Single modality treatment of advanced gastrointestinal cancer has been associated with unfavorable outcomes. Radiotherapy as an important component of the combined modality therapy of gastrointestinal tract tumors may achieve down-staging, increase resection rate while preserving sphincter function, decrease local recurrence rate, and improve survival rate. Precision radiotherapy has better conformity, accuracy, and lower toxicity. Precision radiotherapy will become more and more important in the combined modality therapy of gastrointestinal tract cancer.
Combined Modality Therapy ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms ; radiotherapy ; Humans ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant ; methods

OBJECTIVETo study the feasibility of intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) in primary liver cancer.

METHODSBased on the target of dose curves, the dose-volume histogram (DVH) and cost of radiation equipment and radiation therapy, IORT was compared with protonbeam therapy (PBT) and 3DCRT in 16 patients with primary liver cancer using the therapy plan system (TPS).

RESULTSIORT had significantly better performance than 3DCRT to allow a target region surrounded by 90% of the dose lines. IORT was similar to protonbeam therapy in terms of target region surroundings and absorbed dose in the normal organs, but the cost of IORT was significantly lower.

CONCLUSIONThe TPS of IORT is better than 3DCRT and similar to protonbeam therapy in the treatment of primary liver cancer with similar cost to 3DCRT. IORT can effectively protect the neighboring sensitive organs and improve the absorbed dose in the tumors and the local control rate.

Aged ; Feasibility Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Intraoperative Care ; Liver Neoplasms ; radiotherapy ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Radiotherapy ; methods ; Radiotherapy Dosage ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant ; methods

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficacy of neoadjuvant radiotherapy alone versus chemoradiotherapy in patients with mid-low locally advanced rectal cancer.

METHODSData of 69 patients with advanced (stage T(3) or T(4)) rectal cancer, undergone neoadjuvant therapy in our hospital from October 1997 to October 2007, were analyzed retrospectively. Forty patients received preoperative radiotherapy (50 Gy in 25 fractions over 5 weeks) alone (RT group), and 29 patients received preoperative radiotherapy concomitant with 5-FU/leucovorin -based preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT group). Radical surgery was performed 4-6 weeks after radiation therapy by the rule of TME.

RESULTSAll the patients underwent operations, including 26 abdominoperineal resections, 27 anterior resections, 10 Parks operations and 6 Hartmann's procedures. The sphincter preservation rate was 47.5%(19/40) in RT group, and 62.1%(18/29) in CRT group(P>0.05). In pathological findings, tumor and nodal downstaging were observed in 12 patients of RT group (30.0%), and 17 of CRT group (58.6%)(P<0.05). In RT group, 3 patients (7.5%) showed pathological complete regression (pCR), and the overall response rate (CR plus PR) was 60%(24/40). In CRT group, 4(13.8%) showed pCR and the overall response rate was 79.3%(23/29). There was significant difference of the overall response rate between two groups. Three-year disease-free survival for all patients was 77.3%.

CONCLUSIONFor patients with locally advanced rectal cancer, neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy provides higher sphincter preservation rate, overall response rate and better down-staging as compared to radiotherapy alone.

Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; methods ; Neoplasm Staging ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant ; methods ; Rectal Neoplasms ; pathology ; radiotherapy ; therapy ; Retrospective Studies

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVEThis retrospective study was designed to evaluate the response and survival of malignant pleural mesothelioma to radiotherapy when delivered with surgery and chemotherapy and when delivered alone or with chemotherapy.

METHODSA study for 110 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma who presented to radiotherapy department, National Cancer Institute, Cairo and received radiation therapy in the period fromJanuary 1999 to July 2007.

RESULTSForty-six patients (41.8%) received trimodality therapy (surgery & adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy & adjuvant radiotherapy), while bimodality therapy (chemotherapy & radiotherapy) in 38 patients (34.5%), while 26 patients (23.6%) received single modality therapy (palliative radiotherapy), 22 patients (20%) developed local recurrence, 22 patients (20%) developed distant metastases months, 14 patients (12.7%) developed local disease progression, 25 patients (22.7%) are still alive and free of disease at time of reporting. The median survival for all patients was 16 months, while 12 and 18 months overall survival were 63.6% & 31.8% respectively while median survival for stage II, III, IV patients was 16.5, 12.5 and 8 months respectively.

CONCLUSIONMultimodality approach involving surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy have been evaluated and proved its superiority in improving survival, especially in stages II.

