Radical radiotherapy for paediatric solid tumour metastases: An overview of current European protocols and outcomes of a SIOPE multicenter survey.

Purpose/objective: About 20% of children with solid tumours (ST) present with distant metastases (DM). Evidence regarding the use of radical radiotherapy of these DM is sparse and open for personal interpretation. The aim of this survey was to review European protocols and to map current practice regarding the irradiation of DM across SIOPE-affiliated countries.

Dose-response with stereotactic body radiotherapy for prostate cancer: A multi-institutional analysis of prostate-specific antigen kinetics and biochemical control.

Background And Purpose: The optimal dose for prostate stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is still unknown. This study evaluated the dose-response relationships for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) decay and biochemical recurrence (BCR) among 4 SBRT dose regimens.

Materials And Methods: In 1908 men with low-risk (50.

Prostate-specific antigen kinetics and biochemical control following stereotactic body radiation therapy, high dose rate brachytherapy, and low dose rate brachytherapy: A multi-institutional analysis of 3502 patients.

Background And Purpose: Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), low dose rate brachytherapy (LDR-BT) and high dose rate brachytherapy (HDR-BT) are ablative-intent radiotherapy options for prostate cancer (PCa). These vary considerably in dose delivery, which may impact post-treatment prostate-specific antigen (PSA) patterns and biochemical control. We compared PSA kinetics between SBRT, HDR-BT, and LDR-BT, and assessed their relationships to biochemical recurrence-free survival (BCRFS).

Re-irradiation of vertebral bodies.

Improvements in clinical care and therapy mean that more patients are diagnosed and living longer with vertebral metastases. Thus, they are at risk of the development of recurrence that requires re-irradiation. Normal tissues often recover some of the damage caused by the primary radiotherapy with time and specific normal tissues can tolerate a considerable retreatment radiation dose.

Multi-Institutional Analysis of Prostate-Specific Antigen Kinetics After Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy.

Purpose: Understanding prostate-specific antigen (PSA) kinetics after radiation therapy plays a large role in the management of patients with prostate cancer (PCa). This is particularly true in establishing expectations regarding PSA nadir (nPSA) and PSA bounces, which can be disconcerting. As increasingly more patients are being treated with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for low- and intermediate-risk PCa, it is imperative to understand the PSA response to SBRT.

Melatonin in Hypoxic-Ischemic Brain Injury in Term and Preterm Babies.

Melatonin may serve as a potential therapeutic free radical scavenger and broad-spectrum antioxidant. It shows neuroprotective properties against hypoxic-ischemic brain injury in animal models. The authors review the studies focusing on the neuroprotective potential of melatonin and its possibility of treatment after perinatal asphyxia.

Mathematical evaluation of melatonin secretion in hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.

Objectives: The aims of the study were to assess the kinematics of the lower limbs and pelvis during normal walking in professional ballet dancers and to investigate relationships between movements of segments of the lower limbs and pelvis.

Methods: Thirty one professional ballet dancers and twenty eight controls completed five walking trials at their preferred speed. Kinematic data in the basic anatomical planes for ankle, knee, and hip joints as well as for the pelvis were collected with an optoelectronic motion system.

IMRT/VMAT dose distributions generated for and collimators and accelerators.

Aim: The aim of this study is to answer the question whether the calculated dose distributions for HD and Millennium collimators (Varian Medical Systems) are equivalent for large treatment volumes.

Background: Modern biomedical linacs are equipped with multileaf collimators where leaves can be of different widths. Thinner leaves allow better fit to desired (tumor) shape.

Surgical treatment of adult patients with thalamic tumors with the aid of tractography, fMRI, transcranial electrical stimulation and direct electrical stimulation of the subcortical white matter.

The aim of investigation was to assess treatment outcomes in adult patients with thalamic tumors, operated on with the aid of tractography (DTI) and monitoring of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) generated due to transcranial electrical stimulation (TES) and direct electrical stimulation (DES) of the subcortical white matter. 38 subsequent patients with thalamic tumors were operated on using tractography (DTI)-integrated neuronavigation, transcranial electrical stimulation (TES) and direct electrical stimulation (DES). The volumetric method was used to calculate pre- and postoperative tumor volume.

Melatonin and Angelman Syndrome: Implications and Mathematical Model of Diurnal Secretion.

The main aim of the study was to compare the melatonin rhythms in subjects with Angelman syndrome ( = 9) and in children with ( = 80) and without ( = 40) epilepsy (nonepileptic patients diagnosed with peripheral nerve palsies, myopathy, and back pain) using our mathematical model of melatonin circadian secretion. The characteristics describing the diurnal hormone secretion such as minimum melatonin concentration, release amplitude, phase shift of melatonin release, and sleep duration as well as the dim light melatonin onset (DLMO) of melatonin secretion and the shape parameter allow analyzing the fit and deducing about how much the measured melatonin profile differs from a physiological bell-shaped secretion. The estimated sleep duration and phase shift of melatonin release as well as the DMLO offsets at 25% and 50% relative thresholds are the key characteristic of Angelman syndrome children.

