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This study aimed to retrospectively evaluate the efficacy of radiotherapy for primary intraocular non-Hodgkin lymphoma (PIOL). Between May 1998 and October 2010, 22 immunocompetent patients (four men, 18 women; median age 70 years, range 53-79 years) were diagnosed with PIOL. Magnetic resonance imaging showed no intracranial involvement in any patient. Patients received radiotherapy at a median total dose of 30 Gy (range 30-40 Gy). Three-year overall survival, progression-free survival and local control rates were 89% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 75, 103), 49% (95% CI: 24, 73) and 95% (95% CI: 86, 105) over a median of 36 months of observation, respectively. Twelve patients (55%) had intracranial relapse at a median of 28 months after initiation of radiotherapy. Visual acuity improved or was stable in 81% of treated eyes. The only grade ≥ 3 toxicity was cataract formation (five patients). Radiotherapy without chemotherapy for PIOL achieved high local control rates with acceptable toxicities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To determine whether adding intraluminal brachytherapy (ILBT) to definitive radiation therapy (RT) for unresectable biliary tract cancer has a positive impact on survival outcome. Methods and Materials: The original cohort comprised 209 patients, including 153 who underwent external beam RT (EBRT) alone and 56 who received both ILBT and EBRT. By matching propensity scores, 56 pairs (112 patients) consisting of 1 patient with and 1 patient without ILBT were selected. They were well balanced in terms of sex, age, performance status, clinical stage, jaundice, and addition of chemotherapy. The impact of ILBT on overall survival (OS), disease-specific survival (DSS), and local control (LC) was investigated. Results: The 2-year OS rates were 31% for the ILBT+ group and 40% for theILBT– group (P=.862). The 2-year DSS rates were 42% for the ILBT+ group and 41% for the ILBT– group (P=.288). The 2-year LC rates were 65% for the ILBT+ group and 35% for the ILBT– group (P=.094). Three of the 4 sensitivity analyses showed a significantly better LC for the ILBT+ group (P=.010, .025, .049), and another showed a marginally better LC (P=.068), and none of the sensitivity analyses showed any statistically significant differences in OS or DSS. Conclusions: In the treatment for unresectable biliary tract cancer, the addition of ILBT to RT has no impact on OS or DSS but is associated with better LC. Therefore, the role of ILBT should be addressed by other measures than survival benefit, for example, by less toxicity, prolonged biliary tract patency decreasing the need for further palliative interventions, or patient quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Purpose: To seek for the possible factors influencing overall survival (OS) with radiotherapy (RT) for biliary tract cancer. Materials and methods: Data were collected retrospectively from RT database of 31 institutions in Japan. All patients underwent at least external beam RT. The factors influencing OS were investigated. Results: Data of 498 patients were analyzed. Median OS of the 212 patients who underwent surgery was significantly better than that of the 286 patients without surgery (31 vs. 15months, p <0.001). The OS for the R0 or R1 resection group was significantly longer than that for the R2 or non-surgery group, as well as for n0 compared to n1 (all p <0.001). Chemoradiotherapy (CRT), both sequential and concurrent, resulted in a better OS than RT alone for the n1 group (31 vs. 13months, p <0.001), and marginally better for the R0/R1 group (p =0.065; p =0.054 for concurrent CRT). However, no such benefit was observed for the R2/non-surgical patients. Multivariate analysis identified performance status, clinical stage, and surgery as significant factors. Conclusion: Surgery, especially R0/R1 resection, seemed as the gold standard for treatment of biliary tract cancer including RT, even in the highly heterogeneous population obtained from the multicenter retrospective study. The possibility was shown that CRT yielded better survival benefit especially for n1 patients. We recommend that future prospective trials include an arm of adjuvant CRT at least for n1 and possibly R0/R1 patients. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]