Early neurological complications after stereotactic radiosurgery/radiotherapy.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the neurological complications after stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT). MATERIAL AND METHOD: The Ramathibodi Radiosurgery Unit started its service in August 1997, using the linear-accelerator based system. There were 144 patients treated from August 1997 to October 1999. Single fraction SRS was performed in 56 cases consisting of 46 arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), 4 cranial nerve (CN) schwannomas, 3 pituitary adenomas, 2 meningiomas, and 1 multiple hemangioblastomas. Eighty eight patients received multifractionated SRT, including 27 meningiomas, 17 pituitary adenomas, 13 benign and malignant gliomas, 8 brain metastasi(e)s, 5 CA nasopharynx, 5 craniopharyngiomas, 5 CN schwannomas, 2 AVMs, 2 chordomas, and 4 others. After treatment the patients were clinically evaluated every 1-6 months and MRI was scheduled at 6 or 12-month interval or when there were abnormal clinical signs/symptoms. The complications included any new neurological complaints or findings during and after treatment. RESULTS: Median follow-up time was 9.5 (0-20) months. Of 138 patients with available follow-up data, there were 23 (13 SRS and 10 SRT) cases who experienced new neurological symptoms at 3 weeks - 20 months (median = 3 months) from the time treatment started. Symptoms included headache, seizure, weakness, decreased vision, vertigo with/without ataxia, diplopia, dizziness, impaired memory, hemifacial spasm, decreased sensation and facial palsy. Three AVM patients had intraventricular hemorrhage from the patent nidi. After symptomatic treatment there were 15 cases with complete recovery (including seizure control) and 6 with partial recovery. There were 2 deaths from ruptured AVM and progressive metastatic brain lesion. There were 79 patients who had at least 1 follow-up MRI, and changes were detected in T2-weighted images in 19 cases at 3-18 months after treatment. Ten cases had symptoms corresponding to the image changes, the other 9 patients were asymptomatic. CONCLUSIONS: Longer follow-up time is needed to fully evaluate the complications after SRS/SRT, however, preliminary results showed that most of the complications were mild and transient. There was a tendency of a higher complication rate in the SRS group. Not all patients with post treatment image changes developed symptoms.

7 year-survival of 2 cases of multicentric or metastatic osteosarcoma.

Osteosarcoma is a fatal disease. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy combined with irradiation treatment provide a better survival. In the Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, the overall 9 year survival probability was 55 per cent among 130 cases of more than Enneking stage II osteosarcoma. Between 15 cases of bony metastases, there were 2 cases which were classified as multifoci osteosarcoma or osteosarcomatosis. These two cases developed second bone disease, 32 and 38 months after initial diagnosis and survived for 84 and 88 months with one patient also developing pulmonary metastasis. Both of them are still alive and in very good health.

Osteosarcoma: a study of 130 cases.

Multidisciplinary treatment of osteosarcoma in the Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, using preoperative intraarterial and postoperative chemotherapy, with or without local irradiation, combined with surgery and prophylactic lung irradiation provided an excellent 5 years' survival of 55 per cent, the same rate as the 9 years' survival. The survival was stable after 4.4 years. The patients with local irradiation had more tumor destruction apparent on the surgical specimen. The administration of prophylactic whole lung irradiation provided an outcome without any undesirable complication. Sixteen per cent of the cases with PLI developed lung metastasis compared to 48 per cent without PLI. The most important prognostic factor was low level of serum lactic acid dehydrogenase. The unanswered question is what is the optimal treatment for osteosarcoma?

The role of radiation therapy in retinoblastoma.

Retinoblastoma is the most common eye malignancy in Southeast Asia. In the early stage of the disease, photocoagulation, cryotherapy combined with chemotherapy and radiation therapy not only preserve vision but also preserve life. In advanced cases, the patient almost always refuses treatment when they are told to have enucleation and this leads them to more severe disease with distant metastasis. Nevertheless, even in such a poor condition, this report has shown several cases with very poor prognostic factors but effective radiation, chemotherapy after surgery still provided a very good outcome. Thus, the public should be educated that this disease can be cured even in the advanced stage. Early detection for the sake of vision and quality of life is the future intent. In the near future, it is hoped that fewer patients will refuse treatment or be lost to follow-up because of their ignorance and poverty.

Radiation treatment of retinoblastoma: experience in the past two decades.

