316 research outputs found
Radiation therapy and serum salivary amylase in head and neck cancer
Radiation therapy (RT) is a valid treatment option for head and neck cancer (HNC). The risk of RT-induced toxicities is significant, especially due to extended treatment fields. The raise in amylase activity is strictly dependent on the volume of salivary glands included in the irradiated target volume and it is firmly related to the dose. The aim of this review is to report the effects on salivary amylase activity after radiation exposure of salivary glands, in patients with HNC
Head and neck cancer: metronomic chemotherapy
In the era of personalized medicine, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) represents a critical oncologic topic. Conventional chemotherapy regimens consist of drugs administration in cycles near or at the maximum tolerated dose (MDT), followed by a long drug-free period to permit the patient to recover from acute toxicities. Despite this strategy is successful in controlling the cancer process at the beginning, a significant number of HNSCC patients tend to recurred or progress, especially those patients with locally advanced or metastatic disease. The repertoire of drugs directed against tumor cells has greatly increased and metronomic chemotherapy (MC) could be an effective treatment option.It is the purpose of this article to review the concept of MC and describe its potential use in HNSCC. We provide an update of ongoing progress and current challenges related to this issue
The role of radiation therapy in bone metastases management
Bone metastases represent an important complication of malignant tumours. Despite improvement in surgical techniques and advances in systemic therapies, management of patients with bone metastatic disease remains a powerful cornerstone for the radiation oncologist. The primary goal of radiation therapy is to provide pain relief, preserving patient's quality of life
Defective DNA repair mechanisms in prostate cancer: impact of olaparib
The field of prostate oncology has continued to change dramatically. It has truly become a field that is intensely linked to molecular genetic alterations, especially DNA-repair defects. Germline breast cancer 1 gene (BRCA1) and breast cancer 2 gene (BRCA2) mutations are implicated in the highest risk of prostate cancer (PC) predisposition and aggressiveness. Poly adenosine diphosphate ribose polymerase (PARP) proteins play a key role in DNA repair mechanisms and represent a valid target for new therapies. Olaparib is an oral PARP inhibitor that blocks DNA repair pathway and coupled with BRCA mutated-disease results in tumor cell death. In phase II clinical trials, including patients with advanced castration-resistant PC, olaparib seems to be efficacious and well tolerated. Waiting for randomized phase III trials, olaparib should be considered as a promising treatment option for PC
Adjuvant radiation therapy in stage I seminoma: 20 years of oncologic results
Aim: To report long term oncologic outcomes after adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) for stage I seminoma.
Method: We reviewed the complete data set for all patients treated at our institute between 1988 and 2005 for stage I seminoma with adjuvant RT after radical orchiectomy.
Results: A total of 85 patients were included. The median follow-3up was 15 years. The 20-3year overall survival (OS) and relapse free survival (RFS) were 92% and 96.3%, respectively. No severe acute and late complications were recorded. Overall 5.9% of patients had a second unrelated malignancy.
Conclusion: Adjuvant RT is an efficacious and safe treatment in stage I seminom
The role of different adjuvant therapies in locally advanced gastric adenocarcinoma
Complete surgical resection remains the only curative treatment option in locally advanced gastric cancer (GC). Several studies were conducted to prevent local recurrence and to increase the chance of cure. The aim of this study was to summarize our experience in locally advanced GC patients treated with adjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and to evaluate overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), toxicity rate and compliance to treatment
Skin toxicity after radiotherapy. About a case
A 60-year-old woman was admitted to the Department complaining of a slow growing mass in the right knee. Physical examination demonstrated a mass on the postero-lateral aspect of the right knee, which was not tender or mobile, however was rubbery and hard in consistency. Full flexion and extension was observed without any restriction of joint movement
Unusual presentation of metastatic adenocarcinoma of the lung
On September 2013, a 62-year-old man with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the lung complained tenderness and pain of the first terminal phalange of his right hand. The biopsy confirmed metastatic adenocarcinoma of the lung to the finger. A single 8-Gy fraction of palliative radiotherapy was delivered to the patient's right hand. The patient received magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound surgery treatment to the phalange because he showed few improvement of clinical symptoms and persistence of moderate pain after radiotherapy. After magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound surgery, the clinical symptoms improved significantly. No serious adverse effects were reported and the patient compliance was very high. Our patient showed improvement of clinical symptoms after combined treatment. The patient remains in good health conditions
Clinical benefit of adding oxaliplatin to standard neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced rectal cancer: a meta-analysis : Oxaliplatin in neoadjuvant treatment for rectal cancer
Abstract. Background: To evaluate the treatment tolerance
and clinical outcomes in patients aged 70 years and older with
locally advanced oropharyngeal cancer treated by definitive
intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Patients and
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 15 consecutive elderly
patients, with histologically-proven squamous cell carcinoma
of the oropharynx, staged T3-4 with or without involved lymph
nodes at diagnosis, who received definitive sequential IMRT
(70 Gy; 2 Gy/fraction). Adult Comorbidity Evaluation-27
(ACE-27) score was calculated and its influence on treatment
tolerance and clinical outcomes was analyzed. Results: A total
of 15 patients were included with a median age of 77 years
(range=70-88 years). At baseline, 8 patients (53.3%) had an
ACE-27 score of 1, and the remainder (n=7, 46.7%) had a
comorbidity index of 0. All patients completed programmed
IMRT treatment, without any reduction of total dose. Oral
pain and mucositis were the most common acute side-effects,
classified as grade 3 in 6 patients (40%) only. Xerostomia was
reported in 13 patients (86.7%), without severe manifestation.
There was no hematological toxicity. ACE-27 score was not
related to higher severe acute toxicity. No patients experienced
grade 3 or more late toxicity. Five-year overall survival and
disease-free survival rates were 63.6% (95% confidence
interval=32.7-83.3%) and 55% (95% confidence
interval=24.4-77.6%), respectively. Comorbidity score did not
influence survival outcomes, both overall survival (p=0.46)
and disease-free survival (p=0.55). Conclusion: Treatment
tolerance, as well as survival outcomes were good in elderly
oropharyngeal cancer patients treated with definitive
sequential IMRT. Due to age and comorbidity, no dose or
volume reduction for IMRT should be considered in this
setting of patients. A prospective randomized trial with a large
sample size should be conducted to confirm our result
Modelling the spread of Covid19 in Italy using a revised version of the SIR model
In this paper, we present a model to predict the spread of the Covid-19
epidemic and apply it to the specific case of Italy. We started from a simple
Susceptible, Infected, Recovered (SIR) model and we added the condition that,
after a certain time, the basic reproduction number exponentially decays
in time, as empirically suggested by world data. Using this model, we were able
to reproduce the real behavior of the epidemic with an average error of 5\%.
Moreover, we illustrate possible future scenarios, associated to different
intervals of . This model has been used since the beginning of March 2020,
predicting the Italian peak of the epidemic in April 2020 with about 100.000
detected active cases. The real peak of the epidemic happened on the 20th of
April 2020, with 108.000 active cases. This result shows that the model had
predictive power for the italian case.Comment: The model presented in this paper has been adopted on Covstat.it.
Errata corrige in the abstrac
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