[PET/CT].

Molecular imaging is the visualization of specific molecular targets or its entire metabolic pathways and cells in the clinic or in living animals, especially for cancer diagnosis. Current molecular imaging techniques allow us to detect disease much earlier, to stage cancer much more accurately and noninvasively. Molecular imaging has grown to include nuclear imaging, ultrasound, and MR imaging.

Curative treatment of Stage I non-small-cell lung cancer with carbon ion beams using a hypofractionated regimen.

Purpose: A phase I/II study on carbon ion radiotherapy for Stage I non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was first conducted between 1994 and 1999 and determined the optimal dose. Second, a Phase II study using the optimal dose was performed. The purpose of the present study was to clarify the local control and 5-year survival rates.

Cytological findings of pre-invasive bronchial lesions detected by light-induced fluorescence endoscopy in a lung cancer screening system.

Lung cancer is a global epidemic and the number one cause of death among all cancers, with a very high morbidity. A new strategy for the treatment of lung cancer is the detection and eradication of pre-invasive bronchial lesions before they become invasive carcinomas. We conducted a detailed investigation into the use of fluorescence bronchoscopy in the detection of pre-invasive bronchial lesions in patients with sputum cytology suspicious or positive for malignancy.

Carbon-ion radiotherapy for locally advanced or unfavorably located choroidal melanoma: a Phase I/II dose-escalation study.

Purpose: To evaluate the applicability of carbon ion beams for the treatment of choroidal melanoma with regard to normal tissue morbidity and local tumor control.

Methods And Materials: Between January 2001 and February 2006, 59 patients with locally advanced or unfavorably located choroidal melanoma were enrolled in a Phase I/II clinical trial of carbon-ion radiotherapy at the National Institute of Radiologic Sciences. The primary endpoint of this study was normal tissue morbidity, and secondary endpoints were local tumor control and patient survival.

New shielding materials for clinical electron beams.

Since lead has recently been recognized as a source of environmental pollution, we have investigated new electron shielding materials that do not contain lead. We compared the shielding thicknesses of a hard plate and a sheet composed of the new materials with that of lead for electron beams. The shielding thickness was evaluated as the thickness required for shielding primary electrons.

Dose escalation study of carbon ion radiotherapy for locally advanced carcinoma of the uterine cervix.

Purpose: To evaluate the toxicity and efficacy of carbon ion radiotherapy (CIRT) for locally advanced cervical cancer by two phase I/II clinical trials.

Methods And Materials: Between June 1995 and January 2000, 44 patients were treated with CIRT. Thirty patients had Stage IIIB disease, and 14 patients had Stage IVA disease.

Radiosensitivity of hypoxic and proliferating clonogen in a human lung cancer grown in nude mice.

Using cultured and nude mouse tumor cells (IA) derived from a human lung cancer, we studied their radiosensitivity by focusing attention on the dynamics of tumor clonogens. The movement of clonogens in the regrowing IA tumor after irradiation can be divided into three phases: first, the early and rapid survival recovery (PLD repair) phase; second, the delay phase involving a certain lag in survival change; and third, the repopulation phase consisting of two stages: the anoxic repopulation before angiogenesis and the hypoxic repopulation in the presence of a poorly developed vascular network. Clonogens in a regrowing tumor after irradiation were found to actively proliferate even in an anoxic environment before angiogenesis and under the hypoxic conditions prevailing after the formation of a tumor with a poorly developed vascular system.

Vascular flow patterns of hepatic tumors in contrast-enhanced 3-dimensional fusion ultrasonography using plane shift and opacity control modes.

Objective: This study was conducted to determine whether contrast-enhanced 3-dimensional (3D) fusion ultrasonography with combined use of the plane shift and opacity control modes can serve as a useful tool for identifying the vascular characteristics of hepatic tumors in 3D perspective.

Methods: Contrast-enhanced 3D fusion ultrasonography was performed in 31 patients with hepatic tumors after the intravenous injection of contrast media. The shapes, courses, and distributions of tumor vessels, displayed in 3D perspective, were examined to identify the characteristic vascular flow patterns of various tumors.

Carbon ion radiotherapy for unresectable sacral chordomas.

