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Introduction: Trismus is a potentially critical morbidity following curative-intended radiotherapy in head and neck cancer patients. However, in this setting, evidence regarding this side effect remains to be fully defined, particularly in terms of dosimetric parameters., Materials and Methods: Key references were derived from a PubMed query. Hand searching and clinicaltrials.gov were also used., Results: This paper contains a narrative report and a critical discussion of the evidence on radiation-induced trismus in the literature, particularly the dosimetric concerns., Conclusions: The treatment goal should be to maintain high cure rates and limit the onset of complications. Further evaluations of dosimetric measures and clinical outcomes are warranted to identify patients at higher risk to target treatment tailoring., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background and Purpose: In patients with recurrent ventricular tachycardia (VT), STereotactic Arrhythmia Radioablation (STAR) shows promising results. The STOPSTORM.eu consortium was established to investigate and harmonise STAR treatment in Europe. The primary goals of this benchmark study were to standardise contouring of organs at risk (OAR) for STAR, including detailed substructures of the heart, and accredit each participating centre., Materials and Methods: Centres within the STOPSTORM.eu consortium were asked to delineate 31 OAR in three STAR cases. Delineation was reviewed by the consortium expert panel and after a dedicated workshop feedback and accreditation was provided to all participants. Further quantitative analysis was performed by calculating DICE similarity coefficients (DSC), median distance to agreement (MDA), and 95th percentile distance to agreement (HD95)., Results: Twenty centres participated in this study. Based on DSC, MDA and HD95, the delineations of well-known OAR in radiotherapy were similar, such as lungs (median DSC = 0.96, median MDA = 0.1 mm and median HD95 = 1.1 mm) and aorta (median DSC = 0.90, median MDA = 0.1 mm and median HD95 = 1.5 mm). Some centres did not include the gastro-oesophageal junction, leading to differences in stomach and oesophagus delineations. For cardiac substructures, such as chambers (median DSC = 0.83, median MDA = 0.2 mm and median HD95 = 0.5 mm), valves (median DSC = 0.16, median MDA = 4.6 mm and median HD95 = 16.0 mm), coronary arteries (median DSC = 0.4, median MDA = 0.7 mm and median HD95 = 8.3 mm) and the sinoatrial and atrioventricular nodes (median DSC = 0.29, median MDA = 4.4 mm and median HD95 = 11.4 mm), deviations between centres occurred more frequently. After the dedicated workshop all centres were accredited and contouring consensus guidelines for STAR were established., Conclusion: This STOPSTORM multi-centre critical structure contouring benchmark study showed high agreement for standard radiotherapy OAR. However, for cardiac substructures larger disagreement in contouring occurred, which may have significant impact on STAR treatment planning and dosimetry evaluation. To standardize OAR contouring, consensus guidelines for critical structure contouring in STAR were established., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background and Purpose: The prevalence of patients with a cardiac implantable device (CIED) developing cancer and requiring a course of radiotherapy (RT) is increasing remarkably. Previously published reports agree that standard and conventionally fractionated RT is usually safe for CIEDs, but no "in-vivo" reports are available on the potential effects of thoracic stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) regimens to CIEDs functioning. The purpose of our study is therefore to evaluate the effects of SABR on CIEDs (pacemakers [PM] or implantable cardiac defibrillators [ICD]) in a cohort of patients affected by primary or metastatic lung lesions., Materials and Methods: We retrospectively collected all CIED-bearing patients undergoing SABR between 2007 and 2019 at our Institution. All CIEDs were interrogated before and after the SABR course to check for any malfunction. Prescription dose, beam energy and maximum dose (Dmax) to CIEDs were retrieved for each patient. Electrical records of the CIEDs were reviewed by the medical records., Results: Thirty-four consecutive patients (24 with a PM and 10 with an ICD), who underwent 38 separate SABR courses, were included in the study. Eight patients (24%) were PM-dependent. Prescription dose of SABR ranged 26-60 Gy in 1-8 fractions, with a photon energy ranging 6-to-10 MV (76.3% and 23.7%, respectively) and a median Dmax to CIEDs of 0.17 Gy (range 0.04-1.97 Gy). Electrical parameters were stable in post-treatment device programming visits and no transient or persistent alteration of the CIED function was recorded in any patient. No inappropriate interventions were recorded in the 10 ICD-bearing patients during the treatment fractions., Conclusions: Thoracic SABR proved to be safe for CIEDs when the dose is kept <2 Gy and the beam energy is ≤10 MV, irrespective of the pacing-dependency and of the CIED type., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background and Purpose: Radiotherapy is an effective treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), but increases the risk of long term complications as cardiac events and second cancers. This study aimed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events through an optimization of the dose distribution on heart substructures in mediastinal HL patients with the adoption of different volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) techniques, while maintaining the same risk of second cancer induction on lungs and breasts., Materials and Methods: Thirty patients (15 males and 15 females, 15 bulky lesions) treated between 2012 and 2017 at our institution were selected. Disease extent was mediastinum plus neck (n = 10), mediastinum plus unilateral axilla (n = 10) and mediastinum alone (n = 10). Lungs, breasts, whole heart and sub-structures (coronary arteries, valves and chambers) were contoured as organs at risk and included in the optimization process. A "first-generation" multi-arc butterfly VMAT (B-VMAT) planning solution was compared to a full-arc butterfly VMAT (FaB-VMAT) approach, consisting of a full arc plus a non-coplanar arc. Lifetime attributable risk (LAR) of second breast and lung cancer and relative risk (RR) of coronary artery disease (CAD) and chronic heart failure (CHF) were estimated., Results: