Dry eye disease in head and neck cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy.

Purpose: To study the incidence of dry eye disease (DED) in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients undergoing external beam radiotherapy (EBRT), to find a correlation between tumor location and total radiation dose with DED, and to report various radiotherapy (RT) induced acute toxic effects on ocular and adnexal structures. Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted at a tertiary eye-care center on 90 patients of HNC undergoing EBRT from March 2021 to May 2022. All underwent a thorough clinical history and complete ophthalmological examination including an ocular surface disease index (OSDI) questionnaire, visual acuity, anterior segment, angle and posterior segment examination, dry eye workup including the Schirmer test, tear meniscus height, tear break-up time, corneal fluorescein staining and grading, and meibography by auto-refractometer and its scoring at each visit. Patients were evaluated before the start of RT and then at 1 week, 4 weeks, and 12 weeks post-RT. Radiation records of all patients were noted. Data were analyzed using percentage and Microsoft Excel. Results: Of the 90 patients, 66 were male and 24 female (M: F ratio of 2.75) with a median age of 52.5 years (range 24 to 80 years). The most common HNC was the carcinoma oral cavity and lip. Most patients received a total radiation dose between 46 to 55 Gy. DED developed in 48 (53.3%) patients. The incidence of DED increased with the increase in total radiation dose (r = 0.987). DED was also found to be correlated with tumor location (r = 0.983). Conclusion: The incidence of DED positively correlated with the total radiation dose and tumor location.

Primary Hypothyroidism in Patients Exposed to Therapeutic External Beam Radiation: Non-randomized Comparative Study.

Background Cancer patients are not routinely assessed for thyroid function after external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) to the neck, despite hypothyroidism being a known side effect of EBRT. So, this study aimed to assess the incidence of hypothyroidism after therapeutic external beam radiotherapy to the neck and to determine the time for the development of hypothyroidism. Methodology A non-randomized prospective comparative study was done at a tertiary care center from April 2018 to September 2020. Any cancer patients who were euthyroid before radiotherapy and are planned to receive EBRT to the neck were included as cases, whereas controls were selected from the patients who were euthyroid before radiotherapy and were planned to receive EBRT to the site other than the neck. A total of 100 participants in each case and control group were selected. Data were collected on participants' age, gender, primary tumor site, treatment modality, total radiation dose along with concurrent chemoradiation regimens. Details of blood chemistry including thyroid hormone levels were collected during the pre-radiation phase and post-radiation phase. After the completion of radiotherapy, both the patients and controls were followed up periodically at three months, six months, nine months, 12 months, and finally at 15 months post-radiation. Data were analyzed and interpreted to pursue defined objectives by using tables and graphs using Microsoft Excel and IBM SPSS, version 26.0 (Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.). The chi-square test was applied to find out the association of different variables with the development of hypothyroidism. P-values<0.05 were considered significant throughout. Results According to our findings, the incidence of hypothyroidism following external beam radiotherapy to the neck where radiation portals included a portion or the entire thyroid gland was 16% and 4%, when the radiation given to sites other than neck region. The difference in incidence between the case and control groups was found to be statically significant (p<0.05). However, it was found that age, gender, the primary tumor site, total radiation dose, and treatment modality had no significant effects on hypothyroidism development. The median time duration to become hypothyroid after EBRT was 12 months. Conclusions The monitoring of thyroid function should become a part of routine follow-up procedures in all cancer patients who receive neck radiation as part of their treatment.

Comparison of outcome and toxicity of two different regimes of neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by external beam radiotherapy in stages III and IV larynx and laryngopharyngeal malignancies in years 2013-2014.

INTRODUCTION: Both induction chemotherapy (ICT) followed by irradiation and concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy have been reported as valuable alternatives to total laryngectomy in patients with advanced larynx/hypopharynx cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Of the 60 enrolled patients, randomly assigned into two groups (30 in each group) previously untreated patients with stages III to IV larynx/hypopharynx squamous cell carcinoma were assigned to received two cycles of ICT with interval of 3 weeks (a) Group A paclitaxel 175 mg/m 2 on day 1 and carboplatin 450 mg on day 2 (PC), (b) Group B docetaxel and cisplatin 75 mg/m 2 each on day 1 and ifosfamide 2 g/m 2 on day 1-3 along with mesna (docetaxel-ifosfamide-cisplatin). Both groups were followed by conventional radiotherapy (60-70 Gy/5#/week). Primary end point was a response after ICT. Secondary endpoints included acute toxicities and overall response. RESULTS: Baseline patient and tumor characteristics were well balanced between both groups, the response after ICT seen was 80% in Group A complete response (CR) 36.6% and partial response (PR) 43.3% and in Group B 79% response, CR 33% and PR 46%; whereas toxicities in Group B grade 3/4 neutropenia and grade 2/3 vomiting more severe than Group A. Radiation therapy was well tolerable to both groups with mild side effects. CONCLUSIONS: Definite role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in locally advanced larynx/laryngopharyngeal cancer as organ preservation therapy. The efficacy found was quite similar and improved response in both groups except toxicity profile of Group B more severe, requiring the use of colony stimulating factors and supportive care along with.

Oncologic Concerns in An Exstrophied Urinary Bladder - An Indian Scenario.

Exstrophy of the urinary bladder is a rare congenital anomaly which if untreated causes bladder carcinoma and intestinal tumours noted if urinary diversion is performed. It is seen that 50% of all persons afflicted with exstrophy are dead by their tenth year and 66-67% are dead by their twentieth year. It is thus a great rarity to see a case of ectopia vesicae in adulthood. Still more uncommon is to see a case of exstrophy complicated by carcinoma. Here, we report a case of papillary adenocarcinoma of ectopic urinary bladder in a 42-year-old male patient. In view of locally advanced disease, patient was given neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The case is being reported on account of its rarity to sensitise clinicians about rising incidence of carcinoma if mismanaged due to lack of protocol in oncological screening.