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Oncology Vol 28 No 1S

Our prostate brachytherapy technique at the Medical University of South Carolina evolved from implanting free seeds using a Mick Applicator (MA) (Mick Radio-Nuclear Instruments, Inc) to using intraoperatively built custom-linked (IBCL) seeds constructed with the QuickLink device (C.R. Bard, Inc). In this work, we compare dosimetric and early clinical outcomes using free seeds and IBCL seeds.

While biochemical progression-free survival (BPFS) for prostate cancer treated with brachytherapy is excellent, reported outcomes differ between groups. One hypothesis that has been proposed for improved biochemical outcomes is prescribing to a planning target volume (PTV) that extends substantially beyond the prostate. We tested this hypothesis by analyzing the effect of overlap vs underlap between prescription isodose lines and prostate contours on BPFS. We also assessed whether these spatial differences are correlated with increased acute toxicity.

Neoadjuvant chemoradiation or a short course of pelvic radiation therapy followed by surgery is the standard of care for patients diagnosed with locally advanced rectal cancer. For patients who are not surgical candidates, delivery of a tumor boost is frequently considered. The present analysis compares dosimetry of endorectal brachytherapy (ERBT) with three different image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) techniques.

Effective cancer screening should detect disease at an earlier, more curable stage and thus reduce the incidence of late-stage diagnosis. In the last 3 decades, the Pap smear has become widely practiced in the US and is effective in the early diagnosis and prevention of cervical cancers.

The purpose of this study is to describe the outcomes of definitive radiation in medically inoperable early-stage endometrial carcinoma. Although early-stage disease usually results in favorable overall survival (OS) after surgery, there is a growing cohort of patients who are medically inoperable secondary to morbid obesity.

Sinonasal carcinomas are rare, highly morbid neoplasms originating in the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses. The mainstay of treatment over the past 2 decades has been a combination of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. We sought to characterize trends in the initial management of sinonasal malignancy with a particular focus on the impact of hospital volume on surgical care and outcomes.

Some published reports indicate that radiation therapy (RT) may be overutilized in adult patients at end of life (EOL), defined as within 30 days of death. With regard to the pediatric population, very little data exist evaluating the use of RT at EOL.

It is well known that survival of patients with p16-negative oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma has a poor prognosis with standard chemoradiation. Studies have not compared the addition of surgery to chemoradiation as a method to improve survival. This study was designed to assess the benefit in progression-free survival (PFS) based on p16 status when surgery is included as part of the treatment paradigm for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx.