R. Fuhrer

Treatment of recalcitrant Darier's disease with electron beam therapy

Dariers disease (DD) is difficult to treat and has no cure. Although many modalities have been investigated, treatment options to date are largely unsatisfactory. Side‐effect profiles have limited the use of many of these therapies, as has their ability to target only limited areas of disease. Furthermore, the effectiveness of most available treatments seems to be highly individualized, varying with disease severity and offering little alteration in the natural course of the disease. The present study reports a case of severe DD that was poorly responsive to known therapeutic modalities but responded to electron beam radiotherapy, and recommends this therapeutic modality for localized areas of severe, recalcitrant symptomatic disease.

Estimating the additive benefit of surgical excision to stereotactic radiosurgery in the management of metastatic brain disease.

BACKGROUND There are limited data on the benefits of surgical tumor resection plus stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in comparison with SRS alone for patients with oligometastatic brain disease. OBJECTIVE To determine the benefit of adding resection to SRS. METHODS We reviewed 162 consecutive patients with oligometastatic brain disease, who underwent surgical tumor resection and SRS boost (n = 49) or SRS alone (n = 113). Patients receiving prior whole brain radiation therapy were excluded. Factors related to patient survival and time-to-local recurrence (TTLR) were determined by Cox regression. The effect of complete resection + SRS boost on survival was further explored by propensity score matching. RESULTS The average age of the cohort was 65.3 years, it was 49.4% female, and included 260 brain tumors, of which 119 tumors were single. Seventy-three brain tumors recurred (28%). TTLR was related to radiation-sensitive pathology (hazards ratio [HR] = 0.34, P = .001), treatment volume (HR = 1.078/mL, P = .002), and complete tumor resection (HR = 0.37, P = .015). Factors related to survival were age (HR = 1.21/decade, P = .037), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance score (HR = 1.9, P = .001), and complete surgical resection (HR = 0.55, P = .01). Propensity score matched analysis of complete surgical resection + SRS boost (n = 40) vs SRS alone (n = 80) yielded nearly identical survival results (HR = 0.52, P = .030) compared with the initial unmatched sample. Incomplete tumor resection had both median survival and TTLR equivalent to SRS alone. CONCLUSION Complete surgical resection + SRS boost is associated with improved survival and reduced likelihood of local tumor recurrence in comparison with SRS alone. Incomplete resection did not improve survival or TTLR compared with SRS alone.

Hypofractionated image guided radiation therapy followed by prostate seed implant boost for men with newly diagnosed intermediate and high risk adenocarcinoma of the prostate: Preliminary results of a phase 2 prospective study

Purpose A phase 2 protocol was designed and implemented to assess the toxicity and efficacy of hypofractionated image guided intensity modulated radiation therapy (IG-IMRT) combined with low-dose rate 103Pd prostate seed implant for treatment of localized intermediate- and high-risk adenocarcinoma of the prostate. Methods and materials This is a report of an interim analysis on 24 patients enrolled on an institutional review board–approved phase 2 single-institution study of patients with intermediate- and high-risk adenocarcinoma of the prostate. The median pretreatment prostate-specific antigen level was 8.15 ng/mL. The median Gleason score was 4 + 3 = 7 (range, 3 + 4 = 7 - 4 + 4 = 8), and the median T stage was T2a. Of the 24 patients, 4 (17%) were high-risk patients as defined by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network criteria, version 2016. The treatment consisted of 2465 cGy in 493 cGy/fraction of IG-IMRT to the prostate and seminal vesicles. This was followed by a 103Pd transperineal prostate implant boost (prescribed dose to 90% of the prostate volume of 100 Gy) using intraoperative planning. Five patients received neoadjuvant, concurrent, and adjuvant androgen deprivation therapy. Results The median follow-up was 18 months (range, 1-42 months). The median nadir prostate-specific antigen was 0.5 ng/mL and time to nadir was 16 months. There was 1 biochemical failure associated with distant metastatic disease without local failure. Toxicity (acute or late) higher than grade 3 was not observed. There was a single instance of late grade 3 genitourinary toxicity secondary to hematuria 2 years and 7 months after radiation treatment. There were no other grade 3 gastrointestinal or genitourinary toxicities. Conclusions Early results on the toxicity and efficacy of the combination of hypofractionated IG-IMRT and low-dose-rate brachytherapy boost are favorable. Longer follow-up is needed to confirm safety and effectiveness.