Proton therapy for isolated local regional recurrence of breast cancer after mastectomy alone.

Purpose/objectives: To assess adverse events (AEs) and disease-specific outcomes after proton therapy for isolated local-regional recurrence (LRR) of breast cancer after mastectomy without prior radiotherapy (RT).

Materials/methods: Patients were identified from a multi-institutional prospective registry and included if diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, initially underwent mastectomy without adjuvant RT, experienced an LRR, and subsequently underwent salvage treatment, including proton therapy. Follow-up and cancer outcomes were measured from the date of RT completion.

Fulminant hepatitis following COVID-19 vaccination: A case report.

The common side effects of COVID-19 vaccination were mostly self-restricted local reactions that quickly resolved. Nevertheless, rare autoimmune hepatitis cases have been reported in some vaccinated with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. This article presents a young man who developed fulminant hepatitis a few days after vaccination with the first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

Vaginal Sparing Radiotherapy Using IMPT and Daily Dilator Placement for Women with Anal Cancer.

Sexual dysfunction is a common toxicity and detrimental for the quality of life of women treated with chemoradiotherapy for anal cancer. Sexual dysfunction occurs because the vagina is closely approximated to the anal canal and typically receives substantial doses of radiation. Strategies for mitigation have largely been focused on posttreatment therapy and symptom management.

Thrombotic thrombocytopenia After Sinopharm BBIBP-CorV COVID-19 vaccination.

Background: Severe side effects after vaccination with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines are rare but can be fatal. To date, vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) cases have been reported after injection of mRNA and adenoviral vectors COVID-19 vaccines. Here, we report the second suspected case of VITT after vaccination with the Sinopharm vaccine, an inactive vaccine.

Crizotinib-associated renal cyst development may be associated with prolonged progression-free survival in patients with -positive non-small-cell lung cancer: Case report and review of the literature.

Non-small cell lung cancer patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase or c-ros oncogene 1 mutations who are treated with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor crizotinib rarely develop crizotinib-associated renal cysts (CARCs). Here, we present a case report and review of the literature supporting the hypothesis that CARCs may correlate positively with progression-free survival.

Cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte Antigen-4 in Colorectal Cancer: Another Therapeutic Side of Capecitabine.

Cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) is an inhibitory immune checkpoint that can be expressed in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and colorectal cancer (CRC) cells. This immune checkpoint can attenuate anti-tumoral immune responses and facilitate tumor growth and metastasis. Although capecitabine is an effective chemotherapeutic agent for treating CRC, its effect on the tumoral CTLA-4 expression remains unclear.

Categorisation of patients based on immune profiles: a new approach to identifying candidates for response to checkpoint inhibitors.

Objectives: Inhibitors to the checkpoint proteins cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) are becoming widely used in cancer treatment. However, a lack of understanding of the patient response to treatment limits accurate identification of potential responders to immunotherapy.

Methods: In this study, we assessed the expression of PD-1 and CTLA-4 on 19 leucocyte populations in the peripheral blood of 74 cancer patients.

Impacts of Surgery on Symptom Burden and Quality of Life in Pituitary Tumor Patients in the Subacute Post-operative Period.

Pituitary tumors are rare but are associated with significant symptoms that impact patients' quality of life (QOL). Surgery remains one of the most effective treatment options for long term disease control and symptom benefit, but symptom, and quality of life recovery in the subacute period has not been previously reported. This study aimed to better understand the impact of surgery on patients' symptom burden and QOL in the subacute post-surgical period.

First Year Medical Student Peer Nominations of Professionalism: A Methodological Detective Story about Making Sense of Non-Sense.

This article explores the assessment of professionalism within a cohort of medical students during a sequential 13-week medical school histology and anatomy course. Across seven data points, students were asked to identify a professionalism role model from amongst their peers and to score Likert-structured rationales for their decision. Based on density scores, an initial social network analysis identified six peer-nomination "stars.

Recurrent myxoinflammatory fibroblastic sarcoma: a case report.

Myxoinflammatory fibroblastic sarcoma is a rare sarcoma which typically presents in the extremities and is treated by definitive surgery. In recurrent disease, the reported utilization of radiotherapy is increasing, and more modern techniques such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy may be improving long-term outcomes.

International survey of the treatment of metastatic spinal cord compression.

Background And Purpose: Treatment of metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC) varies significantly. It is useful to understand how radiation oncologists worldwide deal with these challenging and urgent cases. Therefore, a survey of practice patterns of metastatic spinal cord compression was performed among the members of the major radiation oncology organizations in the world to help improve clinical practice.

Influence of patient's physiologic factors and immobilization choice with stereotactic body radiotherapy for upper lung tumors.

The purpose of the present study was to compare the impact of pulmonary function, body habitus, and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) immobilization on setup and reproducibility for upper lung tumor. From 2008 through 2011, our institution's prospective SBRT database was searched for patients with upper lung tumors. Two SBRT immobilization strategies were used: full-length BodyFIX and thermoplastic S-frame.

Benchmarking a novel ultrasound-CT fusion system for respiratory motion management in radiotherapy: assessment of spatio-temporal characteristics and comparison to 4DCT.

Management of respiratory motion during radiation therapy requires treatment planning and simulation using imaging modalities that possess sufficient spatio-temporal accuracy and precision. An investigation into the use of a novel ultrasound (US) imaging system for assessment of respiratory motion is presented, exploiting its good soft tissue contrast and temporal precision. The system dynamically superimposes the appropriate image plane sampled from a reference CT data set with the corresponding US B-mode image.

Treatment planning for dose escalation in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

This study was performed to examine potential field arrangements for irradiating non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) on a dose escalation study. An example patient was chosen and 7 coplanar treatment plans were created to treat a NSCLC. Two plans included prophylactic nodal irradiation (PNRT) and 5 did not.