The Principles and Practice of Re-irradiation in Clinical Oncology: An Overview.

Long-term cancer survivors are at risk of the development of recurrence or a new primary cancer that requires a second (or third) radio-oncological treatment. Publications on re-irradiation have been followed and are summarised in this overview. Information from clinical and experimental animal studies suggests that specific normal tissues can tolerate a considerable retreatment radiation dose.

Primary squamous-cell thyroid carcinoma - a successful treatment with five-year follow-up.

Squamous cell carcinoma is an extremely rare neoplasm of the thyroid (SCTC) that represents no more than 1% of all primary thyroid malignancies. We report a case of a 42-year-old woman with rapidly growing mass in the right lower neck, primarily diagnosed in fineneedle aspiration cytology as a low-differentiated carcinoma. After the surgery, exclusion of all the other possible primary tumour locations, and immunohistochemistry tests, the diagnosis of primary squamous cell carcinoma of the thyroid gland was established.

Melanoma as a surprising solution to the puzzle of intestinal obstruction.

We present a case of a 71-year-old man with an advanced melanoma of the right colon. The final diagnosis was determined based on histopathological examination of the material collected during urgent laparotomy performed due to ileus. Although we considered the tumor to be a disseminated primary melanoma of the colon, the possibility of unknown primary origin could not be excluded.

Molecular profiles of thyroid cancer subtypes: Classification based on features of tissue revealed by mass spectrometry imaging.

Determination of the specific type of thyroid cancer is crucial for the prognosis and selection of treatment of this malignancy. However, in some cases appropriate classification is not possible based on histopathological features only, and it might be supported by molecular biomarkers. Here we aimed to characterize molecular profiles of different thyroid malignancies using mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) which enables the direct annotation of molecular features with morphological pictures of an analyzed tissue.

Detection of molecular signatures of oral squamous cell carcinoma and normal epithelium - application of a novel methodology for unsupervised segmentation of imaging mass spectrometry data.

Intra-tumor heterogeneity is a vivid problem of molecular oncology that could be addressed by imaging mass spectrometry. Here we aimed to assess molecular heterogeneity of oral squamous cell carcinoma and to detect signatures discriminating normal and cancerous epithelium. Tryptic peptides were analyzed by MALDI-IMS in tissue specimens from five patients with oral cancer.

Characteristics, diagnosis and therapeutic strategies for IgG4-related orbital disease.

Thanks to detailed studies conducted in recent years, a new disease syndrome was identified in 2001. It is known as a IgG4-related disease and its differentiation is based on the analysis of IgG4 levels in the affected tissues. The IgG4-related disease is considered to be a generalized pathological process involving a wide spectrum of various disorders that may affect distant organs.

Tissue fixed with formalin and processed without paraffin embedding is suitable for imaging of both peptides and lipids by MALDI-IMS.

Type and quality of sample preparation have significant impact on imaging mass spectrometry results. Though imaging of fresh-frozen tissues is considered to give the best results, they are incompatible with clinical practice, since routine diagnostics is most frequently performed using formalin-fixed tissues, and formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded material is a gold standard in histopathology. We aimed to assess utility of formalin-fixed tissue specimen processed without paraffin embedding (i.

The Use of 68Ga-DOTA-(Tyr3)-Octreotate PET/CT for Improved Target Definition in Radiotherapy Treatment Planning of Meningiomas - A Case Report.

Due to somatostatin receptor expression in meningiomas, PET with somatostatin analogs appears to be useful in radiotherapy treatment planning. We report the case of a 63-year-old man diagnosed with meningioma of the left frontal lobe in 2011. He underwent total tumor excision (pathology was atypical meningioma WHO 2) and radiotherapy, but one year after the completion of treatment, he complained about diplopia and left upper eyelid ptosis.

Two cilengitide regimens in combination with standard treatment for patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma and unmethylated MGMT gene promoter: results of the open-label, controlled, randomized phase II CORE study.

Background: Survival outcomes for patients with glioblastoma remain poor, particularly for patients with unmethylated O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) gene promoter. This phase II, randomized, open-label, multicenter trial investigated the efficacy and safety of 2 dose regimens of the selective integrin inhibitor cilengitide combined with standard chemoradiotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma and an unmethylated MGMT promoter.

Methods: Overall, 265 patients were randomized (1:1:1) to standard cilengitide (2000 mg 2×/wk; n = 88), intensive cilengitide (2000 mg 5×/wk during wk 1-6, thereafter 2×/wk; n = 88), or a control arm (chemoradiotherapy alone; n = 89).