Why routine clinical follow-up for patients with early stage endometrial cancer is not always necessary: a study on women in South Wales.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the existing methods of follow-up in women who have undergone treatment of early endometrial carcinoma in South Wales and to assess if they are appropriate.

Design: This study used a retrospective analysis of follow-up data.

Setting: This study was performed in the Virtual Gynaecological Oncology Centre, South Wales, United Kingdom.

The UK Standardisation of Breast Radiotherapy (START) trials of radiotherapy hypofractionation for treatment of early breast cancer: 10-year follow-up results of two randomised controlled trials.

Background: 5-year results of the UK Standardisation of Breast Radiotherapy (START) trials suggested that lower total doses of radiotherapy delivered in fewer, larger doses (fractions) are at least as safe and effective as the historical standard regimen (50 Gy in 25 fractions) for women after primary surgery for early breast cancer. In this prespecified analysis, we report the 10-year follow-up of the START trials testing 13 fraction and 15 fraction regimens.

Methods: From 1999 to 2002, women with completely excised invasive breast cancer (pT1-3a, pN0-1, M0) were enrolled from 35 UK radiotherapy centres.

A clinical review of the investigation and management of carcinoma of unknown primary in a single cancer network.

Aims: Carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP) is a common encounter in oncological practice and represents 2.0-6.0% of all invasive malignancies.

Palliative radiotherapy regimens for non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: Palliative radiotherapy to the chest is often used in patients with lung cancer, but radiotherapy regimens are more often based on tradition than research results.

Objectives: To discover the most effective and least toxic regimens of palliative radiotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer, and whether higher doses increase survival.

Search Strategy: The electronic databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cancerlit and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, reference lists, handsearching of journals and conference proceedings, and discussion with experts were used to identify potentially eligible trials, published and unpublished.

The clinical impact of expert pathological review on lymphoma management: a regional experience.

The All Wales Lymphoma Panel (AWLP) was established in January 1998 to provide a central expert pathological review service for district general hospital pathologists. A discordance rate of 20% between the submitted and reviewed diagnosis has previously been identified. It has not been known whether this change in diagnosis affects clinical management.

Effect of deprivation on survival of patients with head and neck cancer: a study of 20,131 cases.

There is increasing evidence that, for many cancers, the survival of socioeconomically deprived patients is worse compared with those who are more affluent. This study provides additional evidence that this is true for patients with head and neck cancers. However, the detrimental effects of deprivation were not found to be lifelong, and in this study, were confined to the first 12-18 months after diagnosis.

Clinical oncologists favour radical radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer: a questionnaire survey.

Objective: To explore the treatment preferences of clinical oncologists for managing early prostate cancer and to compare the results with the preferences of urologists.

Methods: A postal questionnaire survey was conducted of consultant clinical oncologists in the UK.

Results: Consultant clinical oncologists favour radical radiotherapy in most men aged < 70 years, whereas a previous study showed that consultant urologists had a greater preference for radical surgery.

Accuracy of patient positioning during radiotherapy for bladder and brain tumours.

We report the results of a prospective study to quantify inaccuracies in patient set-up during routine radiotherapy for tumours of the brain and bladder, which took place as part of our departmental development. Knowledge of these inaccuracies is required to put into practice the ICRU 50 recommendations regarding clinical target volume and planning target volume. We measured inaccuracies in two dimensions by comparing portal beam films with the simulator check film.

Characterization of highly radiosensitive cell lines from a human ovarian small-cell cancer.

Cells were obtained at paracentesis from a patient with a rapidly growing ovarian tumor. A monolayer cell line (V7S), a xenograft tumor line (V7), and subsequently a xenograft-derived monolayer cell line (V7M) were established. Histological and immunohistochemical studies of the original tumor, xenograft, and cell lines provided a diagnosis of small-cell carcinoma of the ovary-which is consistent with the clinical course of the patient.

Hypofractionated radiotherapy for muscle invasive bladder cancer in the elderly.

Background And Purpose: We have retrospectively investigated a hypofractionated regimen in a cohort of 65 elderly patients (median age 78 years), designed to minimise acute radiation affects and maximise patient tolerance and convenience in this frail group.

Materials And Methods: All patients were CT planned to a small volume. Once weekly fractions (6 Gy) prescribed to the 100% isodose as a target minimum to 30 Gy (n = 53) and 36 Gy (n = 12) were administered.

Determination of radiosensitivity in established and primary squamous cell carcinoma cultures using the micronucleus assay.

In this study, the cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay (CBMN) was used to measure radiosensitivity in three established cell lines (SCC-61, V175 and V134) and 10 primary cell cultures of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the head and neck. Assessment involved optimisation of the assay to determine cytochalasin-B (CB) concentration and sampling time postirradiation. A much closer correlation between dose-response data measured in the clonogenic and micronucleus assays was found when the micronucleus assay was performed under standardised conditions for each cell line (2 micrograms/ml CB: 48 h postirradiation) instead of predetermined optimised assay conditions.

Variation in radiosensitivity due to cell age and split-dose recovery in polykaryons induced by cytochalasin.

We have investigated the properties of an in vitro cell survival assay that uses as its endpoint the ability to form polyploid cells (polykaryons) in the presence of cytochalasin B (CB). The criterion for survival is that a polykaryon-forming unit (PFU) must reach the arbitrary DNA content of at least 16C. The age-dependence of PFU sensitivity to 137Cs irradiation was determined using V79-379A cells synchronized at mitosis.

Prediction of the initial slope of the acute clonogenic survival curve by the post-irradiation behaviour of cytochalasin-induced polykaryons.

We have investigated the behaviour of 11 lines of cultured cells in a survival assay whose endpoint is the ability of cells to become polyploid when incubated in the presence of cytochalasin B (CB). Single cells were induced by CB to form polykaryons after irradiation, and, by analogy with the colony-forming assay, the survival of polykaryon-forming units (PFUs) was defined as the fraction of cells able to achieve a given DNA content (at least 16C in most experiments). There was a radiation dose-dependent reduction in PFU survival, which, following the appearance of cells containing at least 16C DNA, was not markedly dependent upon the sampling time.

Accuracy of dose calculation methods for retracted tissue compensators.

Uncertainties arise in dose calculations involving retracted tissue compensators due to the effects of the compensator upon the scatter component of the dose. Many commercial treatment-planning systems cannot allow directly for the presence of a compensator in isodose calculation or else use simple 2D methods. We present data to test calculation accuracy for a wax compensation system by comparing retraction factors measured along central-axis and off-axis raylines for a variety of compensator shapes, with those derived using effective attenuation coefficient and 3D analytical calculations.