Radiation Oncology
Expert insights on radiation treatment planning, techniques, toxicity management, and multimodal cancer care.
Recent Discussions
What adjuvant therapy would you offer a patient with Stage II uterine serous carcinoma without lymph node sampling?
Since the major concern for UPSC is distant mets, these patients typically first receive 6 cycles of carboplatin/taxol after surgery at our institution. If the patient tolerates it without significant toxicity and re-staging scans are clear, we would then offer whole pelvis RT (45 Gy in 25 fractions...
For patients with endometrial recurrence of vaginal vault/pelvis, who are not candidates for brachytherapy boost, what external beam boost dose have you used following pelvic EBRT?
It’s unusual not to be able to do brachytherapy but sometimes for side wall/parametria recurrences that are not accessible, can deliver 66-70 Gy based on OAR tolerance.
What is the optimal approach for a younger female with borderline resectable cervix cancer who may need adjuvant radiation, in light of a medical history significant for ulcerative colitis?
It all depends on the colitis status on therapy including the extent and response to ongoing treatment. No induction chemo. Either radical hysterectomy with the possibility of adjuvant RT or definitive RT based on colitis status. If high risk with RT, would proceed with surgery.
What is your protocol for conscious sedation during T&O insertion?
I have used many forms of anesthesia for cervix HDR and all have some disadvantage. For the last couple of years I have moved to spinal anesthesia which has been ideal for our workflow. Patients receive a single dose of bupivicaine via CRNA/anesthesia team in our in brachy suite. The provides about ...
How would you manage a female in her 40s with stage III cervical cancer with hydronephrosis and Crohn's disease?
I would treat with definitive chemo RT minimizing bowel exposure as much as I can with IMRT (adaptive if possible so can treat with tighter margin and IGBT) and inform the patient about the risk of complications.
How would you treat an isolated port recurrence of an early stage cervical patient s/p WLE?
In limited cases we have managed this with surgery and chemoRT as definitive treatment
Would you use different EBRT field edge for an HIV positive patient with FIGO IIIC1 (2018) cervical cancer with positive bilateral external iliac nodes?
In any situation I would not favor bony landmark and use anatomical vascular landmarks. This is a review article in Seminars in Radiation Oncology summarizing nodal RT for cervical ca written with North American and European collaboration.
Do you continue Megestrol in a patient with inoperable endometrial cancer during definitive radiation therapy?
I usually stop megace as definitive RT takes care of bleeding and disease . This also reduces risk of megace induced side effects
How would you approach an inoperable, elderly, frail patient with high risk endometrial cancer?
May be less toxic, unless patient is "inoperable" because of high anesthesia risks, making endometrial brachy risky.
How does the presence of microcystic elongated and fragmented (MELF) invasion impact post operative treatment of Stage IA FIGO grade 1 endometrial cancer?
MELF pattern may be associated with under-assessment of LVSI. In the setting of surgical assessment of nodes, we don’t change treatment recommendations just based on MELF pattern.