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INTRODUCTION: Trismus is a potentially critical morbidity following curative-intended radiotherapy in head and neck cancer patients. However, in this setting, evidence regarding this side effect remains to be fully defined, particularly in terms of dosimetric parameters. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Key references were derived from a PubMed query. Hand searching and clinicaltrials.gov were also used. RESULTS: This paper contains a narrative report and a critical discussion of the evidence on radiation-induced trismus in the literature, particularly the dosimetric concerns. CONCLUSIONS: The treatment goal should be to maintain high cure rates and limit the onset of complications. Further evaluations of dosimetric measures and clinical outcomes are warranted to identify patients at higher risk to target treatment tailoring.

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BACKGROUND/AIM: In prostate cancer, postoperative radiotherapy timing is debated to avoid overtreatments and toxicities. This study compared acute and late rectal and bladder toxicities in the adjuvant and salvage setting. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In total, 129 patients were analyzed in two groups: adjuvant radiotherapy (aRT) and salvage radiotherapy (sRT). RESULTS: In aRT and sRT, grade 1 (G1) acute bladder toxicities were detected in 40 and 30 patients, and grade 2 (G2) in 1 and 6; G1 late bladder toxicities were described in 30 and 20, and G2 in 6 and 2, respectively. In aRT and sRT, acute G1 rectal toxicities were reported in 18 and 27 patients, and G2 in 5 and 4, respectively. Late rectal G1 toxicities were observed in 10 patients, G2 in 6 and G3 in 1 in the aRT. In sRT, 8 patients and 1 developed G1 and G2 toxicities, respectively. Regarding bladder toxicity, a higher incidence occurred in aRT; late toxicity was lower in sRT. CONCLUSION: Adjuvant and salvage RT in prostate cancer treatment resulted in acceptable toxicities.

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Brain metastases (BMs) represent the most frequent event during the course of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) disease. Recent advancements in the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures result in increased incidence and earlier diagnosis of BMs, with an emerging need to optimize the prognosis of these patients through the adoption of tailored treatment solutions. Nowadays a personalized and multidisciplinary approach should rely on several clinical and molecular factors like patient's performance status, extent and location of brain involvement, extracranial disease control and the presence of any "druggable" molecular target. Radiation therapy (RT), in all its focal (radiosurgery and fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy) or extended (whole brain radiotherapy) declinations, is a cornerstone of BMs management, either alone or combined with surgery and systemic therapies. Our review aims to provide an overview of the many modern RT solutions available for the treatment of BMs from NSCLC in the different clinical scenarios (single lesion, oligo and poly-metastasis, leptomeningeal carcinomatosis). This includes a detailed review of the current standard of care in each setting, with a presentation of the literature data and of the possible technical solutions to offer a "state-of-art" treatment to these patients. In addition to the validated treatment options, we will also discuss the future perspectives on emerging RT technical strategies (e.g., hippocampal avoidance whole brain RT, simultaneous integrated boost, radiosurgery for multiple lesions), and present the innovative and promising findings regarding the combination of novel targeted agents such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors with brain irradiation.

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The management of locally advanced cervical cancer in patients with a pelvic kidney transplant is challenging because standard chemoradiotherapy may increase the risk of ureteral stenosis and obstruction or vascular damage of the graft. In the absence of clear guidelines, these patients should be treated using high-precision modern radiotherapy technique.

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The optimal adjuvant treatment for stage IB endometrial cancer remains undefined. We investigated the benefit of modern adjuvant radiotherapy for women with stage IB endometrial cancer. We retrospectively reviewed patients with surgically staged, pure stage IB endometrioid adenocarcinoma (2010 to 2018). Adjuvant modern radiotherapy consists of external-beam radiotherapy (EBRT) by intensity, volumetric-modulated arc radiotherapy, or image-guided vaginal brachytherapy (VBT). The study included 180 stage IB patients. Patients with grade 3 diseases had frequent aggressive histology patterns (lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI); low uterine segment involvement) and experienced significantly shorter recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) than patients with grade 1/2 diseases. Adjuvant modern radiotherapy decreased the incidence of acute/chronic grade ≥2 gastrointestinal toxicity. In IB grade 1/2 patients, EBRT significantly lengthened survival (RFS/OS); patients with age >60 years, myometrial invasion beyond the outer third, or LVSI benefited the most from EBRT. EBRT also significantly improved survival (RFS/OS) in IB grade 3 patients, where patients with bulky tumors or LVSI benefited the most from EBRT. Therefore, EBRT may be beneficial for all stage IB patients.

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INTRODUCTION: The use of modern radiotherapy techniques (MRTs) has contributed to reduced treatment-related toxicities through better avoidance of normal structures and dose tapering, and has enabled the delivery of higher doses continuously. The purpose of this study was to review retrospectively (1) outcomes for anal cancer treated at BC Cancer (Canada) using MRT, and (2) the utilization and effect of dose escalation on cancer-related outcomes. METHODS: Patients between 2010 and 2016 with biopsy-proven anal cancer, aged >18 years, and treated with primary curative-intent chemoradiation using intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) or volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) were included. Primary end points included overall survival (OS), relapse-free survival (RFS), and colostomy-free survival (CFS). Kaplan-Meier curves were created for prognostic factors, as well as dose escalation (>54 Gy vs. ≤54 Gy). Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate predictors of the outcome. RESULTS: A total of 273 patients were assessed. The median age was 61 years with 70% being female, 6% HIV positive, and 68% with locally advanced cancer (T3-4, or node positive). The median follow-up time was 41.3 months. Time from diagnosis to treatment was 60 days, and treatment duration 42 days. Dose escalation was prescribed for 22, of whom 15 were locally advanced cases. A total of 97% completed their radiation, including all who were dose-escalated; 11% required unplanned treatment breaks, with over half of breaks <5 days. More than 90% completed at least half of their chemotherapy; 41% had pre-treatment, and 34% post-treatment positron emission tomography (PET) scans. For primary tumor response, 88% were complete and 10% partial; 23% relapsed, with 15% locoregional, 5% distant, and 3% both, and 12% had salvage surgery. The colostomy rate was 15%, with 4% pre-treatment, 10% relapse related, and only 1% treatment-toxicity related. On univariate analysis, male sex was associated with a higher risk of death (p=0.02) and relapse (p=0.041). Non-squamous histology was consistently a strong predictor of all outcomes (OS, p=0.0089; RFS, p<0.0001; CFS, p<0.0001) as was advanced T stage (OS, p=0.0075; RFS, p=0.0019; CFS, p=0.0099), and node positivity (OS, p=0.0014; RFS, p=0.001; CFS, p=0.0071). Age, HIV status, grade, longer treatment times (>42-day median), and lack of a pre- or post-treatment PET scan were not associated with the outcome. Dose escalation beyond 54 Gy was not significant, even among locally advanced tumors. On multivariate analysis, non-squamous histology (OS, p=0.043; RFS, p<0.001; CFS, p=0.01), T4 (OS, p=0.049; RFS, p=0.026; CFS, p=0.042) and node positivity (OS, p=0.05; RFS, p=0.006) remained significant predictors of the outcome, although node positivity was no longer significant for CFS (p=0.10). CONCLUSION: BC Cancer outcomes for anal cancer treated with MRTs are comparable to what has been previously reported. Unplanned breaks were notably few, and short. Treatment-related colostomies were rare. Dose-escalated regimens were infrequently prescribed, appeared tolerable, but more often required a break. Prospective trials are needed to clarify efficacy of such regimens.

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Cancer care is moving from a disease-focused management toward a patient-centered tailored approach. Multidisciplinary management that aims to define individual, optimal treatment strategies through shared decision making between healthcare professionals and patient is a fundamental aspect of high-quality cancer care and often includes radiation oncology. Advances in technology and radiobiological research allow to deliver ever more tailored radiation treatments in an ever easier and faster way, thus improving the efficacy, safety, and accessibility of radiation therapy. While these changes are improving quality of cancer care, they are also enormously increasing complexity of decision making, thus challenging the ability to deliver quality affordable cancer care. In this review, we provide an updated outline of the role of radiation oncology in the modern multidisciplinary treatment of cancer. Particularly, we focus on the way some developments in key areas of cancer management are challenging multidisciplinary cancer care in the different clinical settings of early, locally advanced, and metastatic disease, thus highlighting some priority areas of research.

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Radiation therapy (RT) plays a key role in curative-intent treatments for head and neck cancers. Its use is indicated as a sole therapy in early stage tumors or in combination with surgery or concurrent chemotherapy in advanced stages. Recent technologic advances have resulted in both improved oncologic results and expansion of the indications for RT in clinical practice. Despite this, RT administered to the head and neck region is still burdened by a high rate of acute and late side effects. Moreover, about 50% of patients with high-risk disease experience loco-regional recurrence within 3 years of follow-up. Therefore, in recent decades, efforts have been dedicated to optimize the cost/benefit ratio of RT in this subset of patients. The aim of the present review was to highlight modern concepts of RT for head and neck cancers considering both the technological advances that have been achieved and recent knowledge that has informed the biological interaction between radiation and both tumor and healthy tissues.

