1,721,179 research outputs found
Wide Variation in the Use of Radiotherapy in the Management of Surgically Treated Rectal Cancer Across the English National Health Service
Full text linkAims: Radiotherapy is an important treatment modality in the multidisciplinary management of rectal cancer. It is delivered both in the neoadjuvant setting and postoperatively, but, although it reduces local recurrence, it does not influence overall survival and increases the risk of long-term complications. This has led to a variety of international practice patterns. These variations can have a significant effect on commissioning, but also future clinical research. This study explores its use within the large English National Health Service (NHS). Materials and methods: Information on all individuals diagnosed with a surgically treated rectal cancer between April 2009 and December 2010 were extracted from the Radiotherapy Dataset linked to the National Cancer Data Repository. Individuals were grouped into those receiving no radiotherapy, short-course radiotherapy with immediate surgery (SCRT-I), short-course radiotherapy with delayed surgery (SCRT-D), long-course chemoradiotherapy (LCCRT), other radiotherapy (ORT) and postoperative radiotherapy (PORT). Patterns of use were then investigated. Results: The study consisted of 9201 individuals; 4585 (49.3%) received some form of radiotherapy. SCRT-I was used in 12.1%, SCRT-D in 1.2%, LCCRT in 29.5%, ORT in 4.7% and PORT in 2.3%. Radiotherapy was used more commonly in men and in those receiving an abdominoperineal excision and less commonly in the elderly and those with comorbidity. Significant and substantial variations were also seen in its use across all the multidisciplinary teams managing this disease. Conclusion: Despite the same evidence base, wide variation exists in both the use of and type of radiotherapy delivered in the management of rectal cancer across the English NHS. Prospective population-based collection of local recurrence and patient-reported early and late toxicity information is required to further improve patient selection for preoperative radiotherapy
Routine short course pre-op radiotherapy or selective post-op chemoradiotherapy for resectable rectal cancer? Preliminary results of the MRC CR07 randomised trial
No full textBackground: Radiotherapy reduces local recurrence (LR) when combined with surgery in resectable rectal cancer. The Medical Research Council CR07 trial was designed to compare two different radiotherapy policies when combined with mesorectal excision. Methods: Patients with operable non-metastatic adenocarcinoma of the rectum were randomised to either routine pre-op short course radiotherapy [25Gy/5F] (PRE) or selective post-op chemoradiotherapy (POST) for patients with involvement of the circumferential resection margin (CRM) - [45Gy/25F + 5fluorouracil]. Results: A total of 1350 patients were randomised from 52 centres in the UK, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa between March 1998 and August 2005. Median follow-up is 3 years. Patients (73% male, median age 65 years, 79% PS0) were well balanced between the 2 arms. 595 of 674 (88%) of the pre-op group received their allocated treatment. Of the 676 patients allocated to the selective post-op chemoradiotherapy arm, 73 (11%) were CRM +ve and 51 of these (70%) received chemoradiotherapy. Post operative chemotherapy was received by 85% of patients with stage III disease. At the time of analysis 23 PRE and 61 POST patients had confirmed LR, 96 and 106 patients respectively distant metastases, and 115 and 146 respectively had died. The 3 year rates for LR (primary end point) were 4.7% and 11.1% for PRE and POST groups respectively (HR 2.47, 95% CI 1.61–3.79), for disease free survival 79.5% and 74.9% (HR 1.31, 95% CI 1.02–1.67) and for overall survival 80.8% and 78.7% (HR 1.25, 95% CI 0.98–1.59. The LR benefit in favour of PRE was consistent for tumours 0–5,5–10 and >10cm from the anal verge (HR 2.00, 2.14 and 4.97 respectively). Further subset analysis based on TNM stage and operation performed will be presented. Conclusions: These preliminary results indicate that routine short course pre-operative radiotherapy results in a significant reduction in local recurrence and improved disease free survival at 3 years when compared with a highly selective post operative approach
Hypofractionated Radiotherapy in Oesophageal Cancer for Patients Unfit for Systemic Therapy: A Retrospective Single-Centre Analysis
No full textAims: Chemoradiotherapy (CRT) is established as a superior treatment option to definitive radiotherapy in the non-surgical management of oesophageal cancer. For patients precluded from CRT through choice or comorbidity there is little evidence to guide delivery of single-modality radiotherapy. In this study we outline outcomes for patients unfit for CRT who received a hypofractionated radiotherapy (HRT) regimen.
