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In the Nordic countries, as in the rest of the world, particle therapy as a radiotherapy modality, is evolving, albeit the hard evidence for the clinical benefit still is scarce. However, a common goal for the Nordic countries is to include a minimum of 80% of the patients treated with particle therapy into clinical trials. In this paper, we summarize the current status of clinical trials involving particle therapy in the Nordic countries, with an overview of both active and coming trials. So far, one is closed for inclusion and data are being analyzed, seven trials are actively recruiting patients and several more trials are underway. No common Nordic trial has yet been designed, nor is in the planning phase, and the authors will discuss the obstacles as well as the opportunities a common Nordic platform may represent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on late complications and survival in soft tissue sarcoma (STS) patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy, particularly doxorubicin-based chemotherapy. Topics discussed include the incidence of doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity, other treatment-related late-onset adverse events, and survival outcomes in two different treatment groups.

Background. Prostate cancer (PCa) patients with metastatic disease often suffer from skeletal pain and urinary retention impairing their quality of life. Prophylactic radiotherapy to bone metastases planned concomitantly with primary PCa radiotherapy could enable more precise control of combined dose in healthy tissues when compared to sequential palliative treatment. Materials and methods. Volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) was planned for 14 PCa patients with primary bone metastases. The bone planning target volume (PTVbone) was contoured together with the PTVs of prostate (pr), pelvic lymph nodes (ln) and seminal vesicles (sv). Another virtual plan was calculated excluding PTVbone for dose volume histogram (DVH) comparison. DVHs were additionally compared to a set of actual VMAT treatment plans of a control cohort of 13 high risk PCa patients treated with PTVpr, PTVsv and PTVln. The prescribed doses varied between 42 and 76 Gy for PTVbone. Results. Recommended healthy tissue tolerances (Quantec) were not exceeded except for one patient's rectum V50Gy value. Rectum doses did not increase significantly due to the inclusion of PTVbone. For bladder, there was a slight increase for V65Gy and V50Gy (2.7% and 7.4%). The DVHs of metastatic and non-metastatic patients were comparable. There were no differences in the PTVpr DVH parameters, while mean PTVln dose increased by 3.7 Gy-4.4 Gy due to the increased treatment volume related to PTVbone. All side effects were < grade 3 during the mean follow-up duration of 25 months. Conclusions. VMAT offers a good optimization tool for adding extra PTVs to the radiotherapy plan. Radiotherapy of bone metastases concomitantly with irradiation of the primary prostate tumor is a safe and well-tolerated approach and deserves to be studied in a randomized setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Ewing's sarcoma family of tumors (ESFTs) are rare bone and soft tissue tumors characterized by specific genetic alterations. Our aim was to carry out a nationwide analysis of ESFT, to survey the treatments used and to report the five-year disease specific and event-free survival rates (EFS and DSS). Material and methods. The study data was gathered from the Finnish National Cancer Registry and all five University Hospitals and consisted of 76 bone and soft tissue ESFT patients diagnosed during 1990-2009. Their medical records were reviewed and data on their disease, treatments, complications and outcome were analyzed. Results. The five-year EFS and DSS of patients with localized disease at diagnosis (n = 57) were 70% and 60%, respectively. Factors contributing to DSS and EFS were the axial vs. peripheral site of primary tumor and adequate surgical resection of the primary tumor. DSS was also affected by patient's age at diagnosis and the treatment employed. The five-year DSS of patients with metastatic disease at diagnosis (n = 19) was 33% and both preoperative and high dose chemotherapy were associated with improved survival. Conclusion. Population-based studies including both bone and soft tissue ESFTs are few. In this nationwide, population-based study on Finnish bone and soft tissue ESFT patients, we find their treatment successful and results comparable to those previously published. Absence of metastases, young age at diagnosis and a peripheral primary tumor site were associated with a better prognosis. It seems that surgical resection of the primary tumor should be performed whenever adequate resection margins can be achieved. The role of high dose chemotherapy merits further studies in this setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on research which was conducted to investigate whether the drug gefitinib could delay prostate specific antigen (PSA) progression, increase PSA doubling time (PSADT) and postpone the need for hormonal or radiation salvation therapy in patients with rising PSA. Researchers found that gefitinib appeared to increase the PSA doubling time (PSADT) in most patients.

