patient with avascular necrosis of the bilateral femoral head resulting from long-term steroid administration for radiation pneumonitis that occurred after tangential irradiation of the breast. The patient was a 50-year-old postmenopausal woman with breast cancer, stage IIIB (T4bN0M0) in the right C area. Following wide excision of right breast carcinoma and level III axillary lymph node dissection, whole-breast X-ray irradiation was given, at a dose of 2 Gy per fraction; the total dose was 50 Gy.

Results of radiation therapy combined with neoadjuvant hormonal therapy for stage III prostate cancer: comparison of two different definitions of PSA failure.

Background: We herein report the clinical outcome of radical radiation therapy combined with neoadjuvant hormonal therapy (NHT) for stage III (International Union Against Cancer [UICC] 1997: UICC 97) prostate cancer. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) failure-free survival was assessed according to two different definitions, and the appropriateness of each definition is discussed.

Methods: Between October 1997 and December 2000, 27 patients with stage III prostate cancer were enrolled in this study.

A case of metachronous bilateral breast cancer with bilateral radiation pneumonitis after breast-conserving therapy.

We report a patient with metachronous bilateral breast cancer who has twice developed radiation pneumonitis after breast-conserving therapy for each breast. The patient was a 48-year-old woman, who presented with Stage I right breast cancer. After wide excision of the right breast tumor and dissection of level I axillary lymph nodes, systemic therapy with oral 5-FU and tamoxifen was started.

Development of a four-dimensional image-guided radiotherapy system with a gimbaled X-ray head.

Purpose: To develop and evaluate a new four-dimensional image-guided radiotherapy system, which enables precise setup, real-time tumor tracking, and pursuit irradiation.

Methods And Materials: The system has an innovative gimbaled X-ray head that enables small-angle (+/-2.4 degrees ) rotations (pan and tilt) along the two orthogonal gimbals.

Characteristics of patients who developed radiation pneumonitis requiring steroid therapy after stereotactic irradiation for lung tumors.

Background: To find possible risk factors for symptomatic radiation pneumonitis (RP) after stereotactic irradiation (STI) for peripheral non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), pre-treatment pulmonary function test and dose volume statistics in patients who developed RP requiring steroid intake were retrospectively compared with statistics of those who did not develop RP.

Materials And Methods: From 1996 to 2002, 156 patients with Stage I NSCLC received STI at 5 hospitals in Japan. Of those patients, 12 were medicated with steroids for RP after treatment (RP group).

[Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT)].

The techniques of three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3 D-CRT) and patient immobilization have recently been developed, enabling us to focus high doses on the target with relatively less irradiation of normal tissues. In radiotherapy for solitary lung tumors, the local control may be safely improved by delivering a higher dose at only the target volume using these techniques. Recently, several clinical studies on stereotactic body radiotherapy (SRT) using the 3 D-CRT technique for solitary lung tumors have been reported.

Influence of radiation dose rate and lung dose on interstitial pneumonitis after fractionated total body irradiation: acute parotitis may predict interstitial pneumonitis.

This study evaluated patients for the influence of the dose rate and lung dose of fractionated total body irradiation (TBI) in preparation for allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) on the subsequent development of interstitial pneumonitis (IP). Sixty-six patients at our institute were treated with TBI followed by BMT. All of the patients received a total TBI dose of 12 Gy given in 6 fractions over 3 days and were divided into 3 groups according to the radiation dose rate and lung dose: group A, lung dose of 8 Gy (n = 18); group B, lung dose of 12 Gy at 8 cGy/min (n = 25); and group C, lung dose of 12 Gy at 19 cGy/min (n = 23).

Comparison of three radiotherapy treatment planning protocols of definitive external-beam radiation for localized prostate cancer.

Background: Three radiotherapy treatment planning (RTTP) protocols for definitive external-beam radiation for localized prostate cancer, designed and clinically applied at Kyoto University, were compared.

Methods: Treatment plans were created according to three different RTTP protocols (old three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy [3D-CRT], new 3D-CRT, and intensity-modulated radiotherapy [IMRT]) on computed tomography (CT) data sets of five patients with localized prostate cancer. The dynamic-arc conformal technique was used in the 3D-CRT protocols.