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Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) evolved from the application of stereotactic radiosurgery, which is focused intracranial radiation. SBRT offers high doses of specific radiation with oligofractions (five or less) to a specified target, providing local control to circumscribed tumors while sparing surrounding normal tissue. Commonly treated cancers include tumors of the lung and liver. The challenge with SBRT is to account for organ motion and the achievement of precise targeting. SBRT uses three-dimensional radiation therapy planning, intensity-modulated radiation therapy, as well as image-guided organ motion and gating. SBRT is based on the premise of geometric avoidance, targeting the tumor with the goal of complete avoidance of the surrounding normal tissues and critical organs. An SBRT course of treatment ranges from one to five treatments (hypofractionated) and, therefore, differs from conventional radiation, which is usually a prolonged course ranging from two to six weeks of daily treatment.
Assuntos
Neoplasias/cirurgia , Radiocirurgia , HumanosRESUMO
The focus of this column is to present topics of interest from a variety of journals to Oncology Nursing Forum readers. The topic of this issue is the release of new and adapted survivorship guidelines from the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
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The purpose of this pilot study was to test the feasibility of a telephone counseling program for cancer survivors. The Cancer Survivor Telephone Education and Personal Support (C-STEPS) program was developed to address psychosocial and health behavior outcomes among cancer survivors. According to Garrett et al. (2013), this was the first telephone counseling intervention to simultaneously address psychosocial and health behavior in this patient population.
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The purpose of this prospective phase II/III trial was to study the effect of therapy intensification when combining procarbazine, lomustine, and vincristine (PCV) chemotherapy with a standard course of radiation therapy (RT) on cognitive functioning for patients with World Health Organization grade 2 low-grade gliomas (LGGs). Initial results of the trial demonstrated a progression-free survival benefit with adjuvant PCV, but no overall survival benefit in the intention-to-treat analysis. Because patients with LGGs have favorable prognostic indicators, the five-year overall survival rates range from 60%-70%. The effect of cancer treatment on neurocognitive function is a topic of increasing interest to healthcare providers and patients. The negative effect is commonly called "chemobrain" and refers to diminished concentration and compromised short-term memory following treatment. Chemobrain has been studied in other populations of patients with cancer (e.g., breast cancer) with associated statistically significant chemotherapy-associated compromised cognitive function when chemotherapy was added to RT.