A magnetic resonance imaging study of prostate deformation relative to implanted gold fiducial markers.

Purpose: To describe prostate deformation during radiotherapy and determine the margins required to account for prostate deformation after setup to intraprostatic fiducial markers (FM).

Methods And Materials: Twenty-five patients with T1c-T2c prostate cancer had three gold FMs implanted. The patients presented with a full bladder and empty rectum for two axial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans using a gradient recalled echo (GRE) sequence capable of imaging the FMs.

Disseminated intravascular coagulation as the presenting sign of metastatic prostate cancer.

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is an acquired coagulation disorder that may occur in a wide variety of clinical conditions. Suspicion of DIC should lead to a differential diagnosis that includes primary fibrinolysis and other bleeding diatheses such as thrombocytopenias of diverse etiology. Confirmation of the diagnosis of DIC should always prompt a search for an underlying medical disorder, including sepsis, severe trauma, solid and hematological malignancies, obstetrical complications, and vascular disorders.

Novel targets in prostate cancer.

Despite recent advances in the understanding of the cellular and molecular biology of prostate cancer, new options for the treatment of prostate cancer remain elusive. Targeted therapies have shown promising activities in many solid tumours and the growing number of targets and targeted agents is creating numerous opportunities for clinical research in advanced prostate cancer. At ASCO 2006 in Atlanta, a clinical science symposium on novel targets in prostate cancer was presented.

The stability of mechanical calibration for a kV cone beam computed tomography system integrated with linear accelerator.

The geometric accuracy and precision of an image-guided treatment system were assessed. Image guidance is performed using an x-ray volume imaging (XVI) system integrated with a linear accelerator and treatment planning system. Using an amorphous silicon detector and x-ray tube, volumetric computed tomography images are reconstructed from kilovoltage radiographs by filtered backprojection.

Cognitive function, fatigue, and menopausal symptoms in breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy: evaluation with patient interview after formal assessment.

Background: Women who receive adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer report fatigue, menopausal symptoms and cognitive problems. Here we compare assessment of these symptoms using self-report questionnaires and a researcher-administered screen of cognitive function with the experience of women as revealed in a semi-structured interview.

Methods: Twenty-one women who were receiving adjuvant chemotherapy completed the Functional Assessment of Cancer Treatment-General (FACT-G) self-report questionnaire, and sub-scales for fatigue (FACT-F) and endocrine symptoms (FACT-ES).

The distribution of the anticancer drug Doxorubicin in relation to blood vessels in solid tumors.

Purpose: Anticancer drugs gain access to solid tumors via the circulatory system and must penetrate the tissue to kill cancer cells. Here, we study the distribution of doxorubicin in relation to blood vessels and regions of hypoxia in solid tumors of mice.

Experimental Design: The distribution of doxorubicin was quantified by immunofluorescence in relation to blood vessels (recognized by CD31) of murine 16C and EMT6 tumors and human prostate cancer PC-3 xenografts.

Fatigue, menopausal symptoms, and cognitive function in women after adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer: 1- and 2-year follow-up of a prospective controlled study.

Purpose: We previously evaluated fatigue, menopausal symptoms, and cognitive dysfunction in patients receiving adjuvant therapy for breast cancer and matched healthy women. Here we report assessment of these women 1 and 2 years later.

Patients And Methods: Patients without relapse and controls were evaluated by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Treatment-General Quality of Life questionnaire, with subscales for fatigue and endocrine symptoms, and by the High Sensitivity Cognitive Screen.

Comparison of outcomes of phase II studies and subsequent randomized control studies using identical chemotherapeutic regimens.

Purpose: To determine whether promising results from phase II studies could be reproduced in phase III studies, and to examine which characteristics of phase II studies might be of predictive value for subsequent phase III studies.

Methods: We searched for all phase III studies of chemotherapy in advanced solid malignancies, published in the English language literature from July 1998 to June 2003. Each phase III study was reviewed to identify preceding phase II studies.

The psychosocial impact of cervical cancer among affected women and their partners.

