Radiotherapy and oncology : journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology
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In non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) stage III, data on patient reported health-related quality of life (HRQL) are scarce, especially regarding concurrent chemoradiotherapy. ⋯ Patients undergoing high dose thoracic radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy or cetuximab reported a gradual deterioration in functioning, dyspnoea and fatigue, while treatment related side effects were transient. Radiotherapy with concurrent cetuximab had less negative impact on HRQL than concurrent chemoradiation.
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Gamma Knife Surgery (GKS) can be an adjunctive option to surgery in the case of pituitary adenomas. The effect of dosimetric variables on the incidence of new anterior pituitary deficits after GKS requires better definition. ⋯ Our data showed a dose-dependent incidence of new hormonal deficits after GKS for pituitary adenoma. During planning definition, the risk of hypopituitarism could be reduced using the outlined safe dose-volume values.
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Late rectal complications are assessed according to different scoring systems. Endoscopy can provide a more sensitive estimation of early radiation damage. The aim of this paper is to investigate the correlation between dosimetric parameters and rectal mucosal changes after radiotherapy (RT). ⋯ rV(60 Gy), rV(70 Gy) and rD(mean) were the strongest predictors of rectal mucosal alterations. In-depth analysis is required to correlate each mucosal alteration with late rectal toxicity in order to suggest early proctoscopy as surrogate end-point for rectal late toxicity in studies aimed at reducing this important complication.
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Salvage radiotherapy (SRT) is applied routinely in patients with biochemical relapse after radical prostatectomy (RP). However, only ∼30% of these patients achieve a durable response after 10 years. As a standard, 66 Gy are given, ideally with a PSA below 0.5 ng/ml. We tried to determine more precisely the optimal PSA for starting SRT. ⋯ Our findings suggest that a PSA of ≤ 0.28 ng/ml improves bNED compared with a PSA before SRT of > 0.28 ng/ml.
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To evaluate and discuss the role of specific types of abdominal surgery (SURG) before radical radiation therapy as a risk factor for late rectal toxicity in prostate cancer patients. ⋯ This analysis highlights previous SURG as the best predictor of late rectal bleeding. Among the different types of abdominal surgery, cholecystectomy and appendectomy play the major role, especially for severe late bleeding.