Radiotherapy and oncology : journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Double-blind placebo-controlled randomised trial of vitamin E and pentoxifylline in patients with chronic arm lymphoedema and fibrosis after surgery and radiotherapy for breast cancer.
Treatment-induced arm lymphoedema is a common and distressing complication of curative surgery and radiotherapy for early breast cancer. A number of studies testing alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) and pentoxifylline suggest evidence of clinical regression of superficial radiation-induced fibrosis but there is only very limited evidence from randomised trials. Arm lymphoedema after lymphatic radiotherapy and surgery has been used in the present study as a clinical system for testing these drugs in a double-blind placebo-controlled randomised phase II trial. ⋯ The study fails to demonstrate efficacy of dl-alpha tocopheryl acetate plus pentoxifylline in patients with arm lymphoedema following axillary surgery and lymphatic radiotherapy, nor does it suggest any benefits of these drugs in radiation-induced induration (fibrosis) in the breast, chest wall, pectoral fold, axilla or supraclavicular fossa.
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Comparative Study
Sensitivity of treatment plan optimisation for prostate cancer using the equivalent uniform dose (EUD) with respect to the rectal wall volume parameter.
To analyse the sensitivity of plan optimisation of prostate cancer treatments with respect to changes in the volume parameter (n), when the EUD is used to control the dose in the rectal wall. ⋯ In most cases, the solutions associated with n values up to 0.25 produced similar dose distribution in the rectal wall for doses above 45 Gy, complying with the dose-toxicity thresholds we analysed. The choice of a specific value of n in the optimisation requires an analysis of its effects on the dose distribution for the rectal wall, but also on other aspects, such as the value of the dose to the non-involved normal tissues.