FaB-VMAT resulted in lower mean dose to whole heart (7.6 vs 6.9 Gy, p = 0.003), all coronary arteries (16.1 vs 13.5 Gy, p < 0.001), left ventricle (4.2 vs 3.4 Gy, p = 0.007) and in lower V 20Gy to the lungs (15% vs 14%, p = 0.008). A significant lower RR for CAD and CHF was observed for FaB-VMAT. The risk of second breast and lung cancer was comparable between the two solutions, with the exception of female patients with mediastinal bulky involvement, where B-VMAT resulted in lower mean dose (2.8 vs 3.5 Gy, p = 0.03) and V 4Gy (22% vs 16%, 0.04) to breasts, with a significant reduction in LAR (p = 0.03)., Conclusions: FaB-VMAT significantly decreased the RR for CAD and CHF compared to B-VMAT, with almost the same overall risk of lung and breast cancer induction. These results are influenced by the different anatomical presentations, supporting the need for an individualized approach., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background and Purpose: Inadvertent heart and coronary arteries (CA) irradiation may increase the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients receiving thoracic irradiation. To date, the entity of cardiac-related CA displacement and the possible margins to be used for planning organs at risk volume (PRV) have been poorly described. Aim of this study was to quantify CA displacement and to estimate PRV through the use of ECG-gated computed tomography (CT) scans., Material and Methods: Eight patients received an ECG-gated intravenous contrast enhanced CT for non-cancer related reasons. Nine data sets were reconstructed over the entire R-R cycle with a dedicated retrospective algorithm and the following structures were delineated: Left main trunk (LM), left anterior descending (LAD), left circumflex (CX) and right coronary artery (RCA). CA displacements across the different cardiac phases were evaluated in left-right (X), cranio-caudal (Y) and anteroposterior (Z) directions using the McKenzie-van Herk formula (1.3 * Σ + 0.5 * σ)., Results: The following CA displacements were found in X, Y and Z coordinates: 3.6, 2.7 and 2.7 mm for LMT, respectively; 2.6, 5.0 and 6.8 mm for LAD, respectively; 3.5, 4.5 and 3.7 mm for CX, respectively; 3.6, 4.6 and 6.9 mm for RCA, respectively. Based on the mean displacements, we created a PRV of 3 mm for LM, 4 mm for CX and 5 mm for LAD and RCA., Conclusion: CA showed relevant displacements over the heart cycle, suggesting the need for a specific PRV margin to accurately estimate the dose received by these structures and optimize the planning process., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To analyze changes in pulmonary function and quality of life (QoL) at different time points after Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy (SABR) for early stage inoperable lung cancer, and potential correlations between radiation dose-volume parameters and pulmonary toxicity or changes in pulmonary function tests (PFT) and QoL., Materials and Methods: From July 2012 to October 2013, 30 patients were enrolled in this prospective observational study. Complete PFT were performed and Lung Cancer Symptoms Scale (LCSS) questionnaire administered prior to SABR; all patients then underwent Computed Tomography (CT) scan and PFT at 45, 135, 225 and 315 days after SABR, together with LCSS questionnaire. Clinical lung toxicity and radiological toxicity (acute and late) were prospectively recorded by using the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) scoring system., Results: A decline in Slow Vital Capacity (SVC), Forced Expiratory Volume in 1s (FEV1), Single-breath lung diffusing capacity (DLCO) and blood partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) was seen at 135 days post-SABR. PaO2 values rescued to normal levels at 315 days. None of the baseline PFT parameters resulted to be associated with the occurrence of pulmonary toxicity or with late radiological changes. Mean V5, V10, and V20 and MLD2Gy were higher in patients who developed radiation pneumonitis, even if not significantly associated at Cox regression analysis. LCSS QoL showed a significant worsening of the single item fatigue at 135 days after SABR., Conclusions: A small (mean 10%) but significant decline in lung volumes and DLCO was recorded after SABR, with clinical impact of such change difficult to estimate in individual patients. Global QoL was not significantly impaired. Dose-volume parameters did not emerge as significantly predictive of any clinical, radiological or functional toxicity., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Aim of this retrospective multicenter observational study was to provide data on outcomes and prognostic factors in patients affected with stage I histologically confirmed NSCLC treated with Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy (SABR, or Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy, SBRT) outside clinical trials., Materials and Methods: We analyzed a cohort of 196 patients with histological/cytological diagnosis of NSCLC. Median age at treatment was 75 years old; median tumor diameter was 2.48 cm, and median GTV 13.3 cc. One hundred fifty-five patients had stage IA disease (79.1%) and 41 patients stage IB disease (20.9%). Total doses ranged from 48 to 60 Gy in 3-8 fractions. Primary endpoints of the study were safety (acute and late toxicity) and efficacy (Local Control, Disease-Free Survival, Overall and Cancer-Specific Survival)., Results: Median follow-up time was 30 months. The percentage of grade ≥2 pulmonary toxicity was 3%, and the 30 and 60 days mortality rate was 0%. Local Recurrence-Free Survival was 89.7% at 3 years. Fifty-nine patients (30.1%) had at least one failure (local and/or nodal and/or distant), with a Disease-Free Survival (DFS) rate at 3 years of 65.5%. Overall Survival (OS) and Cancer-Specific Survival (CSS) rates were 68% and 82.1% at 3 years, respectively. Median time to any recurrence was 15 months, while median overall survival time was 54 months. At multivariate analysis, stage IB was the only variable associated to a decrease in DFS, OS and CSS (HR 2.77, p = 0.006; HR 2.38, p = 0.009; HR 4.06, p ≤ 0.001, respectively). A difference in survival according to stage was also evident at the log-rank test (p ≤ 0.0001 for CSS and OS)., Conclusion: The results of the present study support the routine use of SABR for stage I NSCLC in a daily practice environment. The only prognostic factor that has been confirmed by our analysis was tumor stage (IA vs. IB)., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)