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Aim: To review the current landscape of outlier genes in the field of prostate cancer., Methods: A comprehensive review was performed., Results: Prostate cancer continues to be a significant worldwide health issue. In the era of personalized medicine, more emphasis is being placed on the ability to determine the timing, intensity and type of treatment, according to each patient's unique disease. Several commercial tests are available to determine the risk of aggressive prostate cancer based on genomic biomarkers and gene expression. Outlier genes represent a form of cancer classification that focuses on bimodal expression of a gene in a specific subset of patients. Outlier genes identified in prostate cancer include TMPRSS2-ERG, SPINK1, ScHLAP1, NVL, SMC4 and SQLE., Conclusion: Classifying patient prostate cancers by outlier genes may allow for individualized cancer therapies and improved cancer therapy outcomes.

Aim: To analyze malpractice trials in radiation oncology and assess how ASTRO APEx ® and RO-ILS™ apply to such cases., Methods: The Westlaw database was reviewed using PICOS/PRISMA methods. Fisher's exact and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to find factors associated with outcomes., Results: Of 34 cases identified, external beam was used in 26 (77%). The most common factors behind malpractice were excessive toxicity (80%) and lack of informed consent (66%). ASTRO APEx pillars and ROI-LS had applicability to all but one case. Factors favoring the defendant included statute of limitations (odds ratio: 8.1; 95% CI: 1.3-50); those favoring the plaintiff included patient death (odds ratio: 0.7; 95% CI: 0.54-0.94)., Conclusion: APEx and RO-ILS are applicable to malpractice trials in radiation oncology.

Approximately a third of men with localized prostate cancer who are treated with external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) or radical prostatectomy (RP) develop biochemical failure (BF). Presumably, BF will progress to distant metastasis and prostate cancer-specific mortality in some patients over subsequent years. Accurate detection of recurrent disease is important because it allows for appropriate treatment selection (e.g., local vs systemic therapy) and early delivery of therapy (e.g., salvage EBRT), which affect patient outcome. In this article, we discuss the paradigm shift in imaging technology in the detection of recurrent prostate cancer. First, we discuss the commonly used morphological and anatomical imaging modalities and their role in the post-RP and post-EBRT settings of BF. Second, we discuss the accuracy of functional and molecular imaging techniques, many of which are under investigation. Further studies are needed to establish the role of imaging techniques for detection of cancer recurrence and clinical decision-making.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to describe the prognostic significance of ALDH7A1 in surgically treated non-small-cell lung carcinoma. (NSCLC)., Materials & Methods: We immunohistochemically analyzed ALDH7A1 expression in surgically resected NSCLC from 89 patients using a tissue microarray., Results: ALDH7A1 staining was positive in 43 patients and negative in 44 patients, with two tumor sections missing. For stage I NSCLC patients, ALDH7A1 positivity was associated with decreased recurrence-free and overall survival. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that ALDH7A1-expressing NSCLC tumors had a significantly higher incidence of lung cancer recurrence compared with patients with ALDH7A1-negative tumors, although there was no association with overall survival., Conclusion: For patients with NSCLC, low ALDH7A1 expression was associated with a decreased incidence of cancer recurrence. Specifically in stage I patients, negative staining for ALDH7A1 was associated with improved recurrence-free and overall survival, suggesting a predictive role in surgically treated patients.