Nuclear medicine staff exposure to ionising radiation in F-FDG PET/CT practice: a preliminary retrospective study.

This retrospective study provides an insight into the levels of radiation exposure of six nuclear medicine (NM) staff (four technologists and two nurses) performing routine diagnostic F-fluorodeoxyglucose (F-FDG) positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) at the University Clinical Centre of the Republic of Srpska, Department of Nuclear Medicine and Thyroid Disorders, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Data analysis included monthly staff exposure measured with personal thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD) between June and December 2018, quantified in terms of normalised dose for the whole body [Hp(10)] and dominant hand [Hp(0.07)] and their comparison between each staff member and between the two groups (technologists and nurses).

Comparison of Phase-Gated and Amplitude-Gated Dose Delivery to a Moving Target using Gafchromic EBT3 Film.

Introduction: This study compared phase-gated and amplitude-gated dose deliveries to the moving gross tumor volume (GTV) in lung stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) using Gafchromic External Beam Therapy (EBT3) dosimetry film.

Materials And Methods: Eighty treatment plans using two techniques (40 phase gated and 40 amplitude gated) were delivered using dynamic conformal arc therapy (DCAT). The GTV motion, breathing amplitude, and period were taken from 40 lung SBRT patients who performed regular breathing.

Analysis of Female Enrollment and Participant Sex by Burden of Disease in US Clinical Trials Between 2000 and 2020.

Importance: Although female representation has increased in clinical trials, little is known about how clinical trial representation compares with burden of disease or is associated with clinical trial features, including disease category.

Objective: To describe the rate of sex reporting (ie, the presence of clinical trial data according to sex), compare the female burden of disease with the female proportion of clinical trial enrollees, and investigate the associations of disease category and clinical trial features with the female proportion of clinical trial enrollees.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional study included descriptive analyses and logistic and generalized linear regression analyses with a logit link.

Dosimetric comparison of Gamma Knife® Icon and linear accelerator-based fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (FSRT) plans for the re-irradiation of large (>14 cm) recurrent glioblastomas.

Our objective is to investigate dosimetric differences between clinically deliverable Gamma Knife (GK) Icon™ and linac-based FSRT plans on the basis of normal brain dose sparing for large (>14 cm) recurrent glioblastomas (GBM). Sixteen patients with large, recurrent GBM were treated using re-irradiation via linac-based FSRT, 35 Gy in 10 fractions. For each patient, a new GK FSRT plan was created in Leksell GammaPlan V11 (LGP).

ACR Appropriateness Criteria® Definitive External-Beam Irradiation in stage T1 and T2 prostate cancer.

Purpose: To present the most updated American College of Radiology consensus guidelines formed from an expert panel on the appropriate use of external-beam radiation to manage stage T1 and T2 prostate cancer.

Methods: The American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria are evidence-based guidelines for specific clinical conditions that are reviewed every 2 years by a multidisciplinary expert panel. The guideline development and review include an extensive analysis of current medical literature from peer-reviewed journals and the application of a well-established consensus methodology (modified Delphi) to rate the appropriateness of imaging and treatment procedures by the panel.

Can patient comorbidities be included in clinical performance measures for radiation oncology?

Purpose: Patient comorbidities may affect the applicability of performance measures that are inherent in multidisciplinary cancer treatment guidelines. This article describes the distribution of common comorbid conditions by disease site and by patient and facility characteristics in patients who received radiation therapy as part of treatment for cancer of the breast, cervix, lung, prostate, and stomach, and investigates the association of comorbidities with treatment decisions.

Materials And Methods: Stratified two-stage cluster sampling provided a random sample of radiation oncology facilities.

ACR Appropriateness Criteria high-dose-rate brachytherapy for prostate cancer.

Purpose: High-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy plays a potential curative role in the treatment of prostate cancer. An expert panel was convened to review the recent literature and reach a consensus on its appropriate clinical applications.

Methods And Materials: The American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria are evidence-based guidelines for specific clinical conditions that are reviewed every 2 years by a multidisciplinary expert panel.

Variability among breast radiation oncologists in delineation of the postsurgical lumpectomy cavity.

Purpose: Partial breast irradiation (PBI) is becoming more widely used. Accurate determination of the surgical lumpectomy cavity volume is more critical with PBI than with whole breast radiation therapy. We examined the interobserver variability in delineation of the lumpectomy cavity among four academic radiation oncologists who specialize in the treatment of breast cancer.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of computerized tomography in the routine follow-up of patients after primary treatment for Hodgkin's disease.

Purpose: To estimate the clinical benefits and cost effectiveness of computed tomography (CT) in the follow-up of patients with complete response (CR) after treatment for Hodgkin's disease (HD).

Patients And Methods: We developed a decision-analytic model to evaluate follow-up strategies for two hypothetical cohorts of 25-year-old patients with stage I-II or stage III-IV HD, treated with doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine-based chemotherapy with or without radiation therapy, respectively. We compared three strategies for observing asymptomatic patients after CR: routine annual CT for 10 years, annual CT for 5 years, or follow-up with non-CT modalities only.

Factors affecting outcome for young women with early stage invasive breast cancer treated with breast-conserving therapy.

Background: Young women have worse outcome following breast-conserving therapy (BCT) than do older patients in many studies. We examined how clinical, pathological, and treatment factors affect these results.

Methods: Between 1993 and 1999, 130 patients age 40 years or younger with stage I or II breast cancer were treated with BCT.

Long-term outcome and mortality trends in early-stage, Grade 1-2 follicular lymphoma treated with radiation therapy.

Purpose: To analyze long-term outcomes and causes of death in patients receiving radiation therapy (RT) for localized, low-grade follicular lymphoma.

