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Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common brain malignan-cy in adults. It is also highly aggressive and characterized by very poor prognosis. Surgical resection of the tumor remains the basic treatment that significantly improves survival. Moreover, adjuvant chemoradiotherapy is the standard-of-care. Glioblastoma multiforme has a very complex genetic profile; various genetic abnormalities have been discovered in cells of this type of tumor. Despite growing interest in targeted therapies in oncology, no breakthrough offering successful treatment of glioblastoma multiforme has occurred. Owing to the tumor's rich vasculature, antiangiogentic the-rapies seem promising. An association between carcinogene-sis and tumor vasculature was observed in 1970s. At present, the only FDA-approved drug targeting antiogenesis-stimula-ting factor is bevacizumab. In recent years, more and more new antiangiogenic therapies have been investigated in both monotherapy and combined treatment of glioblastoma mul-tiforme with different success rates. This article presents an overview of the most explored therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to retrospectively analyze 7 cases of penile cancer treated with HDR brachytherapy and to review the literature on the usage of brachytherapy in this disease. Material and methods. The analysis involves 5 patients treated with interstitial brachytherapy and 2 patients treated with contact brachytherapy in 2012-2017. Two patients received adjuvant treatment due to non-radical surgery, while the remaining patients were treated for a local relapse after surgery. Partial penectomy was conducted in 3 cases, while only local resection was performed also in 3 cases. The patients treated with interstitial brachytherapy alone were irradiated to the total dose of 42-45 Gy twice daily in fractions of 3 Gy. The patient treated with contact brachytherapy alone was irradiated to the total dose of 45 Gy once daily in 15 fractions of 3 Gy. The patients treated with brachytherapy combined with teleradiotherapy were irradiated to the total dose of 60-66 Gy. Results. During the mean follow-up of 21 months (from 4 to 44 months), there were no cases of local recurrence in the treated region. Organ preservation was possible in all cases. The disease recurred in the form of metastases in two cases. One of them developed lung metastases, and the other - bilateral inguinal lymph node metastases. Acute toxicity was graded at maximally grade III in the RTOG (Radiation Therapy Oncology Group) system and concerned the skin and mucous membranes. Late complications (RTOG grade I only) included fibrosis and penile skin discoloration. Conclusions. Brachytherapy is an effective and safe treatment method and may be an alternative to mutilating surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]