High dose rate and low dose rate ruthenium brachytherapy for uveal melanoma. No association with ocular outcome.

BACKGROUND: Episcleral brachytherapy is the most common eye-preserving option for treating uveal melanoma, with ruthenium-106 widely used in Europe. Case series have reported on ocular outcome, but there are very little data on the impact of dose rate. Therefore, we studied the association of dose rate with secondary enucleation. METHODS: Data for all patients in Sweden managed with brachytherapy from 1979 to 2012 were retrieved (962 patients) and divided in quartiles based on dose rates at the tumour apex and at the scleral surface. Kaplan-Meier curves for secondary enucleation were generated independent of dose rate and for each dose rate quartile. Cox regression univariate and multivariate modelling included clinical parameters and dose rates at the tumour apex and the scleral surface. RESULTS: Baseline clinical characteristics were not significantly different across the quartiles except that thinner tumours had higher dose rates at the tumour apex. Dose rates ranged widely, with a near normal distribution at the scleral surface but skewed at the tumour apex. For all quartiles, secondary enucleation was more often caused by tumour progression than by ocular side effects. Univariate and multivariate modelling including clinical parameters showed no association between dose rate and secondary enucleation. CONCLUSIONS: Although dose rates ranged widely, there was no apparent association with secondary enucleation, suggesting that based on ocular survival, current practice of annual replacement of applicators is acceptable, irrespective of the significant reduction in each applicator's dose rate. Nevertheless, patients treated with higher dose rates have shorter plaque exposure and presumably less ocular irritation.

Plasma lipids, lipoproteins, and familial breast cancer.

We have examined the relationship between plasma lipids, lipoproteins, and a family history of breast cancer. We measured the plasma lipids and lipoproteins in unaffected female members of the nuclear family of women with familial breast cancer and compared them with those of the female members of the nuclear family of women with sporadic breast cancer. A mean number of 3.3 relatives of mean age 35 years were studied in 23 pairs of familial and sporadic breast cancer families. After adjustment in multivariate analysis for variables that either differed between high and low risk families, or were significantly associated with plasma levels or lipoproteins, statistically significant differences were found in plasma levels of total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, and apoprotein B, all of which were lower in familial breast cancer than in sporadic breast cancer families. These data suggest that inherited factors associated with breast cancer risk may play a role in determining plasma lipid and lipoprotein levels and that lipid regulatory genes should be considered in this context.

Hereditary ovarian cancer. Heterogeneity in age at onset.

BACKGROUND: Hereditary ovarian cancer (HOC) is heterogeneous, with at least three distinctive syndromes, namely, hereditary site-specific ovarian cancer, hereditary breast-ovarian cancer (HBOC) syndrome, and Lynch syndrome II. Ovarian cancer, in accord with virtually all varieties of adult onset cancer, displays an increasing incidence with advancing age; however, it shows an earlier age of onset in hereditary settings. METHODS: Detailed medical and pathology studies were performed on extended ovarian cancer-prone pedigrees, with special attention given to age at ovarian cancer onset. RESULTS: The age of onset of ovarian cancer is heterogeneous, wherein the average age of onset in HBOC is 52 years, in hereditary site-specific ovarian cancer it is 49 years, and in the Lynch syndrome II it is 45 years, in contrast to its occurrence in the general population, at an average age of 59 years. CONCLUSIONS: These differences are important for the initiation of surveillance and management strategies. Age of onset of ovarian cancer differences in these several hereditary subsets are less striking than they are in the case of other integral forms of cancer in the respective syndromes, such as the breast in the HBOC syndrome. In addition, the phenomenon of extremely early age of onset of ovarian cancer occurs infrequently in HOC when compared to other forms of cancer, such as the breast in HBOC or the colon in Lynch syndrome II. Knowledge about age of onset heterogeneity in HOC may harbor important clues about etiology, pathogenesis, and cancer control.