It has been long known that patients treated with ionizing radiation carry a risk of developing a second cancer in their lifetimes. Factors contributing to the recently renewed concern about the second cancer include improved cancer survival rate, younger patient population as well as emerging treatment modalities such as intensity-modulated radiation treatment (IMRT) and proton therapy that ca...

BMI: Body Mass Index; RT: Radiation Therapy; EBRT: External Beam Radiation Therapy; BT: Brachytherapy; IGRT: Image Guided Radiation Therapy; BCR: Biochemical Recurrence; OS: Overall Survival; ADT: Androgen Deprivation Therapy; IMRT: Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy; PCS: Physical Component Scale; EPIC: Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite Scoring System; SF-12: Short Form Health Survey...

For patients with locally advanced primary or recurrent gynecologic cancers, prognosis is poor. Doses of external beam radiation therapy required to treat either gross or microscopic disease in patients previously irradiated or treated surgically exceed doses that are tolerated by normal anatomic structures. Intraoperative radiation therapy allows maximal tumor control achievable with radiation...

Management options for localized prostate cancer include radical prostatectomy (RP), radiation therapy (external-beam radiation therapy [EBRT] or brachytherapy), with and without androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT), or active surveillance, also known as watchful waiting. Ultimately, the choice of treatment is determined by a variety of factors, including institutional preference, individual phys...

PURPOSE Health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL) concerns are pivotal in choosing prostate cancer therapy. However, concurrent HRQOL comparison between brachytherapy, external radiation, radical prostatectomy, and controls is hitherto lacking. HRQOL effects of hormonal adjuvants and of cancer control after therapy also lack prior characterization. PATIENTS AND METHODS A cross-sectional survey w...

Recent advances have improved the effectiveness, decreased the complications, and expanded the implications of radiation therapy. These advances include three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy, intensity-modulated radiation therapy, stereotactic radiotherapy, brachytherapy, and radioimmunotherapy. Each of these modalities has improved radiation targeting, thereby limiting radiation exposu...

We present a new external-beam radiation therapy system using very-high-energy (VHE) electron/photon beams generated by a centimeter-scale laser plasma accelerator built in a robotic system. Most types of external-beam radiation therapy are delivered using a machine called a medical linear accelerator driven by radio frequency (RF) power amplifiers, producing electron beams with an energy range...

June 01, 2008 External-beam radiation is a highly effective curative treatment option for men with localized prostate cancer.[1,2] Over the past several decades, efforts have been made to improve the “therapeutic ratio” of radiation by increasing dose to improve cure rates without causing a substantial increase in side effects. Due to its potential to create superior dose distributions, proton ...