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Purpose: A proportion of patients with localized prostate cancer is still treated with primary androgen deprivation therapy (PADT) alone. Some of these patients may develop a PSA rising despite castration. The purpose of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the potential benefit of external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) in this cohort., Methods: Forty-two patients presenting a non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer after PADT were referred to our institution and underwent RT between June 2003 and July 2011. Biochemical failure (BF) after EBRT was defined according to Phoenix criteria (nadir + 2 ng/mL "at call"). Median RT dose was 78 Gy., Results: Median duration of PADT was 54 months (range 10.2-181 months). Median follow-up after EBRT was 53 months. Twenty-one patients had BF after EBRT (median time 27.4 months): 13 presented with loco-regional and/or distant metastases, while in 8 patients, a PSA rise only was observed. Ten patients died of prostate cancer (and no patient died of causes other than prostate cancer). Five-year biochemical disease-free survival (bDFS), distant metastases-free survival (DMFS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were, respectively, 39.4, 60 and 65 %. On multivariate analysis, GS, nadir PSA (nPSA) and a pre-EBRT PSA ≤5 ng/mL significantly affected bDFS, while Gleason score (GS) and T stage significantly affected distant metastases onset. No factors affected CSS at multivariate analysis., Conclusions: EBRT may be a suitable therapeutic option, able to provide an excellent loco-regional control and to obtain a systemic disease control in up to 60 % of patients at 5 years, especially in patients presenting with lower Gleason score and T stage at diagnosis and lower pre-RT PSA and nPSA post-RT.

Purpose: The contribution of thoracic radiation in increasing secondary breast cancer (BC) risk in female Hodgkin lymphoma patients is well known, and recent changes in radiation therapy volumes, doses and techniques are supposed to minimize it. In this study, we compared different radiation therapy solutions in terms of secondary BC induction risk with the aim of selecting which could be considered the most protective., Methods and Materials: In 10 female patients under 30 years old we estimated breast cancer risk for different combined treatment solutions (involved field vs involved nodal radiation therapy [IFRT vs INRT], 30 Gy vs 20 Gy, 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy vs volumetric modulated arc therapy [3DCRT vs VMAT]). The organ equivalent dose (OED) method was used for dose calculation, as OED is directly related to the excess risk. Estimated OED mean values for all options in all patients were then analyzed and compared., Results: INRT was significantly associated with a lower OED, regardless of total dose and technique (0.43 vs 1.15, P < .0001). The relative OED reduction from IFRT to INRT was approximately 60%. The dose of 20 Gy resulted in a significant reduction of OED, approximately 25% (0.68 vs 0.9, P < .01). VMAT did not show significantly higher OED when compared with 3DCRT (0.84 vs 0.74, P = .15). The combination of INRT and 20 Gy lead to a decrease in OED of approximately 70% if compared with IFRT 30 Gy., Conclusions: The INRT approach substantially reduces OED, independent of dose and technique; the dose reduction from 30 Gy to 20 Gy also has a significant impact, and as expected INRT-20 Gy resulted to be the solution at lowest risk. No differences were observed when comparing different techniques (3DCRT vs VMAT). The combination of these innovative approaches might lead to a substantial reduction in secondary breast cancer risk in this patient population., (Copyright © 2013 American Society for Radiation Oncology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Adjuvant radiotherapy in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is still controversial. The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the role of postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) in terms of local control and survival in pathologic N2 NSCLC., Patients and Methods: From January 2003 to December 2008, 66 patients with pathologic N2 NSCLC received PORT. Mediastinal lymph node metastases were classified into single (12 patients) or multiple (54 patients) stations. All patients received conformal radiation therapy, with a median total dose of 50.4 Gy. Target volumes included the bronchial stump, ipsilateral hilum, all pathologically involved lymph node regions, and all the lymph nodes between 2 noncontiguous pathologic nodal stations. The pattern of failure was considered as locoregional or systemic, or a combination of both. Locoregional failure was defined as in field or out of field., Results: Median follow-up time was 34.9 months (range 3.5-62.8 months). Local control was 80% at 12 months, 77.2% at both 24 and 36 months, and 72.1% at 60 months. The pattern of failure was locoregional in 3 patients (1 out of field and 2 in field) and systemic in 25 patients, with 12 patients presenting both locoregional and distant disease. Overall survival at 12, 36, and 60 months was 77%, 44%, and 37%, respectively. Median survival time was 34 months. The number of pathologically involved lymph node stations was a prognostic factor for local control (P = .05), cancer-specific survival (CSS) (P = .04), and disease-free survival (DFS) (P = .04)., Conclusion: Despite the limitations of the present study, mainly represented by its retrospective nature, our data support the role of PORT in terms of locoregional control and overall survival benefit; the number of involved mediastinal lymph nodes represents a significant prognostic factor in patients with pathologic N2 NSCLC., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) has an emerging role in patients affected with pulmonary metastases. Purpose of this study was to evaluate efficacy and tolerability of SBRT in a cohort of patients treated between 2003 and 2009 at our institution., Methods: A total of 61 patients with oligometastatic lung tumors (single pulmonary nodules in 73.7%) were included in the study. SBRT was performed with a stereotactic body frame and a 3D-conformal technique. Fifty-one patients received 26 Gy in 1 fraction, 22 a dose of 45 Gy in 3 fractions and 3 a dose of 36 Gy in 4 fractions. Primary tumor was lung cancer in 45.7% of patients, colorectal cancer in 21.3% and a variety of other origins in 33%. The primary endpoint was local control, secondary endpoints were survival and toxicity., Results: After a median follow-up interval of 20.4 months, local control rates at 2 and 3 years were 89% and 83.5%, overall survival 66.5% and 52.5%, cancer-specific survival 75.4% and 67%, progression-free survival 32.4% and 22.3%. Tumor volume was significantly associated to survival, with highest rates in patients with single small tumors. Median survival time was 42.8 months, while median progression-free survival time was 11.9 months. Toxicity profiles were good, with just one case of grade III toxicity (pneumonitis)., Conclusion: This study shows that SBRT is an effective and safe local treatment option for patients with lung metastases. Definitive results are strictly correlated to clinical selection of patients., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Aim and Background: Radiotherapy is the conventional treatment for locally advanced inoperable head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. However, the poor therapeutic results justify the development of radiochemotherapy combinations. In an attempt to improve local control and survival in patients with stage III and IV unresectable head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and based on the results of our previous dose escalation study, we undertook a prospective multicentric randomized trial., Materials and Methods: From November 1992 through December 1995, a total of 164 patients were randomized to receive radiotherapy alone (arm I) or combined (arm II) with daily low-dose carboplatin., Results: The 3, 5 and 10-year local-regional recurrence-free survival rates were better in arm II (21.7%, 15.1% and 15.1%, respectively) than in arm I (15%, 10.7% and 10.7%), but without statistical significance (P = 0.11). The 3, 5 and 10-year disease-free survival rates showed the same positive trend for arm II (16%, 6.8% and 6.8% vs. 9%, 5.5% and 5.5%, in arm I, respectively), again without statistical significance (P = 0.09). Instead, a statistical advantage was found in overall survival rates at 3, 5 and 10-years (28.9%, 9% and 5.5% in arm II and 11.1%, 6.9% and 6.9% in arm I, respectively) (P = 0.02). The 3, 5 and 10-year local-regional recurrence-free survival rates in stage IV disease were statistically better in arm II (21.5%, 15.9% and 15.9%) than in arm I (12.8%, 7.7% and 7.7%, respectively) (P = 0.04)., Conclusions: Long-term results in both treatment arms of the trial appear less positive than most published series. However, our findings do not exclude that carboplatin may be beneficial, but the benefit in local control must be lower than the 15% assumed to dimension the trial.

Purpose: The specific goal of this retrospective study is to evaluate the role of total skin electron beam therapy (TSEBT) in the treatment of Mycosis Fungoides (MF) and to assess the most significant prognostic factors in univariate and multivariate analyses., Material and Methods: From January 1985 to December 1999, 92 TSEBT (Stanford Standing technique) were performed on a total of 86 patients (63 with Mycosis Fungoides, 6 with Sezary Syndrome and 17 with Cutaneous Lymphomas). This study considers only the Mycosis Fungoides group, which consisted of 60 cases evaluable for response, survival and toxicity. The distribution of patients by stage (MFCG Staging Classification, 1991) was 21, 5, 12, 22 for stages I, II, III and IV, respectively., Results: The overall response rate was 96.6% (58/60) with complete response (CR) in 50/60 patients (83.3%) and partial response (PR) in 8 cases (13.3%). The five-year and ten-year actuarial overall survival (OS) was 50% and 45%, respectively. Local control, intended as control of the disease in the skin, was 35% at five years and 20% at ten years, and was correlated with skin involvement. The prognostic factors confirmed by the multivariate analysis for both overall survival and local control were: T (p<0.001) and response after TSEBT (p<0.001). The treatment was very well tolerated., Conclusions: Our study showed good results in terms of response and survival with a long follow-up time (mean value 40 months). We confirm that TSEBT yields very good results in early-stage MF; additional trials of combined modality and investigational therapies are needed to improve the outcome for advanced-stage disease.