This study aimed to assess the range and intensity of psychosocial concerns experienced by women with cervical cancer and their male partners. A cross-sectional survey assessed 26 couples where the woman had invasive cervical cancer stage I-IV, up to 2 years posttreatment, using a concerns questionnaire and widely used psychosocial questionnaires. Respondents indicated their concerns about the impact of the disease and treatment as well as general psychosocial impact.

A phase II study of localized prostate cancer treated to 75.6 Gy with 3D conformal radiotherapy.

Background And Purpose: To prospectively evaluate toxicity, biochemical failure-free survival (bFFS) and biopsy-proven local control for prostate cancer patients treated with 75.6 Gy in 42 fractions using 6-field conformal radiotherapy to prostate alone.

Patients And Methods: From 1997 to 1999, 140 patients with T1-2NxM0, Gleason score View Article and Find Full Text PDF

IMRT for adjuvant radiation in gastric cancer: a preferred plan?

Purpose: To assess the potential advantage of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) over conformal planning for postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy in patients with gastric carcinoma.

Methods And Materials: Twenty patients who had undergone treatment planning with conformal beam arrangements for 4500 cGy adjuvant radiotherapy between 2000 and 2001 underwent repeat planning using IMRT techniques. Conformal five-field plans were compared with seven- to nine-field coplanar sliding-window IMRT plans.

Repopulation of cancer cells during therapy: an important cause of treatment failure.

Radiotherapy and chemotherapy are given in multiple doses, which are spaced out to allow the recovery of normal tissues between treatments. However, surviving cancer cells also proliferate during the intervals between treatments and this process of repopulation is an important cause of treatment failure. Strategies developed to overcome repopulation have improved clinical outcomes, and now new strategies to inhibit repopulation are emerging in parallel with advances in the understanding of underlying biological mechanisms.

Differences between urologists in United States and Canada in approach to bladder cancer.

Objectives: To determine the Canada-United States differences with respect to the detection, diagnosis, surveillance, and treatment of bladder cancer.

Methods: A multiple-choice questionnaire was developed and mailed to 760 American and 516 Canadian urologists between November and December 2002. The areas assessed by the questionnaire included demographics, screening, superficial disease and recurrence, surveillance, muscle-invasive disease, advanced disease, and adjuvant systemic chemotherapy.

Consolidative abdominopelvic radiotherapy after surgery and carboplatin/paclitaxel chemotherapy for epithelial ovarian cancer.

Purpose: To assess the feasibility and morbidity of sequential cytoreductive surgery, carboplatin/paclitaxel chemotherapy, and consolidative abdominopelvic radiotherapy (APRT) in ovarian cancer.

Methods And Materials: Between 1998 and 2000, 29 patients with optimally cytoreduced epithelial ovarian cancer were treated with carboplatin (135 mg/m2) and paclitaxel (area under the curve [AUC] of 6) followed by APRT in a prospective protocol. All patients were clinically, radiographically, and biochemically (CA-125) free of disease at the completion of chemotherapy.

Postradiotherapy quality of life for head-and-neck cancer patients is independent of xerostomia.

Purpose: To determine the relationship between quality of life (QOL) and xerostomia over time for patients undergoing radiotherapy (RT) for head-and-neck cancer in a prospective clinical trial.

Methods And Materials: Patients with head-and-neck cancer were randomized to pilocarpine (n = 65) vs. placebo (n = 65) during RT.

Effects of the mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor CCI-779 used alone or with chemotherapy on human prostate cancer cells and xenografts.

Selective inhibition of repopulation of surviving tumor cells between courses of chemotherapy might improve the outcome of treatment. A potential target for inhibiting repopulation is the mammalian target of rapamycin pathway; PTEN-negative tumor cells are particularly sensitive to inhibition of this pathway. Here we study the rapamycin analogue CCI-779, alone or with chemotherapy, as an inhibitor of proliferation of the human prostate cancer cell lines PC-3 and DU145.

Low-dose prophylactic platelet transfusions in recipients of an autologous peripheral blood progenitor cell transplant and patients with acute leukemia: a randomized controlled trial with a sequential Bayesian design.

Background: Prophylactic platelet (PLT) transfusions are standard treatment for patients receiving high-dose chemotherapy, but the optimal dose is not known. A randomized controlled trial was undertaken to examine the effectiveness of low-dose PLT transfusions and to determine the need for further studies.