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Hodgkin lymphoma is a highly curable malignancy involving lymph nodes and the lymphatic system. Even at late stage disease, about 70% of patients will be cured with standard first line therapy. For patients who experience relapse or refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma, the standard treatment option is high-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell rescue or transplant. However about 50% of patients will have recurrence after high-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell rescue or transplantation and have worse prognosis with median overall survival of 32% at 5 years. The anti-PD1 checkpoints inhibitors pembrolizumab and nivolumab have remarkably improved outcomes of patients with relapse of refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma after high-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell rescue or transplantation. On the other hand, radiotherapy is an entire component of salvage therapy and its efficacy is now well established in term of local disease control in sites of relapsed or refractory Hodkin lymphoma. Defining the optimal modality and timing of radiotherapy as these new agents arrive is a challenge. An interesting approach is the combination of radiotherapy with checkpoint inhibitor and the possibility of stopping the treatment when complete response is achieved. We add to the literature two new cases of combination of radiotherapy with immunotherapy in patients who relapsed after high-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell rescue or transplantation and consolidation with brentuximab vedotin, resulting in excellent outcomes.

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INTRODUCTION: Mortality of prostate carcinoma can be significantly decreased by the use of modern diagnostic and therapeutic options. Patients in early stages can be cured by radical surgery or radiotherapy. AIM: Overview and comparison of previous and present diagnostic and therapeutic methods regarding accuracy of diagnosis, improvement of efficiency and decrease of toxicities. We also aimed to explore general correlations in case of serious complications. METHOD: By the help of two prostate cancer patients we demonstrate the importance of accuracy and change of histological diagnosis, significance of proper imaging techniques, and also show parameters of conventional and modern radiotherapy and their acute and chronic complications. Differences of previous and present methods and their consequences were analyzed. RESULTS: By now, histological findings in the patients' diagnosis have changed. Both patients received conventional three-dimensional definitive radiotherapy in 2009-2011, and their prostate cancer was cured. In one case, urinary bladder also received radiotherapy because prostate carcinoma had infiltrated it. In the other case, the contemporary radiotherapy involved urinary bladder's fundus due to safety margins. Although acute grade 2 cystitis developed in both cases and recovered in several weeks, as late complication bladder shrinkage developed, which after the ineffectiveness of conventional therapies had to be cured by radical cystoprostatectomy - in order to cease bleeding and to cure incontinence. CONCLUSIONS: In case of prostate carcinomas, serious complications can be avoided by the improvement of diagnostic and therapeutic options. Synthesis of data could be more successful if they were analyzed in the light of previous experiences. Orv Hetil. 2018; 159(32): 1317-1325.

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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: There is concern that patients with collagen vascular disease (CVD) are at higher risk of developing radiation toxicity. We analyzed radiation toxicities in patients with intrathoracic malignancy and CVD treated using modern radiotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This single-institution retrospective study included 31 patients with CVD and 825 patients without CVD treated from 1998 to 2014. Radiation esophagitis (RE) and radiation pneumonitis (RP) were scored by RTOG scales. RE was analyzed with logistic regression and RP with Cox regression. RESULTS: CVD patients experienced similar grade ≥3 RE compared to control patients (23% vs. 19%, p = 0.64) but more grade ≥3 RP (26% vs. 10%, p = 0.01). There was no significant association between CVD subtype and toxicities. In multivariate analysis, CVD and lung V20 >30% were associated with grade ≥3 RP. We identified V20 ≤30%, V5 ≤50%, and MLD ≤18 Gy as dose thresholds in patients with CVD. CVD patients with mild severity disease and only 1 organ system involved were at low risk for RP. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with CVD may be at higher risk of RP. However, CVD patients may be offered curative thoracic RT with particular attention to risk-reduction strategies and maintaining recommended dose constraints as described in this study.

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Stage III NSCLC comprises of a heterogeneous group of patients with regard to stage, extent of disease and prognosis. Disease presentation can often be complex in clinical practice, and the challenges are not well-defined in clinical trials or practice guidelines. In order to improve the therapeutic ratio of treatment, one needs to either increase the benefit of treatment or reduce toxicities, or both. Priorities in radiation therapy include dose escalation, imaging advances, improved target delineation, reduced planning target volume margin, intensity-modulated radiotherapy, image-guided radiotherapy, motion management and the use of cytoprotectants. Priorities in systemic therapy include the incorporation of molecularly targeted and immune-modulatory agents.