Adult ; Aged ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; methods ; Combined Modality Therapy ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mesothelioma ; drug therapy ; mortality ; radiotherapy ; Middle Aged ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; methods ; Pleural Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; mortality ; radiotherapy ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant ; methods ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate

PURPOSE: To evaluate the oncologic outcomes between adjuvant radiotherapy (ART) and salvage radiotherapy (SRT) in patients with locally advanced prostate cancer or with adverse pathologic factors including positive surgical margin and high Gleason score. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched the literature published from January 2000 until December 2014 at MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, ProQuest, and Cochrane Library. To be specific, included were studies comparing ART and SRT settings if they followed up oncologic outcomes more than 5 years. RESULTS: Overall, 3 retrospective, nonrandomized, observational studies, 1 matched control analysis, and 3 prospective randomized controlled studies met our inclusion criteria including a total of 2,380 patients (1,192 ART vs. 1,188 SRT). Higher favorable results were found in ART than in SRT was seen in the 5-year and 10-year biochemical recurrence (BCR)-free survival (risk ratio [RR], 0.61 and 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.54-0.69 and 0.63-0.76). ART had a significantly higher 5-year progression-free survival rate than that in SRT (RR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.51-0.80), but this was not the same for the 10-year progression-free survival rate (RR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.72-1.08). There was no significant difference for the 5-year and 10-year overall survival rates between ART and SRT (RR, 0.80 and 0.94; 95% CI, 0.59-1.07 and 0.80-1.11). CONCLUSIONS: ART showed favorable results in BCR-free survival during the 5-year follow-up period. However, the 10-year progression-free survival and overall survival did not show any difference between ART and SRT.
Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Prostatic Neoplasms/*radiotherapy/surgery ; Publication Bias ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant ; Salvage Therapy/*methods ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Treatment Outcome

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare prognostic differentiation performances of the 7th and the 8th edition of American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system for gastric cancer (GC) patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 1,633 GC patients who underwent curative D2 resection followed by adjuvant chemotherapy alone (CA) or concurrent chemo-radiotherapy (CCRT) from 2004 to 2013 were included. Concordance index (c-index) was applied to compare the discriminatory ability. RESULTS: In the 8th edition, migration of stage was detected in 248 patients (15.2%). Among them, 121 patients were up-staged while 127 patients were down-staged. Overall, there was no statistically significant difference in the discriminatory ability between the 7th and 8th editions. The new edition of staging system, however, showed a trend of better prognostic performance not only in recurrence-free survival (c-index=0.734; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.706 to 0.762 in the 7th edition vs. c-index=0.740; 95% CI, 0.712 to 0.768 in the 8th edition; p=0.14), but also in overall survival (c-index=0.717; 95% CI, 0.688 to 0.745 in the 7th edition vs. c-index=0.722; 95% CI, 0.694 to 0.751 in the 8th edition; p=0.19), especially in stage III. This finding was repeated in the subgroup analysis regardless of adjuvant CA or CCRT. CONCLUSION: Generally, the 8th edition of AJCC staging system had failed to show a superior discriminatory ability for curatively D2 resected GC patients than the 7th edition, although there was a trend of better prognostic performance of the new edition, regardless of adjuvant treatment method.
Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Humans ; Joints ; Methods ; Neoplasm Staging ; Prognosis ; Radiotherapy ; Recurrence ; Stomach Neoplasms

Pancreatic cancer remains a major troublesome clinical problem, with conventional cancer treatments having little impact on disease course. The extent of disease is often classified as localized, locally advanced, and metastatic. Radical operation is the most effective method, but only 15%-20% of patients have resectable disease, and around 20% of them survive to 5 years. For locally advanced, unresectable, and metastatic diseases, palliative treatment is more appropriate, but the median survival in these patients is less than 6 months and the 5-year survival rates are even lower than 4%. Neoadjuvant therapy has been gradually accepted in breast cancer and gastroenterological cancer, and its value in pancreatic cancer has attracted increasing interests. This paper reviews recent advances of neoadjuvant therapy in pancreatic cancer.
Adenocarcinoma ; therapy ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; adverse effects ; methods ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Humans ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; adverse effects ; methods ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; therapy ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant ; adverse effects ; methods

