Radiation Oncology
Expert insights on radiation treatment planning, techniques, toxicity management, and multimodal cancer care.
Recent Discussions
What are your target volumes and dose for recurrent atypical meningiomas that have been initially treated with definitive surgery alone?
These questions get to the bottom of several important issues facing patients with WHO grade II meningioma and physicians treating them. Permit me to approach these inquiries as if writing a Scientific American article, answers first, then some abbreviated supporting documentation. Regarding treatme...
How would you approach ES-SCLC presenting with small brain metastases that resolve after chemotherapy?
ES-SCLC may respond to chemotherapy, but save for a select few, it’s a palliative disease with, median survival of about a year for responders. Presenting with microscopic brain disease that responds to chemo does not change that. The Slotman report indicating survival advantage has been questioned ...
In patients with HER-2 positive breast cancer on pertuzumab/trastuzumab with newly developed asymptomatic brain metastases only, do you wait 3 weeks after administration of the targeted therapy to deliver SRS?
In a recently published study from Italy, Ippolito et al., PMID 35053467 a total of 10 patients with 32 HER2+ breast cancer brain metastases were treated with concurrent fSRT (27 Gy in 3 fractions) and Pertuzumab. Necrosis was reported in only 1 of the 32 treated lesions. The study is small but the ...
For gyn cancers receiving chemoradiation, how high can you boost grossly positive nodes with SIB if not near bowel?
I typically will give a simultaneous integrated boost (SIB) of 60 Gy in 30 fractions to the pelvic and para-aortic nodal CTV, which is the PET positive GTV plus a 3 mm margin. If possible I will boost the GTV of larger gross nodes (>1 cm) to 66 Gy (2.2 Gy/fx) with no margin, if constraints can be me...
What is the role of radiotherapy in cutaneous pseudolymphoma?
I generally like the term "Cutaneous B-cell lymphoid hyperplasia" to describe this entity which is characterized by a reactive B-cell proliferation within the dermis developing in response to an adverse stimulus (medication, insect bite, etc.). Sometimes the antigenic stimulus can't be identified. ...
Is it appropriate to dose de-escalate in low risk HPV+ SCC of the oropharynx outside of a clinical trial setting?
I am going to write specifically on de-escalating HPV-OPSCC in the adjuvant setting first, important caveats for adjuvant de-escalation, and then about the general philosophy on de-escalation in clinical trials.Concerning adjuvant treatment, after careful consent, we are de-escalating patients with ...
Would you consider omission of PORT for node+ NSCLC with a positive margin in the setting of a high tumor PD-L1 score and plans for immunotherapy?
For gross positive margins (R2), no, adjuvant chemoRT followed by consolidation immunotherapy. For R1, SOC would still say PORT and adjuvant systemic therapy. But let's try to tease it out in a more nuanced way from available data. First PD-L1 high is certainly a check in the plus column for a clini...
How do you approach treatment volumes and dosing around post-operative neck dissection scars in patients with head and neck SCCs?
The traditionally accepted target volume for post op RT is the "surgical bed" - meaning all the areas where the knife has been! This volume is generally treated to 60 Gy in 30 fx for SCC + additional boost for close/positive margins and/or ECE. One could consider lowering the dose to 56-57 Gy for a ...
Would you include the entire op bed (including flap) within the radiation field in a patient requiring a V-Y advancement flap for closure following a radical vulvectomy?
It depends on one's assessment of the risk of recurrence in the region of the flap. It sounds like the positive margin is pretty significant and situated at the vaginal introitus. Most likely, the area of the flap is at risk, but this assessment should be individualized. Assuming that the flap is he...
How do you approach a patient with a solitary brain metastasis from small cell lung cancer s/p resection with otherwise limited thoracic disease?
This is rather an uncommon situation but can happen if a patient presents with a synchronous solitary brain metastasis (with or w/o symptom) and undergoes craniotomy and resection only to find out that it is small cell lung cancer. Additional information is needed on the volume of intra-thoracic dis...