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Patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx are generally treated with (chemo) radiation. Patients with oropharyngeal cancer have better survival than patients with squamous cell carcinoma of other head and neck subsites, especially when related to human papillomavirus. However, radiotherapy results in a substantial percentage of survivors suffering from significant treatment-related side-effects. Late radiation-induced side-effects are mostly irreversible and may even be progressive, and particularly xerostomia and dysphagia affect health-related quality of life. As the risk of radiation-induced side-effects highly depends on dose to healthy normal tissues, prevention of radiation-induced xerostomia and dysphagia and subsequent improvement of health-relatedquality of life can be obtained by applying proton therapy, which offers the opportunity to reduce the dose to both the salivary glands and anatomic structures involved in swallowing. This review describes the results of the first cohort studies demonstrating that proton therapy results in lower dose levels in multiple organs at risk, which translates into reduced acute toxicity (i.e. up to 3 months after radiotherapy), while preserving tumour control. Next to reducing mucositis, tube feeding, xerostomia and distortion of the sense of taste, protons can improve general well-being by decreasing fatigue and nausea. Proton therapy results in decreased rates of tube feeding dependency and severe weight loss up to 1 year after radiotherapy, and may decrease the risk of radionecrosis of the mandible. Also, the model-based approach for selecting patients for proton therapy in the Netherlands is described in this review and future perspectives are discussed.

Introduction Induced birth of fetuses with gastroschisis from 34 weeks gestational age (GA) has been proposed to reduce bowel damage. We aimed to determine the effect of birth timing on time to full enteral feeds (ENT), length of hospital stay (LOS), and sepsis. Methods A retrospective analysis (2000–2014) of gastroschisis born at ≥ 34 weeks GA was performed. Associations between birth timing and outcomes were analyzed by Mann–Whitney test, Cox regression, and Fisher's exact test. Results 217 patients were analyzed. Although there was no difference in ENT between those born at 34–36 + 6 weeks GA (median 28 range [6–639] days) compared with ≥ 37 weeks GA (27 [8–349] days) when analyzed by Mann–Whitney test (p = 0.5), Cox regression analysis revealed that lower birth GA significantly prolonged ENT (p = 0.001). LOS was significantly longer in those born at 34–36 + 6 weeks GA (42 [8–346] days) compared with ≥ 37 weeks GA 34 [11–349] days by both Mann–Whitney (p = 0.02) and Cox regression analysis (p