Methods And Materials: Between 1972 and 2000, 106 patients with Stage I-II, Grade 1-2 follicular lymphoma received RT alone or radiation and chemotherapy (RT/CT). Seventy-four percent had Stage I, and 26% had Stage II disease.

Organ preservation and treatment toxicity with induction chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy or chemoradiation for advanced laryngeal cancer.

Objectives: The authors reviewed records of patients with advanced laryngeal cancer treated with induction chemotherapy (IC) and hyperfractionated radiation therapy (RT) or chemoradiation (CRT) to determine the rates of organ preservation and function.

Methods: A total of 29 patients with stage III (45%) and stage IV (55%) squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx (SCCL), were treated with IC and RT or CRT in 1 of 7 consecutive trials. Fifty-five percent had clinically node-positive disease.

Acute gastrointestinal, genitourinary, and dermatological toxicity during dose-escalated 3D-conformal radiation therapy (3DCRT) using an intrarectal balloon for prostate gland localization and immobilization.

Purpose: We determined the acute gastrointestinal (GI), genitourinary (GU), and dermatologic (D) toxicity during dose-escalated three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3DCRT). A modified intrarectal balloon (Medrad) was used for prostate gland localization and immobilization.

Methods: Forty-six men with clinical category T1c to T3a, and at least one high-risk feature (PSA >10, Gleason > or =7, or MRI evidence of extracapsular extension or seminal vesical invasion) comprised the study cohort.

Acute urinary retention after magnetic resonance image-guided prostate brachytherapy with and without neoadjuvant external beam radiotherapy.

Objectives: To evaluate the risk of acute urinary retention (AUR) and sequelae after urethra-sparing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided prostate brachytherapy.

Methods: Between 1997 and 2003, MRI-guided prostate brachytherapy was performed after external beam radiotherapy (n = 60) or as monotherapy (n = 188) following a diagnosis of low-risk prostate adenocarcinoma. The median prostate gland volume was 40 cm3 (range 16 to 184).

Oxidative stress and thioredoxin-interacting protein promote intravasation of melanoma cells.

Although intravasation may be a critical rate-limiting step in the metastatic cascade, the role of oxidative stress in intravasation is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that reactive oxygen species (ROS), regulated by thioredoxin interacting protein (Txnip) through the action of thioredoxin (Trx), influence human SK-MEL-28 melanoma cell reverse (basolateral-to-apical) transendothelial migration (TEM) in vitro as a model for intravasation. Reverse transendothelial migration was dose-dependently induced by hydrogen peroxide 2.

Young age and outcome for women with early-stage invasive breast carcinoma.

Background: Patients with invasive breast carcinoma who are ages 35-40 years or younger at the time of diagnosis have been found in several studies to have worse prognosis and higher local failure rates after breast-conserving therapy (BCT) compared with older patients. However, it is uncertain whether specific clinical, pathologic, or treatment factors affect these results, or whether mastectomy yields a better outcome.

Methods: Articles addressing how patient age at the time of diagnosis affects treatment outcome were identified through the MEDLINE and CancerLit databases and the reference lists of relevant articles.

The role of PC-SPES, selenium, and vitamin E in prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer patients commonly use complementary and alternative medications. There has been growing interest in recent years in the role of the herbal medication PC-SPES and the essential nutrients selenium and vitamin E in the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer. This article reviews the preclinical and clinical studies of these therapies.

Granulocytic sarcoma: an unusual complication of aleukemic myeloid leukemia causing spinal cord compression. A case report and literature review.

Granulocytic sarcoma (chloroma) is a rare solid tumor resulting from the proliferation of myelogenous leukemia cells. Chloromas usually present as soft tissue or bony masses of the head and neck in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) of the French-American-British M2 subtype. Occasionally chloromas may occur in patients with myelodysplasia and other myeloproliferative disorders and rarely precede the development of systemic disease.

Effect of verification bias on screening for prostate cancer by measurement of prostate-specific antigen.

Background: The sensitivity and specificity of a screening test are biased when disease status is not verified in all subjects and when the likelihood of confirmation depends on the test result itself. We assessed the screening characteristics of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) measurement after correction for verification bias.

Methods: Between 1995 and 2001, 6691 men underwent PSA-based screening for prostate cancer.

Can the core length involved with prostate cancer identify clinically insignificant disease in low risk patients diagnosed on the basis of a single positive core?

Clinically insignificant prostate cancer, defined as at most microscopic foci of Gleason grade < or = 3 disease in the radical prostatectomy specimen, has been recognized in some low risk (PSA < 10, biopsy Gleason score < or = 6, clinical Tlc, 2a) patients with minimal biopsy cancer volume. The purpose of this study is to determine if the fraction of cancer in a single positive core biopsy could identify a subset of low risk prostate cancer patients with clinically insignificant disease. Of 1100 patients with Tlc,2 prostate cancer that consecutively underwent radical prostatectomy at Brigham and Women's Hospital between 1989 to 2000, 130 low risk patients whose diagnoses were made on the basis of a single positive core comprised the study cohort.

Radiation therapy plus tamoxifen versus tamoxifen alone after breast-conserving surgery in postmenopausal women with stage I breast cancer: a decision analysis.

Purpose: To compare outcomes for hypothetical cohorts of postmenopausal patients with estrogen receptor-positive tumors that are < or = 2 cm in size, with pathologically uninvolved axillary nodes, treated with radiation therapy plus tamoxifen versus tamoxifen alone after breast-conserving surgery.

Methods: A Markov model was used to simulate patients' clinical course and estimate overall survival, recurrence-free survival, time with an intact breast, and death from breast cancer. Probabilities were derived from randomized trials and retrospective studies.