Hypofractionated intensity-modulated radiotherapy (70 gy at 2.5 Gy per fraction) for localized prostate cancer: long-term outcomes.

Purpose: To analyze the long-term relapse-free survival and toxicity rates in patients treated with hypofractionated intensity-modulated radiotherapy.

Methods And Materials: The study sample includes the first 100 consecutive localized prostate cancer patients treated to 70.0 Gy at 2.

The use of megavoltage CT (MVCT) images for dose recomputations.

Megavoltage CT (MVCT) images of patients are acquired daily on a helical tomotherapy unit (TomoTherapy, Inc., Madison, WI). While these images are used primarily for patient alignment, they can also be used to recalculate the treatment plan for the patient anatomy of the day.

Initial experience with megavoltage (MV) CT guidance for daily prostate alignments.

Purpose: The on-board megavoltage (MV) computed tomography (CT) capabilities of a TomoTherapy Hi*ART unit were used to obtain daily MVCT images of prostate cancer patients. For patient alignment the daily MVCT image needs to be registered with the planning CT image to calculate couch shifts. Three manual techniques of registering the MVCT images with the planning kilovoltage (kV) CT images were evaluated.

Intraprostatic fiducials for localization of the prostate gland: monitoring intermarker distances during radiation therapy to test for marker stability.

Purpose: The use of intraprostatic fiducials as surrogates for prostate gland position assumes that the markers are rigidly positioned within the prostate. To test this assumption, the intermarker distances (IMD) of implanted markers was monitored during the full course of radiation therapy to determine marker stability within the prostate gland.

Methods And Materials: The analysis is performed on 56 patients treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy.

Serial megavoltage CT imaging during external beam radiotherapy for non-small-cell lung cancer: observations on tumor regression during treatment.

Purpose: The ability to obtain soft-tissue imaging in the treatment room, such as with megavoltage CT imaging, enables the observation of tumor regression during a course of external beam radiation therapy. In this current study, we report on the most extensive study looking at the rate of regression of non-small-cell lung cancers during a course of external beam radiotherapy by analyzing serial megavoltage CT images obtained on 10 patients.

Methods And Materials: The analysis is performed on 10 patients treated with the Helical Tomotherapy Hi*Art device.

Optically guided patient positioning techniques.

Optical tracking determines an object's position by measuring light either emitted or reflected from the object. The hallmark of optical tracking systems is their high spatial resolution and measurement in real time; such systems can resolve the position of a point source within a fraction of a millimeter and report at a rate of 10 Hz or faster. Several systems have been developed for radiation therapy, all of which track infrared markers attached to the patient's external surface.

Year of treatment as independent predictor of relapse-free survival in patients with localized prostate cancer treated with definitive radiotherapy in the PSA era.

Purpose: To study the use of the year of therapy as an independent predictor of outcomes, serving as a proxy for time-related changes in therapy and tumor factors in the treatment of prostate cancer. Accounting for these changes would facilitate the retrospective comparison of outcomes for patients treated in different periods.

Methods And Materials: Nine institutions combined data on 4,537 patients with Stages T1 and T2 adenocarcinoma of the prostate who had a pretherapy prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level and biopsy Gleason score, and who had received > or = 60 Gy external beam radiotherapy without neoadjuvant androgen deprivation or planned adjuvant androgen deprivation.

Improved biochemical relapse-free survival with increased external radiation doses in patients with localized prostate cancer: the combined experience of nine institutions in patients treated in 1994 and 1995.

Purpose: To study the radiation dose-response as determined by Kaplan-Meier prostate-specific antigen (PSA) disease-free survival (PSA-DFS) estimates in patients with stage T1-T2 prostate cancer treated within a 2-year period (1994-1995).

Methods: Nine institutions combined data on 4839 patients with stage T1 and T2 adenocarcinoma of the prostate who received > or =60 Gy external beam radiation therapy (RT) as sole treatment. No patient received neoadjuvant androgen deprivation or planned adjuvant androgen deprivation.

Radical prostatectomy, external beam radiotherapy <72 Gy, external beam radiotherapy > or =72 Gy, permanent seed implantation, or combined seeds/external beam radiotherapy for stage T1-T2 prostate cancer.

Purpose: To review the biochemical relapse-free survival (bRFS) rates after treatment with permanent seed implantation (PI), external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) <72 Gy (EBRT <72), EBRT > or =72 Gy (EBRT > or =72), combined seeds and EBRT (COMB), or radical prostatectomy (RP) for clinical Stage T1-T2 localized prostate cancer treated between 1990 and 1998.

Methods And Materials: The study population comprised 2991 consecutive patients treated at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation or Memorial Sloan Kettering at Mercy Medical Center. All cases had pretreatment prostate-specific antigen (iPSA) levels and biopsy Gleason scores (bGSs).

Improvement in relapse-free survival throughout the PSA era in patients with localized prostate cancer treated with definitive radiotherapy: year of treatment an independent predictor of outcome.

Purpose: In patients treated with radical prostatectomy in the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) era, it has been demonstrated that the year of treatment in the PSA era is associated with better pathologic parameters and outcomes, independently of other well-recognized parameters such as clinical stage, pretreatment PSA level, or Gleason score. The purpose of the present study was to study a similar phenomenon with definitive radiotherapy (RT).

Methods And Materials: The inclusion criteria were as follows: clinical Stage T1-T2, available pretreatment PSA level and biopsy Gleason score, treatment delivered before January 2000 with standard fractionation external beam radiotherapy to at least 70 Gy, no adjuvant androgen deprivation (AD), all neoadjuvant AD limited to < or =6 months, and a minimum of 3 years of PSA follow-up.