BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The role of concurrent chemoradiation for treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is expanding. We sought to evaluate the CT appearance of diseased and normal cervical lymph nodes before and after concurrent chemoradiation and to correlate lymph node volume reduction as revealed by CT with histopathologic findings of resected nodes. METHODS Using concurrent c...

HYPOTHESIS Preoperative chemoradiation for patients with stage II and III midrectal and low rectal cancer may improve survival and decrease local recurrence rate. We evaluated the long-term impact of neoadjuvant chemoradiation on anal sphincter function. DESIGN Prospective analysis. SETTING Tertiary referral center. PATIENTS From March 1, 1996, to January 31, 2002, 50 patients with midrec...

PURPOSE The outcomes of adjuvant chemoradiation for locally advanced rectal cancer are nonuniform among patients with matching prognostic factors. We explored the role of molecular markers for predicting the outcome of adjuvant chemoradiation for rectal cancer patients. METHODS AND MATERIALS The study included 68 patients with stages II to III rectal adenocarcinoma who were treated with total...

BACKGROUND Haemoglobin levels and tissue oxygenation influence tumour outcome in carcinoma cervix radiotherapy. The clinical impact of haemoglobin levels on acute normal tissue toxicity during radiation and interaction with chemotherapy in carcinoma of the cervix is underexplored. This paper aims to explore this issue. METHODS Treatment toxicity among 227 patients with squamous cell carcinoma...

BACKGROUND The impact of induction chemoradiation therapy on esophageal cancer remains controversial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of induction chemoradiation therapy on perioperative and postoperative outcomes as well as the effect of downstaging in patients with esophageal cancer. METHODS A retrospective study of a prospectively collected database ...

BACKGROUND It is not known whether the addition of chemotherapy to radiation therapy improves outcomes in primary vaginal cancer. Here, we review clinical outcomes in patients with primary vaginal cancer treated with radiation therapy (RT) or concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CRT). METHODS Seventy-one patients with primary vaginal cancer treated with definitive RT with or without concurrent ...

The current practice of treating cervical cancer with surgery or radiation alone has been challenged by the recent information from the National Cancer Institute regarding concurrent chemoradiation for cervical cancer. Results from each of five randomized phase III trials show an overall survival advantage of 30% — plus acceptable toxicity — for cisplatin-based therapy given concurrently with r...

The present retrospective study aimed to examine the association between the expression of long non-protein-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and clinical prognosis in the pretreatment formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples of cervical squamous cell carcinoma patients that underwent platinum-based chemoradiation therapy. Between 2001 and 2013, 49 consecutive patients with squamous cell cer...

BACKGROUND The benefit of combined chemoradiation in elderly patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive locally advanced oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) must be balanced with the potential for higher toxicity rates. We performed a retrospective review of our institutional experience. METHODS Patients 70 years or older with p16-positive oropharyngeal SCC treated with definit...

Established tumors are typified by an immunosuppresive microenvironment. Countering this naturally occurring phenomenon, emerging evidence suggests that radiation promotes a proimmunogenic milieu within the tumor capable of stimulating host cancer-specific immune responses. Three cryptic immunogenic components of cytotoxic-agent induced cell death-namely, calreticulin cell surface exposure, the...