Hypofractionated radiation therapy for invasive breast cancer: From moderate to extreme protocols

Adjuvant irradiation is the standard treatment after breast conservative surgery. Normofractionated regimen with an overall treatment time of 5 to 6 weeks is often considered as a limiting factor for irradiation compliance. In order to answer this issue, moderate and more recently extreme hypofractionated protocols appeared. We report here oncological outcomes and toxicity of hypofractionated breast irradiation. After defining the frame of moderate and extreme hypofractionated breast irradiations based on overall treatment time, patient selection criteria were listed. According to their levels of proof, the results of moderate and extreme hypofractionated breast irradiation were analysed. Overall treatment time for moderate hypofractionated breast irradiation ranged from 3 to 4 weeks, while for extreme hypofractionated breast irradiation, it was less than 1 week. For moderate hypofractionated breast irradiation, whole breast irradiation was currently performed with or without lymph node irradiation. Moderate hypofractionated breast irradiation has proven to be as safe and as efficient as normofractionated breast irradiation with level IA evidence. For extreme hypofractionated breast irradiation, phase III randomized trials confirmed that accelerated partial breast irradiation was non-inferior in terms of local control compared to normofractionated whole breast irradiation (with external beam radiation therapy and multicatheter brachytherapy), with similar acute and late toxicity. While the use of intraoperative breast irradiation remains under debate, new very accelerated partial breast irradiation (overall treatment time not exceeding 2 days) protocols emerged with encouraging results. Accelerated partial breast irradiation is warranted for extreme hypofractionated breast irradiation and is indicated for low-risk breast cancers. Moderate and extreme hypofractionated breast irradiation regimens are validated and can be routinely proposed according to patient selection criteria.     

Place et modalités de l’irradiation postopératoire dans la prise en charge des métastases cérébrales

Metastases are the most common brain tumors. After surgery, stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) of the resection cavity is the standard of care. Data from two randomized trials indicate that SRT to the surgical bed is an effective treatment in reducing local failure as compared with observation, while reducing the risk of cognitive deterioration and maintaining quality of life as compared with whole brain radiation therapy. Local control appears higher after hypofractionated SRT compared to single-fraction SRT. Several questions such as target volumes, the optimal regimen in particular for large tumor bed, strategies to reduce the risk of lepto-meningeal recurrence, and the treatment sequence still need to be answered.     

肺癌脑转移放射治疗方式及进展

肺癌是发病率和死亡率最高的恶性肿瘤，其脑转移发生率高且预后差。近年来随着靶向以及免疫治疗药物相继研制成功，肺癌原发灶局部控制率得以提升，因此对其脑转移的治疗更加关注。放射治疗是肺癌脑转移治疗的重要手段之一，现将肺癌脑转移放射治疗方式及进展进行综述。     

ⅣA期胸腺瘤IMRT疗效及安全性初步分析

目的 初步评估IMRT对无法手术ⅣA期胸腺瘤的疗效及安全性。方法 回顾分析2010-2017年间15例无法手术接受IMRT的ⅣA期胸腺瘤患者,其中男9例、女6例,中位数59岁。PTV、CTV、GTV放疗剂量分别为50、60、70Gy分15~20次,分析近期疗效、总生存率及不良反应。结果 中位随访时间48个月,近期部分缓解率93%(14/15),1、3、5年总生存率分别为100%、75%、75%,仅1例出现3级血液系统反应。4例死亡患者均为肿瘤相关死亡。结论 初步证明ⅣA期胸腺瘤IMRT疗效较好、安全性高,可作为无法手术治疗的胸腺瘤患者安全、有效的治疗手段。     

接受选择性淋巴结照射的食管鳞癌患者预后和失败模式的分析

目的探讨接受选择性淋巴结照射(ENI)的食管鳞癌患者预后和失败模式。方法回顾性分析2005年1月至2012年12月河北医科大学第四医院收治的179例符合入组条件的食管鳞癌患者,分析肿瘤局部相关因素预测患者预后的价值,分析影响患者近期疗效、预后的影响因素,并对影响患者总生存率(OS)、无进展生存率(PFS)和复发的指标分别进行单因素和多因素分析。结果全组患者1、3、5年OS和PFS分别为77.1%、40.1%、26.0%和62.6%、30.6%、20.3%。多因素分析结果显示声音嘶哑、cN分期、cTNM分期、GTV-横径(GTV-D)和GTV-体积/长度(GTV-V/L)为影响患者OS的独立性影响因素(P<0.05);声音嘶哑、cTNM分期和近期疗效为影响患者PFS的独立性影响因素(P<0.05)。全组有75例(41.9%)患者出现复发,61例(34.1%)远处转移,其中19例(10.6%)为合并复发和远处转移。75例复发患者中64例(85.3%)患者为单纯食管复发,4例(5.3%)为单纯淋巴结复发,另7例(9.3%)患者为食管合并淋巴结复发。治疗后达完全缓解(CR)的63例患者中有18例患者出现复发,其中仅有2例患者出现淋巴结复发;logistic多因素分析结果显示患者周边组织/器官受侵、GTV-D和近期疗效为影响患者复发的独立性影响因素(P<0.05)。结论食管鳞癌患者接受ENI确实可行,其失败主要模式仍为食管复发;治疗前声音嘶哑、GTV-D和GTV-V/L较大、临床分期较晚和近期疗效不佳为患者预后较差的指标;肿瘤周边组织受侵、GTV-D和近期疗效是影响患者失败的独立性因素。     

Preparing IR for COVID-19: The Singapore Experience

This paper describes country-wide special measures undertaken for interventional radiology staff during the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Although each interventional radiology service around the world faces unique challenges, the principles outlined in this article will be useful when designing or strengthening individual practices and integrating them within wider hospital and national measures. Moving beyond the current outbreak, these measures will be useful for any future infectious diseases which are likely to arise.     

A Tool to Assess Patient and Surrogate Knowledge About the POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) Program

ContextIt is especially important that patients are well informed when making high-stakes, preference-sensitive decisions like those on the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form. However, there is currently no way to easily evaluate whether patients understand key concepts when making these important decisions.ObjectivesTo develop a POLST knowledge survey.MethodsExpert (n = 62) ratings of key POLST facts were used to select items for a POLST knowledge survey. The survey was administered to nursing facility residents (n = 97) and surrogate decision-makers (n = 112). A subset (n = 135) were re-administered the survey after a standardized advance care planning discussion to assess the scale's responsiveness to change.ResultsThe 19-item survey demonstrated adequate reliability (α = 0.72.). Residents' scores (x = 11.4, standard deviation 3.3) were significantly lower than surrogate scores (x = 14.7, standard deviation 2.5) (P < 0.001). Scores for both groups increased significantly after administration of a standardized advance care planning discussion (P < 0.001). Although being a surrogate, age, race, education, cognitive functioning, and health literacy were significantly associated with higher POLST Knowledge Survey scores in univariate analyses, only being a surrogate (P < 0.001) and being white (P = 0.028) remained significantly associated with higher scores in multivariate analyses.ConclusionThe 19-item POLST Knowledge Survey demonstrated adequate reliability and responsiveness to change. Findings suggest the survey could be used to identify knowledge deficits and provide targeted education to ensure adequate understanding of key clinical decisions when completing POLST.