Study Design And Methods: Patients (n = 111) with acute leukemia or undergoing autologous peripheral blood progenitor cell (PBPC) transplantation were randomly assigned to receive low-dose (3 PLT units) or standard-dose (5 PLT units) prophylactic PLT transfusions and were monitored daily for bleeding.

Validating the prognostic value of marker genes derived from a non-small cell lung cancer microarray study.

We previously reported that our cDNA microarray analysis of primary non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) could predict for patients at increased risk of cancer recurrence. From the result of this analysis, we selected 11 genes that were considered candidate prognostic marker genes and used the realtime reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to investigate their expression in the same set of NSCLC cases used in the microarray study. Cluster analysis of the realtime RT-PCR data separated these patients into two groups with significantly different disease-free survivals (log-rank test, P < 0.

Docetaxel plus prednisone or mitoxantrone plus prednisone for advanced prostate cancer.

Background: Mitoxantrone plus prednisone reduces pain and improves the quality of life in men with advanced, hormone-refractory prostate cancer, but it does not improve survival. We compared such treatment with docetaxel plus prednisone in men with this disease.

Methods: From March 2000 through June 2002, 1006 men with metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer received 5 mg of prednisone twice daily and were randomly assigned to receive 12 mg of mitoxantrone per square meter of body-surface area every three weeks, 75 mg of docetaxel per square meter every three weeks, or 30 mg of docetaxel per square meter weekly for five of every six weeks.

Accuracy of ultrasound in localization of breast boost field.

Background And Purpose: To prospectively compare diagnostic ultrasound to the 'gold standard' of surgical clips for localization of the lumpectomy site for electron boost irradiation.

Patients And Methods: Consecutive breast cancer patients referred following lumpectomy underwent diagnostic ultrasound in radiation treatment position 21-100 days post-surgery. All patients had 3-6 surgical clips defining the excision cavity.

Cognitive function, fatigue, and menopausal symptoms in women receiving adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Purpose: There is evidence that cognitive dysfunction, fatigue, and menopausal symptoms may occur in women receiving adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer. Here, we determine their incidence and severity, and interrelationships between them and quality of life.

Patients And Methods: In this study, 110 women receiving adjuvant chemotherapy each nominated a female relative, friend, or neighbor (matched by age) as a control; 100 eligible matched pairs were evaluated.

Selective estrogen receptor modulators as inhibitors of repopulation of human breast cancer cell lines after chemotherapy.

Purpose: Repopulation of surviving tumor cells between courses of chemotherapy might lead to effective drug resistance. Here we study inhibition of repopulation of hormone-responsive human breast cancer cell lines by selective estrogen receptor (ER) modulators (SERMs) during courses of chemotherapy.

Experimental Design: Hormone responsive breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and T47D, and the ER- cell line MDA-231, were treated with either 4-hydroxy tamoxifen (4OHT) or arzoxifene during weekly courses of treatment with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) or methotrexate (MTX).

Salvage radiotherapy following radical prostatectomy.

Biochemical relapse will occur in 17-64% of men who undergo radical prostatectomy, and up to a third of men with biochemical relapse will progress to develop metastatic disease and ultimately die of prostate cancer. Postoperative salvage radiotherapy (RT) to the prostatic fossa is well-tolerated and potentially curative treatment and should be considered for all men who have biochemical relapse following prostatectomy. Gleason score <8, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) doubling time >10 months and PSA re-emergence >2 years following surgery predict for a low risk of early metastatic failure, but even men with no favourable prognostic factors may have a long-term durable response to RT and should not be excluded from consideration of treatment on the basis of these factors alone.

Quality of life and understanding of disease status among cancer patients of different ethnic origin.

Patients managed in European or North American cancer centres have a variety of ethnic backgrounds and primary languages. To gain insight into the impact of ethnic origin, we have investigated understanding of disease status and quality of life (QoL) for 202 patients. Patients completed questionnaires in their first language (52 English, 50 Chinese, 50 Italian, 50 Spanish or Portuguese), including the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - General (FACT-G) QoL instrument, questions about disease status, expectations of cure and the language and/or type of interpretation used at initial consultation.