Radiotherapy and oncology : journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology
-
Faced with rapidly increasing patient numbers, the authors adopted and modified a technique to perform prostate implants under local anesthesia in a radiation oncology facility. Our reasons for assembling the current report detailing 20 consecutive, unselected patients are to show how patients tolerate brachytherapy without the use of sedatives, to provide more technical detail regarding the procedure's practical aspects, and to summarize the time needed to complete its components. ⋯ Performing prostate brachytherapy under local anesthesia, as reported here, is simple, efficient and well tolerated.
-
To evaluate clinical and lung dose-volume histogram based factors as predictors of radiation pneumonitis (RP) in lung cancer patients (PTs) treated with thoracic irradiation. ⋯ In this study the use of mitomycin or the presence of COPD is associated with a higher risk of RP. In the entire population NTCP values were not significantly correlated with the incidence of RP. Mean lung dose shows a clear trend toward statistical significance in the patient group without COPD.