This series of 193 patients represents the results in management of retinoblastoma. In cases treated 15 years ago when definitive radiotherapy and fat soluble chemotherapy were not utilized, the results of the treatment were very disappointing. The outcome was more promising after October 1985. Even if all the patients were in the advanced stages, we had a promising outcome, so effective modality of treatment is the most important prognostic factor. The other factors that influence the prognosis include the time for initial treatment, the time for starting the postoperative radiation and the efficiency of the radiation treatment. The follow-up period of 2 years after treatment is adequate to predict the outcome.

Dental management in irradiated head and neck cancers.

Seventy three head and neck cancer patients were radiated between 1987 and 1993 at the Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University. The incidence of dental extraction was much decreased after fluoride treatment regardless of the method of treatment with 54.8 per cent of the patients followed-up for more than 36 months. There was no significant difference of the dental status between application of fluoride gel, fluoride solution month rinse and combination of gel and solution. The incidence of dental extraction decreased to 6.9-22.7 per cent but dental filling increased to 54.5-68.2 per cent. We would like to conclude that continuing dental care with daily home fluoride month rinse and 3-6 months follow-up by the dentists will be the proper way to prevent radiation dental caries.

Limb salvage for extremity sarcoma in Ramathibodi Hospital.

From May 1986 to July 1991, a retrospective review of 27 patients treated with limb salvage surgery for extremity sarcomas, was evaluated by our team. There were 12 males and 15 females with a mean age of 22.7 years (ranging from, 9 to 53 years). The mean of the follow-up period was 27.6 months. (ranging from 6 to 62 months). Twenty-four patients had bone sarcomas which included 20 osteosarcomas, 3 chondrosarcomas and one adamantinoma. The locations of bone sarcomas were the proximal tibia (6 cases), distal femur (5 cases), proximal humerus (4 cases), proximal fibula (3 cases), scapula (3 cases), proximal femur (1 case), tibial shaft (1 case) and pelvis (1 case). The remaining three patients had malignant fibrous histiocytomas located in scapular, tibialis anterior muscle, and knee regions. In total there were 1 stage IA, 2 stage Ib, 1 stage IIA and 23 stage IIB. Twenty-four cases had wide excisions; two had marginal excisions and one radical excision. There were 17 bone reconstructions consisting of 11 allografts and 6 autografts. At the most recent follow-up examination, 74 per cent of the patients are alive and the overall disease free survival was 63 per cent. Local recurrences occurred in 11 per cent. The major complication rate was 3 per cent and the minor complication rate was 33 per cent. With respect to a functional outcome, 84 per cent of the patients achieved excellent or good results.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Multidisciplinary "limb salvage" treatment of osteosarcoma.

Intraarterial plus systemic chemotherapy of cis-diamine dichloroplatinum-II and anthracycline together with preoperative radiation and "limb salvage" treatment have increased the chance of local control and facilitated the previous surgically nonresectable to be resectable. Among 30 cases of osteosarcoma from 1986-1989, aged 9-43 years old, 10 of the 17 cases (58.8%) are still alive with the mean disease free survival of 27.8 months. Late pulmonary metastases cause the need for future protocol for prophylactic lung therapy.

Rhabdomyosarcoma in Thai children.

Twenty-six cases of rhabdomyosarcoma diagnosed from a total of 845 Thai children with childhood malignancy who had been treated at the Department of Pediatrics Ramathibodi Hospital, from May 1970 to December 1982 were analyzed retrospectively. There were 16 boys and 10 girls, aged 3 months to 13 years old (mean age was 5.6 +/- 4.1 years old). The common type was the embryonal cell sarcoma (19 cases), 3 cases were undetermined, 2 cases of alveolar cell type and one each of the pleomorphic and undifferentiated cell type. Only 2 cases had stage II disease, 10 and 14 cases were stage III and IV respectively. The common locations were head and neck (10 cases), abdomen (8 cases including one in the uterus, scrotum and 3 in the urinary bladder), and in 7 cases in the extremities. One patient had small lesion at the buttock. The treatment consisted of surgery, radiation therapy, actinomycin, vincristine and cyclophosphamide. Eight cases were lost to follow-up, 10 cases were discharged in advanced stage after been treated for 6.2 +/- 4 months, 4 cases had no evidence of disease for 2 to 7.5 years, 4 cases died after 4 to 27 months of treatment. The poor result obtained was probably due to the late stages of the disease at diagnosis, and limitations in the use of effective medications.