Availability of technology for managing cancer patients in the Southeast European (SEE) region.

Background: The Southeast European (SEE) region of 10 countries and about 43 million people differs from Western Europe in that most SEE countries lack active cancer registries and have fewer diagnostic imaging devices and radiotherapy (RT) units. The main objective of this research is to initiate a common platform for gathering SEE regional cancer data from the ground up to help these countries develop common cancer management strategies. Methods: To obtain detailed on-the-ground information, we developed separate questionnaires for two SEE groups: a) ONCO - oncologists regarding cancer treatment modalities and the availability of diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy equipment; and b) REG - national radiation protection and safety regulatory bodies regarding diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy equipment in SEE facilities. Results: Based on responses from 13/17 ONCO participants (at least one from each country) and from 9/10 REG participants (all countries but Albania), cancer incidence rates are higher in those SEE countries that have greater access to diagnostic imaging equipment while cancer mortality-to-incidence (MIR) ratios are higher in countries that lack radiotherapy equipment. Conclusion: By combining unique SEE region information with data available from major global databases, we demonstrated that the availability of diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy equipment in the SEE countries is related to their economic development. While immediate diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy capacity building is necessary, it is also essential to develop both national and SEE-regional cancer registries in order to understand the heterogeneity of each country's needs and to establish regional collaborative strategies for combating cancer.

A review of the international early recommendations for departments organization and cancer management priorities during the global COVID-19 pandemic: applicability in low- and middle-income countries.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a new virus that has never been identified in humans before. COVID-19 caused at the time of writing of this article, 2.5 million cases of infections in 193 countries with 165,000 deaths, including two-third in Europe. In this context, Oncology Departments of the affected countries had to adapt quickly their health system care and establish new organizations and priorities. Thus, numerous recommendations and therapeutic options have been reported to optimize therapy delivery to patients with chronic disease and cancer. Obviously, while these cancer care recommendations are immediately applicable in Europe, they may not be applicable in certain emerging and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In this review, we aimed to summarize these international guidelines in accordance with cancer types, making a synthesis for daily practice to protect patients, staff and tailor anti-cancer therapy delivery taking into account patients/tumour criteria and tools availability. Thus, we will discuss their applicability in the LMICs with different organizations, limited means and different constraints.

Comparison of Nodal Target Volume Definition in Breast Cancer Radiation Therapy According to RTOG Versus ESTRO Atlases: A Practical Review From the TransAtlantic Radiation Oncology Network (TRONE).

Regional nodal irradiation has gained interest in recent years with the publication of several important randomized trials and the availability of more conformal techniques. Target volume delineation represents a critical step in the radiation planning process. Adequate coverage of the microscopic tumor spread to regional lymph nodes must be weighed against exposure of critical structures such as the heart and lungs. Among available guidelines for delineating the clinical target volume for the breast/chest wall and regional nodes, the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group and European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology guidelines are the most widely used internationally. These guidelines have been formulated based on anatomic boundaries of areas historically covered in 2-dimensional field-based radiation therapy but have not been validated by patterns-of-failure studies. In recent years, an important body of data has emerged from mapping studies documenting patterns of local and regional recurrence. We aim to review, discuss, and compare contouring guidelines for breast cancer radiation therapy in the context of contemporary data on locoregional relapse to improve their implementation in modern practice.

PET/CT fusion in radiotherapy planning for lung cancer--Case reports.

