Phase II single vs hypofractionated irradiation for timely access to partial breast radiotherapy (SHIFT-PB).

Background: Breast cancer is the leading cause of global cancer incidence. In early-stage disease, standard treatment with breast-conserving surgery followed by whole breast irradiation (WBI) is associated with excellent outcomes. Multiple studies with extensive follow-up periods have demonstrated the comparative efficacy and toxicity outcomes of partial breast irradiation (PBI) in contrast to WBI.

A Matched Case-Control Study of the Relationship Between Radiation Dose to the Internal Mammary Lymph Nodes and Clinical Outcomes in Patients With and Without Internal Mammary Lymph Node Relapses.

Purpose: The Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group's 2023 meta-analysis of radiation therapy to regional nodes in early breast cancer demonstrated a significant improvement in overall survival (OS) without an associated improvement in locoregional recurrence in the trials comparing internal mammary node (IMN) irradiation versus none. We aimed to study cases with IMN relapse (IMNR) and controls without IMNR to examine the link between IMNR and OS.

Methods And Materials: Patients treated curatively between 2005 and 2014, who subsequently developed IMNR, were identified in a population-based database.

Breast Tangent Beam Energy, Surgical Bed-to-Skin Distance and Local Recurrence After Breast-Conserving Treatment.

Purpose: Higher energy (>6 MV) photons reduce dose inhomogeneity with breast tangent beams, thereby reducing late breast toxicity, but skin and superficial tissue sparing by higher energy beams raises concerns about local recurrence (LR) risk. This study aimed to determine whether beam energy and surgical bed-to-skin distance affect LR.

Methods And Materials: This population-based study included newly diagnosed invasive breast cancers without skin involvement (pT1-4a, any-N, M0) treated with breast-conserving surgery and adjuvant whole breast radiation therapy without bolus or beam spoilers.

Biparametric MRI prior to Radical Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer in a Caribbean Population: Implications for Risk Group Stratification and Treatment.

Purpose: To assess risk-group migration and subsequent management change following biparametric MRI using a risk-stratified approach in a group of Caribbean men with prostate adenocarcinoma being offered external beam radiation therapy (EBRT).

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study assessed the biparametric MRI findings in men who opted for EBRT from January 2018 to June 2019 ( = 79; mean age, 67.9 years ± 6.

A pictorial review of the less commonly encountered patterns of metastatic prostate carcinoma.

Usually late in the course of advanced prostate carcinoma, atypical nodal and distant metastases may be encountered. Accurate characterisation of disease spread and assessment of disease response have significant treatment and prognostic implications. Surveillance imaging, therefore, along with clinical and biochemical parameters, is a key factor in directing appropriate management.

The Effect of Bolus on Local Control for Patients Treated With Mastectomy and Radiation Therapy.

Purpose: Bolus use during postmastectomy radiation therapy doubles the risk of grade 2 and 3 skin toxicity. Despite its unknown benefit, bolus is often prescribed during postmastectomy radiation therapy for patients without skin involvement.

Methods And Materials: For women with breast cancer receiving photon 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy, bolus was used routinely for chest walls but was omitted for breast reconstructions by about half of radiation oncologists from 2007 to 2011.

The current state of prostate cancer treatment in Trinidad and Tobago.

Prostate cancer mortality in the Caribbean region is among the highest in the world and prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Trinidad and Tobago. There is a two-tiered healthcare system in Trinidad and Tobago, and prostate cancer related issues account for a significant percentage of urologists' workload. Delivery of care is sometimes constrained by limited financial resources.

Modified hanging manoeuvre facilitates inferior vena cava resection and reconstruction during extended right hepatectomy: A technical case report.

Liver resections are safe when performed by specialized hepatobiliary teams. However, complex liver resections are accompanied by significant perioperative risk and they may require modifications of the conventional surgical techniques. We herein report the case of a 54-year-old male patient who underwent an extended right liver resection with en bloc resection and reconstruction of the inferior vena cava.

Multi-organ benign and malignant tumors: recognizing Cowden syndrome: a case report and review of the literature.

Background: Cowden syndrome is an autosomal dominant disorder with a predisposition to multiple benign and malignant tumors. In our patient, in addition to breast and endometrial malignancies as well as facial trichilemmomas, she was noted to have multiple meningiomas, pancreatic lipomas and lung cysts. These latter lesions have been noted in previous Cowden syndrome case reports, but are not included in the diagnostic criteria at this time.

Breast cancer and mammography: knowledge, attitudes, practices and patient satisfaction post-mammography at the San Fernando General Hospital, Trinidad.

Self-administered questionnaires were completed by 314 Trinidadian women, 40 years and older, to ascertain their breast cancer knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Those with higher education had greater knowledge of the benefits of early breast cancer detection (p < .01) and knew that an abnormal mammography result (p = .

Peritoneal tuberculosis mimicking advanced ovarian carcinoma: an important differential diagnosis to consider.

Background: Female patients who present with ascites, adnexal masses and elevated CA125 levels are typically presumed to have advanced ovarian carcinoma. This can lead to radical surgery with its associated morbidity. An important differential diagnosis to consider is tuberculous peritonitis which can present in a similar manner and responds well to medical treatment.