Objective: To evaluate a semi-automated PET-image tumor segmentation algorithm for gross tumor volume (GTV) delineation in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer. Material and methods: Thirty-two patients with locally advanced cervical cancer were retrospectively evaluated. Semi-automated PET-image-based GTV delineation was applied using a previous established algorithm (GTV2SD) and 2 f...

The purpose of this study was to compare the size and clearness of gross tumor volumes (GTVs) of metastatic brain tumors on T1-weighted magnetic resonance images between a single dose contrast administration protocol and a double dose contrast administration protocol to determine the optimum dose of contrast-enhancement for clear delineation of GTV in stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT). A total of...

Extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma (ENKTL), nasal type, is a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Treatment of ENKTL primarily relies on radiation; thus, proper delineation of target volumes is critical. Currently, the ideal modalities for delineation of gross tumor volume for ENKTL are unknown. We describe three consecutive cases of localized ENKTL that presented to the Nova Scotia Cancer...

We analyzed the data for 53 patients with histologically proven primary squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck treated with radiotherapy between February 2006 and August 2009. All patients underwent contrast-enhanced (CE)-CT and (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET before radiation therapy planning (RTP) to define the gross tumor volume (GTV). The PET-based GTV (PET-GTV) for RTP was defined...

PURPOSE The observation that human meningioma cells strongly express somatostatin receptor (SSTR 2) was the rationale to analyze retrospectively in how far DOTATOC PET/CT is helpful to improve target volume delineation for intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). PATIENTS AND METHODS In 26 consecutive patients with preferentially skull base meningioma, diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging (M...

BACKGROUND When combined with adequate tumoricidal doses, accurate target volume delineation remains to be the one of the most important predictive factors for radiotherapy (RT) success in locally advanced or medically inoperable malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) patients. Recently, 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET) has demonstrated significant improvements in diagnosi...

The interest of PET complementary information for the delineation of the target volume in radiotherapy of lung cancer is increasing. However, respiratory motion requires the determination of a functional internal target volume (ITV) on PET images for which several strategies have been proposed. The purpose of this study was the comparison of these strategies for taking into account respiratory ...

background: this study evaluated the relation between telomere length in lymph node (ln) and prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (escc).  materials and methods: lns collected from 50 patients were assessed by pathological examination and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qrt-pcr), which was used for detecting telomere length. the relation between clinical...