INTRODUCTION: Application of imaging methods, namely computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and in recent years positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT), and the progress of computer technology have allowed the construction of effective computed systems for treatment planning (TPS) and introducing the concept of virtual simulation in 3D conformal radiotherapy planning. CASE REPORT: We hereby presented two patients with the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer who did PET/CT examination. Both patients had surgery earlier and local recidives are diagnosed with PET/CT. PET/CT of the first patient described the focus of intense ¹8F-fluorodeoxyglucose (¹8FDG) accumulation 2.99 x 2.9 x 2.1 cm in diameter in the projection of soft-tissue volume in the left corner, at operating clips height, corresponding to metabolically active recurrence of the tumor. Mediastinum and right lung parenchyma were without focal accumulation of ¹8FDG. Control PET/CT after 3 months was without detectable focus of intense pathological ¹8FDG accumulation--good therapeutic response, (metabolic disease remission). On the other hand, in the second case PET/CT showed a focus of intense ¹8FDG accumulation screening in the scar tissue of the apical part of the right lung, 20 x 16 mm, corresponding to metabolically active tumor recurrence. In the lung parenchyma on the left and in the mediastinum no visible focus of intense ¹8FDG accumulation was descrbed. Radiography included using 3D conformal radiotherapy with fusion PET/CT scan and CT simulations. CONCLUSION: PET/CT provides important information for planning conformal radiotherapy, especially in dose escalation, sparing of organ at risk and better locoregional control of the disease.

[Conformal radiotherapy of prostate carcinoma--procedure description].

INTRODUCTION: Today, three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy is a standard way in the radical treatment of localized prostate cancer, and it is an alternative to the radical prostatectomy. This method of radiotherapy treatment is widely accepted in the treatment of prostate cancer patients, and provides irradiation of targeted volume (prostate, seminal vesicles) with dose escalation sparing the surrounding healthy tissues (rectum, bladder) at the same time. That is not possible with the conventional two dimension technique. PROCEDURE DESCRIPTION: Three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy is a volumetric, visual simulation according to the computed tomography slices; it defines the tumour and organ at risk individually in each patient. Results of several studies have shown that there is a significant decrease in the development of acute toxicity when prostate cancer patients are treated with conformal radiotherapy. High dose irradiation gives excellent results in treatment of localized prostate carcinoma and improves treatment results in the patients with locally advanced carcinoma of prostate. DISCUSSION: Prostate carcinoma irradiation techniques have been changed dramatically during recent years. Data obtained by computed tomography are important since the size and shapes of the prostate as well as its anatomic relations towards the rectum and bladder are considerably different in individual patients. The three-dimension plan of irradiation can be designed for each patient individually by performing computed tomography technique when planning radiotherapy. CONCLUSION: The advanced planning systems for conformal radiotherapy can reconstruct the anatomic structures of pelvis in three-dimension technique on the basis of computed tomography scans, which provides better conformality between the irradiation beam and geometrical shape of the tumour with minimal irradiation of the surrounding healthy tissue.

Metastatic differentiated thyroid carcinoma: clinical management and outcome of disease in patients with initial and late distant metastases.

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to analyze the clinical management and the outcome of disease in differentiated thyroid carcinoma with initial and late distant metastases (M1). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Radioiodine (131I) therapy was applied in 77 differentiated thyroid carcinoma patients with M1 (31 patients with M1-initial and 46 patients with M1-late). The median follow-up of patients was 72.7 months. Probability of disease-specific survival (DSS) was analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method and the log rank test, while the significance of differences between groups was calculated by the t-test of proportions. RESULTS: Follicular carcinomas were more frequent in patients with M1-late (P<0.05). During the follow-up, 58% of the patients died: 39% of cases had disease related deaths, while 42% had complete remission of disease. Stable disease and progressive disease were significantly influenced by age only (P = 0.0122), while 131I uptake, histological type, and sex had no influence (P = 0.1235; P = 0.340; P = 0.8540, respectively). Remission of disease (complete and partial) was not significantly influenced by age, sex, histological type, and 131I accumulation (P = 0.0644; P = 0.8452; P = 0.6308; P = 0.7675, respectively). DSS in patients with M1-initial and M1-late at 5 years was 71 and 50%, respectively and 62 and 41% at 10 years, respectively, without significant difference (P = 0.2582). Disease related deaths appeared more frequent in patients at 45 years of age or older, significantly caused by distant metastases (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Distant metastases occur late more often in patients with follicular carcinoma while M1-initial is detected more often in patients with papillary carcinoma. DSS was not significantly different among patients with M1-initial and M1-late. The risk of death from M1 increased after the age of 45 years.