Purpose: The purpose is to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of carbon ion radiotherapy for unresectable sacral chordomas.

Experimental Design: We performed a retrospective analysis of 30 patients with unresectable sacral chordomas treated with carbon ion radiotherapy at the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba, Japan. Twenty-three patients presented with no prior treatment, and the remaining 7 patients had locally recurrent disease following previous surgical resection.

Results of the first prospective study of carbon ion radiotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma with liver cirrhosis.

Purpose: To evaluate the toxicity and antitumor effect of carbon ion radiotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma within a Phase I-II trial.

Methods And Materials: Between June 1995 and February 1997, 24 patients with histopathologically proven hepatocellular carcinoma were treated to 15 fractions within 5 weeks in a step-wise dose-escalation study. The disease stage was Stage II in 10, IIIA in 6, and IVA in 8 patients.

Local control and recurrence of stage I non-small cell lung cancer after carbon ion radiotherapy.

Background And Purpose: For a proper evaluation of the relationship between carbon ion beam dose escalation and local control in the 81 patients with 82 lesions of stage I non-small cell lung cancer, we have identified the incidence of in-field recurrence by collating the dose distribution with the CT images.

Patients And Methods: Eighteen fractions over 6 weeks for 47 patients (48 lesions) and nine fractions over 3 weeks for 34 patients were applied in the carbon dose escalation method from 59.4 to 95.

Introduction of autopsy imaging redefines the concept of autopsy: 37 cases of clinical experience.

A new autopsy imaging (AI) system was introduced at the Research Center Hospital for Charged Particle Therapy (RCCPT) in January 2000. Autopsy imaging is a postmortem and preautopsy diagnostic procedure using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Scanning is performed with a 1.

Preoperative carbon ion radiotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer with chest wall invasion--pathological findings concerning tumor response and radiation induced lung injury in the resected organs.

The purpose of this study was to make a pathological evaluation of the tumor response and the lung injury of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients after carbon ion therapy. We enrolled four NSCLC patients with chest wall invasion but without nodal and distant metastasis (T3N0M0). Only primary lesions were irradiated with carbon ions, followed by surgical resection.

Measurement of serum squamous cell carcinoma antigen levels as a predictor of radiation response in patients with carcinoma of the uterine cervix.

Background: Optimal timing of the measurement of serum squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) antigen during radiation therapy (RT) and its significance for predicting the response of cervical carcinoma patients as early as possible remain unknown.

Methods: Sixty-three patients with SCC of the uterine cervix who received RT only were studied. Patients were treated with a combination of external beam irradiation and high-dose rate intracavitary irradiation.

Carbon ion radiotherapy for stage I non-small cell lung cancer.

Background And Purpose: Heavy ion radiotherapy is a promising modality because of its excellent dose localization and high biological effect on tumors. Using carbon beams, a dose escalation study was conducted for the treatment of stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to determine the optimal dose.

Materials And Methods: The first stage phase I/II trial using 18 fractions over 6 weeks for 47 patients and the second one using nine fractions over 3 weeks for 34 patients were conducted by the dose escalation method from 59.

[Heavy ion therapy for non-small cell lung cancer--new, radical radiotherapy for advanced-age patients as an alternative to surgery].

Clinical trials of carbon beam radiotherapy for stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLL), and their results, are briefly described. The local control rate, cause-specific and overall survival rates of 146 patients with clinical stage I NSCLC were 82.0%, 59.

Efficacy and safety of carbon ion radiotherapy in bone and soft tissue sarcomas.

Purpose: To evaluate the tolerance for and effectiveness of carbon ion radiotherapy in patients with unresectable bone and soft tissue sarcomas.

Patients And Methods: We conducted a phase I/II dose escalation study of carbon ion radiotherapy. Fifty-seven patients with 64 sites of bone and soft tissue sarcomas not suited for resection received carbon ion radiotherapy.

[Diagnosis of esophageal cancer using positron emission tomography].

Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) is more accurate than computed tomography (CT) for evaluating lymph node metastases and for N staging, but less accurate than combined CT and endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS). Lymph nodes located adjacent to the primary lesion tend to be false negatives. We consider that combined FDG-PET and EUS is the most accurate for the detection of lymph node metastasis in esophageal cancer.