sue yom

BACKGROUND: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX (XXXX) XXXX was the first clinical trial evaluating multi-institution feasibility of IMRT for head and neck cancer. The primary endpoints of 2-year local-regional failure and reduction in acute xerostomia were reported previously. This report provides secondary endpoints with long-term follow-up. METHODS: Eligibility included patients diagnosed with T1-2, N0-1 oropharyngeal cancer. Secondary endpoints included disease control and overall survival...

BACKGROUND: Anaplastic thyroid cancer is a rare and aggressive cancer with no standard radiotherapy-based local treatment. Based on data suggesting synergy between pazopanib and paclitaxel in anaplastic thyroid cancer, NRG Oncology did a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised phase 2 clinical trial comparing concurrent paclitaxel and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) with the addition of pazopanib or placebo with the aim of improving overall survival in this patient population...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Objective: To determine the negative predictive value (NPV) of a 12-14 week post-treatment PET/CT for 2-year progression-free survival (PFS) and locoregional control (LRC) in patients with p16-positive locoregionally advanced oropharyngeal cancer (LA-OPC). Study was a secondary endpoint in NRG-HN002, a non-comparative phase II trial in p16-positive LA-OPC, stage T1-T2, N1-N2b or T3, N0-N2b (AJCC, 7th ed.) and ≤ 10 pack-year smoking. Patients were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to reduced-dose IMRT with or without cisplatin...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Quantitative swallowing displacement kinematics evolve in patients treated for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). We aimed to longitudinally assess these measurements and correlate them with functional swallowing outcomes. METHOD: A retrospective review was conducted on patients with OPSCC treated with definitive (chemo)radiation ([C]RT) or surgery with adjuvant (chemo)radiation (S-[C]RT) who completed at least two videofluoroscopic swallow studies (VFSS)...

TP53 mutation is the most frequent genetic event in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), found in over 80% of patients with HPV-negative disease. As mutations in the TP53 gene are associated with worse outcomes in HNSCC, novel therapeutic approaches are needed for patients with TP53 mutated tumors. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) sponsored a Clinical Trials Planning Meeting (CTPM) to address the issues of identifying and developing clinical trials for patients with TP53 mutations. Subcommittees, or Breakout Groups, were tasked with developing clinical studies in both the locally advanced and recurrent/metastatic disease settings as well consider signal seeking trial designs...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

PURPOSE: Inverse planning simulated annealing (IPSA) produces highly conformal dose distributions and quick optimizations for high-dose-rate interstitial brachytherapy (HDRBT). We report our dosimetry and overall outcomes using this approach for the accelerated post-operative treatment of pathologically node-negative squamous cell carcinomas of the oral tongue (OTSCC) with high risk of local recurrence. METHODS: Patients with newly diagnosed pN0 OTSCC treated with partial glossectomy, neck dissection, and post-operative HDRBT alone from 2007 to 2021 were retrospectively reviewed...

PURPOSE: Safeguarding high-quality care using evidence-based radiation therapy for patients with head and neck cancer is crucial to improving oncologic outcomes, including survival and quality of life. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The Veterans Administration (VA) National Radiation Oncology Program established the VA Radiation Oncology Quality Surveillance Program (VAROQS) to develop clinical quality measures (QM) in head and neck cancer. As part of the development of QM, the VA commissioned, along with the American Society for Radiation Oncology, a blue-ribbon panel comprising experts in head and neck cancer, to develop QM...

This article provides historical context, scansion, and interpretation of Adrienne Rich's poem Diving into the Wreck.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

PURPOSE: Kilovoltage computed tomography (kVCT) is the cornerstone of radiotherapy treatment planning for delineating tissues and towards dose calculation. For the former, kVCT provides excellent contrast and signal-to-noise ratio. For the latter, kVCT may have greater uncertainty in determining relative electron density (ρ_e) and proton stopping power ratio (SPR). Conversely, megavoltage CT (MVCT) may result in superior dose calculation accuracy. The purpose of this work was to convert kVCT HU to MVCT HU using deep learning to obtain higher accuracy ρ_e and SPR...

Retreatment of recurrent or second primary head and neck cancers occurring in a previously irradiated field is complex. Few guidelines exist to support practice. We performed an updated literature search of peer-reviewed journals in a systematic fashion. Search terms, key questions, and associated clinical case variants were formed by panel consensus. The literature search informed the committee during a blinded vote on the appropriateness of treatment options via the modified Delphi method. The final number of citations retained for review was 274...

Purpose: The aim was to develop a novel artificial intelligence (AI)-guided clinical decision support system, to predict radiation doses to subsites of the mandible using diagnostic computed tomography scans acquired before any planning of head and neck radiation therapy (RT). Methods and Materials: A dose classifier was trained using RT plans from 86 patients with oropharyngeal cancer; the test set consisted of an additional 20 plans. The classifier was trained to predict whether mandible subsites would receive a mean dose >50 Gy...

Background: Several reports have suggested that radiotherapy after reconstructive surgery for head and neck cancer (HNC), could have deleterious effects on the flaps with respect to functional outcomes. To predict and prevent toxicities, flap delineation should be accurate and reproducible. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the interobserver variability of frequent types of flaps used in HNC, based on the recent GORTEC atlas. Materials and methods: Each member of an international working group (WG) consisting of 14 experts delineated the flaps on a CT set from six patients...

Despite widespread adoption of electronic health records (EHRs), most hospitals are not ready to implement data science research in the clinical pipelines. Here, we develop MEDomics, a continuously learning infrastructure through which multimodal health data are systematically organized and data quality is assessed with the goal of applying artificial intelligence for individual prognosis. Using this framework, currently composed of thousands of individuals with cancer and millions of data points over a decade of data recording, we demonstrate prognostic utility of this framework in oncology...

PURPOSE: Loss of transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) signaling increases error-prone alternative end-joining (alt-EJ) DNA repair. We previously translated this mechanistic relationship as TGFβ and alt-EJ gene expression signatures, which are anti-correlated across cancer types. A score, βAlt, representing anti-correlation predicts patient outcome in response to genotoxic therapy. Here we sought to verify this biology in live specimens and additional datasets. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Human head and neck squamous cell (HNSC) carcinoma explants were treated in vitro to test whether the signatures report TGFβ signaling, indicated by SMAD2 phosphorylation, and unrepaired DNA damage, indicated by persistent 53BP1 foci after irradiation or olaparib...