Materials and methods: A retrospective UK single-centre analysis of 61 consecutive patients with lower- or middle-third adenocarcinoma (OAC; 61%) or squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus managed using HRT with radical intent between April 2009 and 2014. Treatment consisted of 50 Gy in 16 fractions (n = 49, 80.3%) or 50–52.5 Gy in 20 fractions (n = 12, 19.7%). Outcomes were referenced against a contemporaneous comparator cohort of 80 (54% OAC) consecutive patients managed with conventionally fractionated CRT within the same centre.
Results: Three-year and median overall survival were, respectively, 56.9% and 29 months with HRT compared with 55.5% and 26 months for CRT; adjusted hazard ratio 0.79 (95% confidence interval 0.48–1.28). Grade 3 and 4 toxicity rates were low at 16.4% (n = 10) for those receiving HRT and 40.2% (n = 32) for the CRT group. In patients with OAC, CRT delivered superior overall survival (hazard ratio 0.46; 95% confidence interval 0.25–0.85) and progression-free survival (hazard ratio 0.45; 95% confidence interval 0.23–0.88) when compared with HRT.
Conclusions: The HRT regimen described here was safe and tolerable in patients unable to receive CRT, and delivered promising survival outcomes. The use of HRT for the treatment of oesophageal cancer, both alone and as a sequential or concurrent treatment with chemotherapy, requires further study. New precision radiotherapy technologies may provide additional scope for improving outcomes in oesophageal cancer using HRT-based approaches and should be evaluated
Treatment of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Anus, Unresolved Areas and Future Perspectives for Research: Perspectives of Research Needs in Anal Cancer
No full textAnal cancer is a relatively rare, mostly HPV-related cancer. The curative treatment consists of concurrent chemoradiation delivered with modern radiotherapy techniques. The prognosis for most patients with early localized disease is very favourable; however patients with locally advanced disease and/or HPV negative tumours are at higher risk of locoregional and distant treatment failure. Tailored approaches are presently being investigated to determine the most suitable regimen in terms of radiotherapy dose prescription, target volume selection, normal tissue avoidance, and combination therapy. Metastatic anal cancer is treated with chemotherapy aiming at prolonged survival. The role of immune therapy in the clinical setting is being investigated. There is little knowledge on the biology of anal cancer, and an urgent need for more clinical and translational research dedicated to this disease. In this article, the evidence-base for the current treatment is briefly reviewed, and perspectives on future research needs are high-lighted
Neoadjuvant treatment strategies for locally advanced rectal cancer
Full text linkImproved surgical technique plus selective preoperative radiotherapy have decreased rectal cancer pelvic local recurrence from, historically, 25% down to about 5–10%. However, this improvement has not reduced distant metastatic relapse, which is the main cause of death and a key issue in rectal cancer management. The current standard is local pelvic treatment (surgery ± preoperative radiotherapy) followed by adjuvant chemotherapy, depending on resection histology. For circumferential resection margin (CRM)-threatened cancer on baseline magnetic resonance imaging, downstaging long-course preoperative chemoradiation (LCPCRT) is generally used. However, for non-CRM-threatened disease, varying approaches are currently adopted in the UK, including straight to surgery, short-course preoperative radiotherapy and LCPCRT. Clinical trials are investigating intensification of concurrent chemoradiation. There is also increasing interest in investigating preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) as a way of exposing micro-metastatic disease to full-dose systemic chemotherapy as early as possible and potentially reducing metastatic relapse. Phase II trials suggest that this strategy is feasible, with promising histological response and low rates of tumour progression during NAC. Phase III trials are needed to determine the benefit of NAC when added to standard therapy and also to determine if it can be used instead of neoadjuvant radiotherapy-based schedules. Although several measures of neoadjuvant treatment response assessment based on imaging or pathology are promising predictive biomarkers for long-term survival, none has been validated in prospective phase III studies. The phase III setting will enable this, also providing translational opportunities to examine molecular predictors of response and survival
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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