Prostate cancer post-prostatectomy radiotherapy: CT vs MRI for vesico-urethral anastomosis target delineation.

Background: Vesico-urethral anastomosis (VUA) is critical to the clinical target volume (CTV) in post-prostatectomy radiotherapy (PPRT), as it is the commonest site of recurrence. Typically, this is performed on a CT alone but guidelines recommend MRI.

Objective: To evaluate the VUA spatial differences between CT (ctVUA) and MRI (mrVUA) and analyse its impact on the CT defined CTV (ctCTV) as recommended by published guidelines.

Patterns of health services utilization in the last two weeks of life among cancer patients: Experience in an Australian academic cancer center.

Aim: To report the trend in end-of-life health services (HS) utilization among cancer patients treated in a large Australian academic cancer center over a 12-year period.

Methods: This is a retrospective study of cancer patients treated at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (PMCC), who had documented death between January 2002 and December 2013. Using administrative and billing database, we report on the utilization of different categories of HS within two weeks of death: diagnostic investigations (pathology and radiology), inpatient and outpatient services, and potentially futile interventions (PFI, which include radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery).

Stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy for inoperable primary kidney cancer: a prospective clinical trial.

Objective: To assess the feasibility and safety of stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in patients unsuitable for surgery. Secondary objectives were to assess oncological and functional outcomes.

Materials And Methods: This was a prospective interventional clinical trial with institutional ethics board approval.

Combination approaches in NSCLC involving immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Immune checkpoint inhibition has been proven to be highly efficacious in NSCLC and associated with durable responses in a limited number of patients. Chemotherapy and targeted therapies, which have also expanded rapidly in this field lead to high response rates and improved survival although inevitably resistance occurs and hence treatment failure. There is increasing evidence showing that chemotherapy and targeted therapy interplay with the immune system including exerting effects on tumor cells and the host immune cells.

Anti-PD-1 therapy in patients with advanced melanoma and preexisting autoimmune disorders or major toxicity with ipilimumab.

Background: Anti-PD-1 antibodies (anti-PD-1) have clinical activity in a number of malignancies. All clinical trials have excluded patients with significant preexisting autoimmune disorders (ADs) and only one has included patients with immune-related adverse events (irAEs) with ipilimumab. We sought to explore the safety and efficacy of anti-PD-1 in such patients.

Efficacy and toxicity of treatment with the anti-CTLA-4 antibody ipilimumab in patients with metastatic melanoma after prior anti-PD-1 therapy.

Background: Recent phase III clinical trials have established the superiority of the anti-PD-1 antibodies pembrolizumab and nivolumab over the anti-CTLA-4 antibody ipilimumab in the first-line treatment of patients with advanced melanoma. Ipilimumab will be considered for second-line treatment after the failure of anti-PD-1 therapy.

Methods: We retrospectively identified a cohort of 40 patients with metastatic melanoma who received single-agent anti-PD-1 therapy with pembrolizumab or nivolumab and were treated on progression with ipilimumab at a dose of 3 mg kg(-1) for a maximum of four doses.

Prognostic factors and predictive tools for upper tract urothelial carcinoma: a systematic review.

Background: Upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) is a rare and heterogeneous disease. Several clinical and biological prognostic factors have been identified in multi-institutional collaborative works with the aim of helping decision-making in pursuit of tailored individual patient care. This review provides an overview of these existing prognostic factors and predictive tools for the management of patients with UTUC.

Image guidance and stabilization for stereotactic ablative body radiation therapy (SABR) treatment of primary kidney cancer.

Purpose: Stereotactic ablative body radiation therapy for primary kidney cancer treatment relies on motion management that can quantify both the trajectory of kidney motion and stabilize the patient. A prospective ethics-approved clinical trial of stereotactic treatment to primary kidney targets was conducted at our institution. Our aim was to report on specific kidney tumor motion and the inter- and intrafraction motion as seen on treatment.

Role of immunotherapy in lung cancer: Preliminary results of new vaccines and immune checkpoint inhibitors.

The two dominant approaches to manipulating cancer immunotherapeutics are active, where the immune system is directly stimulated, and passive, where antitumor antibodies stimulate an indirect immune response. At this point, the active approach is receiving more attention in the arena of lung cancer, with ongoing vaccine clinical trials and studies investigating the role of immune checkpoint inhibitors, in particular those that block the programmed death 1(PD-1) receptor and its ligands. Early results from trials of PD-1/PD-L1 ligand inhibitors in nonsmall cell lung cancer are promising, with patients experiencing rapid and durable responses in the first-, second- and third-line setting as well as in combination with chemotherapy and other immune checkpoint inhibitors.