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most critical global health issues. With frequent association of viral liver disease, HCC is highly complex, harboring both cancer and chronic liver disease. The tumor stage and underlying liver function are both major determinants of the treatment selection as well as prognosis in HCC patients, thus allowing no more than a 20% chance for potentially curative therapies. Radiotherapy technology has been evolved remarkably during the past decade, and radiation can be precisely delivered, thereby permitting higher doses to the tumour and reduced doses to surrounding normal tissues. There has been increasing interest in the merits of radiotherapy in HCC over the past few years, as indicated by a Pub Med search. Radiotherapy has been used as the definitive therapy with curative intent in early stage tumours. It has been used also in combination with TACE for intermediate stage tumours. In locally advanced tumours, radiotherapy has been combined with systemic agents. Despite its efficacy, radiotherapy has not yet been incorporated into the standard management guidelines of HCC. The lack of high evidence level data, especially randomized controlled trials, has posed an obstacle in including radiotherapy into the routine treatment schema of HCC. Therefore, well-designed prospective studies are strongly recommended using developing technology for radiotherapy alone or combination therapies. Also, many issues such as the optimal dose-fractionation, intra- or extrahepatic metastasis after radiotherapy, and radiation-induced hepatic dysfunction remain to be solved. In this review, current status of radiotherapy for HCC will be discussed with regard to technical consideration and combination strategy. The limitation and future perspectives will also be discussed.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/drug therapy/radiography/*radiotherapy ; Humans ; Liver/radiation effects ; Liver Neoplasms/drug therapy/radiography/*radiotherapy ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Radiation Dosage ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant/adverse effects/methods ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effect of compression hemostasis with an arc-shaped transperineal incision in front of the apex of coccyx in controlling presacral venous plexus hemorrhage during rectectomy.

METHODSFrom October 2002 to October 2012, 52 patients with rectal cancer received neoadjuvant radiotherapy and developed presacral venous plexus hemorrhage during rectectomy, included 36 male and 26 female cases. Their age were 36-65 years. The hemostasis time and blood loss were analyzed.

RESULTSAll 52 patients achieved R0 resection. Of which 13 patients achieved suture hemostasis within 15 minutes, whereas 22 patients unsuccessfully treated within 15 minutes received compression hemostasis with an arc-shaped transperineal incision in front of the apex of coccyx. The median blood loss was (196 ± 44)ml and hospitalization time was (15.2 ± 1.7)days in this group. Additionally, 7 patients achieved suture hemostasis within 20 minutes except 4 patients who received compression hemostasis, with a median blood loss of (1016 ± 86)ml and hospitalization time of (21.7 ± 6.3)days. Other 6 patients achieved suture hemostasis within 30 minutes except 3 patients who received compression hemostasis, with a median blood loss of (2508 ± 73)ml and the hospitalization time was (28.8 ± 3.3)days. There was statistically significant difference of bleeding (F = 4289.562) and hospitalization time (F = 50.121) in 3 groups of patients (P = 0.000).

CONCLUSIONSOnce intraoperative presacral venous plexus hemorrhage can't be stopped timely, compression hemostasis with an arc-shaped transperineal incision in front of the apex of coccyx is an effective alternative for the patients with rectal cancer who received neoadjuvant radiotherapy.

Adult ; Aged ; Blood Loss, Surgical ; prevention & control ; Female ; Hemostasis, Surgical ; methods ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant ; Rectal Neoplasms ; surgery

OBJECTIVE: Evaluation of the impact of sequential chemoradiotherapy in high risk endometrial cancer (EC). METHODS: Two hundred fifty-four women with stage IB grade 3, II and III EC (2009 FIGO staging), were included in this retrospective study. RESULTS: Stage I, II, and III was 24%, 28.7%, and 47.3%, respectively. Grade 3 tumor was 53.2% and 71.3% had deep myometrial invasion. One hundred sixty-five women (65%) underwent pelvic (+/- aortic) lymphadenectomy and 58 (22.8%) had nodal metastases. Ninety-eight women (38.6%) underwent radiotherapy, 59 (23.2%) chemotherapy, 42 (16.5%) sequential chemoradiotherapy, and 55 (21.7%) were only observed. After a median follow-up of 101 months, 78 women (30.7%) relapsed and 91 women (35.8%) died. Sequential chemoradiotherapy improved survival rates in women who did not undergo nodal evaluation (disease-free survival [DFS], p=0.040; overall survival [OS], p=0.024) or pelvic (+/- aortic) lymphadenectomy (DFS, p=0.008; OS, p=0.021). Sequential chemoradiotherapy improved both DFS (p=0.015) and OS (p=0.014) in stage III, while only a trend was found for DFS (p=0.210) and OS (p=0.102) in stage I-II EC. In the multivariate analysis, only age (< or =65 years) and sequential chemoradiotherapy were statistically related to the prognosis. CONCLUSION: Sequential chemoradiotherapy improves survival rates in high risk EC compared with chemotherapy or radiotherapy alone, in particular in stage III.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Chemoradiotherapy/*methods ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant/methods ; Endometrial Neoplasms/*therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Laparoscopy/methods ; Lymph Node Excision/methods ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Middle Aged ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant/methods ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult