Salvage surgery for local recurrence after carbon ion radiotherapy for patients with lung cancer.

OBJECTIVES: Carbon ion radiotherapy (CIRT) has been expected to be an alternative for surgery for early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and adopted as the second-best choice even in operable patients although local recurrence after CIRT is sometimes experienced. The purpose of this study was to investigate the demographic data, perioperative courses and therapeutic outcomes of patients who underwent salvage resection for local recurrence after CIRT. METHODS: From November 1994 to February 2012, CIRT was applied for 602 c-T1/T2/T3N0M0 NSCLC lesions of 599 patients at the National Institute of Radiological Science. A total of 95 (16%) patients were diagnosed as having local recurrence, of whom 12 underwent salvage surgeries. The medical records were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: There were 7 men and 5 women (mean age, 63 ± 7.4 years). The clinical stages upon initial presentation with NSCLC were as follows: 4 IA, 7 IB and 1 IIB. All the patients were operable, but refused surgery and underwent CIRT. The median progression-free survival time after CIRT was 20 months (range, 7.1-77 months), and salvage surgery was performed at a median of 24 months (range, 9-78 months) after CIRT. All surgeries were successfully performed without any significant CIRT-related adhesions during the surgery, resulting in no mortality or Clavien-Dindo grade 3-4 postoperative complications. However, the distribution of pathological stages was as follows: 4 IA, 3 IB, 2 IIB, 2 IIIA and 1 IV, which included 6 upstages from the clinical stages before CIRT. The Kaplan-Meier estimate of overall survival after the salvage surgery showed that the 3-year survival rate was 82%. CONCLUSIONS: The dose intensity of CIRT spared the hilum of the lungs and parietal pleura, none of the patients developed adhesions outside of the radiation field, such that the salvage surgeries for local recurrence after CIRT were safe and feasible.

Clinical features and characteristics of blood flow of uterine vascular abnormalities.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the clinical features and characteristics of the blood flow in uterine vascular abnormalities using ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). METHODS: A total of 17 women were diagnosed with uterine vascular abnormalities by ultrasound. The clinical characteristics of the patients and the distribution and waveform of the intrauterine vessels were examined using transvaginal gray-scale and Doppler ultrasonography, spin-echo MRI, and MR angiography. RESULTS: The average age of the 17 subjects was 44.3 years, and 5 were postmenopausal women. The number of pregnancies and deliveries was 2.0 and 1.7, respectively. Of the 17 subjects, 7 had a moderate or severe grade of dysmenorrhea and 7 had a history of vascular disease. In all subjects, vaginal ultrasound demonstrated tubular or numerous tortuous anechoic areas in the uterine wall, and Doppler ultrasound showed that the tubular or numerous dilated tortuous vessels had an atypical wave flow, unlike that of an artery or a vein. The distribution of displayed flow varied, and the waveforms of the Doppler ultrasound displayed three patterns. The averages of the pulse Doppler flow indices showed low impedance in the abnormal uterine vessel and the uterine artery, especially in cases of true arteriovenous malformations. MR angiography demonstrated distinct, tortuous, and coiled vascular channels in the pelvis during and just after the arterial phase. CONCLUSION: Characterization of the clinical features of uterine vascular abnormalities is considered to be valuable for obstetricians and gynecologists.