Background. A prospective diagnostics and treatment protocol for extremity and trunk wall soft tissue sarcoma (STS) was introduced by the Scandinavian Sarcoma Group in 1986 and it was also widely adopted in Finland. We have updated the protocol and made it more detailed at the Helsinki University Central Hospital. We retrospectively compared diagnostics and treatment of STS in a nationwide population-based material to this protocol with special emphasis on local control. Methods. Data for 219 patients with an STS of extremity or trunk wall diagnosed during 1998-2001 was retrieved from the nationwide Finnish Cancer Registry. Histologic review was performed. Treatment centres were divided into high-, intermediate- and low-volume centres based on the number of patients with final surgery during the study period. Results. Significantly more patients were operated with a preoperative histological or cytological diagnosis at high-volume centres. No preoperative diagnosis was a strong predictor for the patient to undergo more than one operation (p < 0.0001). Wide surgical margin was achieved more often at high-volume centres, but in all centre categories a considerable percentage of patients with inadequate surgical margin did not receive adjuvant radiation therapy. Local control at five years was 82% at high-volume centres, 61% at intermediate-volume centres treating highest percentage of deep tumours and 69% at low-volume centres (p = 0.046). Local control improved as the number of patients operated (surgical volume of the centre) increased. Conclusion. The present quality-control study is the first nationwide population-based study to assess diagnostics and treatment of STS. When referred to a specialised sarcoma centre even patients with inadequate surgery can achieve good local control. STS is a rare cancer and its treatment should be centralised in Finland, which has 5.4 million inhabitants and approximately 100 new STSs of extremities and trunk wall annually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose. To evaluate the patterns of locoregional relapse and survival following submandibular gland (SMG)-sparing intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). Patients and methods. Eighty patients with laryngeal (n = 15), oropharyngeal (n = 50), hypopharyngeal (n = 11) or nasopharyngeal cancer (n = 4) were treated by submandibular gland-sparing IMRT for head and neck squamous cell cancer between July 2000 and December 2008. All patients were treated by bilateral IMRT. Thirty-nine (49%) received definitive radiotherapy (RT) and 41 (51%) postoperative RT. The contralateral parotid gland (PG) and SMG were included in the dose optimization planning program with intent to keep the mean doses for PG and SMG below 23 Gy and 28-30 Gy, respectively. The ipsilateral glands were also spared when considered feasible. Results. During a median follow-up time of 51 months (range, 24-117 months) nine local recurrent tumors were observed. Four of these nine patients were salvaged by surgery with no further recurrence. All local recurrences were located within the high-dose CTVs. None of the locally recurrent cancers were located at the vicinity of the spared PGs or SMGs. No recurrent tumors were observed in the contralateral neck. The Kaplan-Meier estimate for local control at five years following IMRT was 88% for the whole cohort and the corresponding figure for local control following salvage surgery was 94%. The estimates for five-year overall survival and disease-specific survival were 85% and 90%, respectively. Conclusion. In selected head and neck cancer patients who are estimated to have a low risk of cancer recurrence at the nodal levels I-II and who are treated with SMG-sparing IMRT the risk of cancer recurrence at the vicinity of the spared salivary glands is low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. To investigate the patterns of relapse following intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) given after radical surgery for oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer. Patients and methods. One hundred and two patients with oral or oropharyngeal cancer were treated with radical surgery followed by IMRT up to a mean total dose of 60 Gy between years 2001 and 2007. Thirty-nine of the patients (%) also received concomitant weekly cisplatin. Forty of the patients had oral and 62 had oropharyngeal cancer. Data on the tumour, patient and treatment factors were collected. Following therapy the patients were followed by clinical examination, endoscopy and MRI/CT at 2- to 3-months interval up to 2 years and thereafter at 6-month intervals. Results. The mean follow-up time of the patients was 55 months (range, 26-106 months). The rate for local tumour control for the whole cohort was 92.2%: 87.5% for oral cancer patients and 96.7% for oropharyngeal cancer patients. The 5-year disease specific survival was 90.2% and 5-year overall survival 84.3%. During the follow-up eight locoregional recurrences were observed, three at the primary tumour site and one at regional nodal site and four at both sites. The mean time to primary tumour recurrence was seven months (range, 2-10 months) and to nodal recurrence seven months (range, 2-12 months). Distant metastasis occurred in six (6%) patients. The factors associated with poor prognosis were the primary tumour size and tumour site with oral cancers having worse outcome. The treatment was well tolerated with no unexpected toxicities. The most frequent late toxicity was dysphagia necessitating permanent PEG in five patients. This was correlated with the advanced primary tumour size and resulting in wide tumour excision and reconstruction. Conclusions. Surgery combined with postoperative radiotherapy given as IMRT results in low level of tumour recurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]