Patients with locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) treated with chemoradiation often experience hematologic toxicity (HT), as chemoradiation can induce bone marrow (BM) suppression. Studies on... Show morePatients with locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) treated with chemoradiation often experience hematologic toxicity (HT), as chemoradiation can induce bone marrow (BM) suppression. Studies on the relationship between BM dosimetric parameters and clinically significant HT might provide relevant indices for developing BM sparing (BMS) radiotherapy techniques. This systematic review studied the relationship between BM dose and HT in patients with LACC treated with primary cisplatin-based chemoradiation. A systematic search was conducted in Embase, Medline, and Web of Science. Eligibility criteria were treatment of LACC-patients with cisplatin-based chemoradiation and report of HT or complete blood cell count (CBC). The search identified 1346 papers, which were screened on title and abstract before two reviewers independently evaluated the full-text. 17 articles were included and scored according to a selection of the TRIPOD criteria. The mean TRIPOD score was 12.1 out of 29. Fourteen studies defining BM as the whole pelvic bone contour (PB) detected significant associations with V10 (3/14), V20 (6/14), and V40 (4/11). Recommended cut-off values were V10 > 95-75%, V20 > 80-65%, and V40 > 37-28%. The studies using lower density marrow spaces (PBM) or active bone marrow (ABM) as a proxy for BM only found limited associations with HT. Our study was the first literature review providing an overview of articles evaluating the correlation between BM and HT for patients with LACC undergoing cisplatin-based chemoradiation. There is a scarcity of studies independently validating developed prediction models between BM dose and HT. Future studies may use PB contouring to develop normal tissue complication probability models. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. Radiotherapy and Oncology 164 (2021) 128-137 This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Show less
Background and purpose: A wide variation of MRI systems is a challenge in multicenter imaging biomarker studies as it adds variation in quantitative MRI values. The aim of this study was to design... Show moreBackground and purpose: A wide variation of MRI systems is a challenge in multicenter imaging biomarker studies as it adds variation in quantitative MRI values. The aim of this study was to design and test a quality assurance (QA) framework based on phantom measurements, for the quantitative MRI protocols of a multicenter imaging biomarker trial of locally advanced cervical cancer.Materials and methods: Fifteen institutes participated (five 1.5 T and ten 3 T scanners). Each institute optimized protocols for T2, diffusion-weighted imaging, T1, and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE-)MRI according to system possibilities, institutional preferences and study-specific constraints. Calibration phantoms with known values were used for validation. Benchmark protocols, similar on all systems, were used to investigate whether differences resulted from variations in institutional protocols or from system variations. Bias, repeatability (%RC), and reproducibility (%RDC) were determined. Ratios were used for T2 and T1 values.Results: The institutional protocols showed a range in bias of 0.88-0.98 for T2 (median %RC = 1%; % RDC = 12%), -0.007 to 0.029 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s for the apparent diffusion coefficient (median %RC = 3%; % RDC = 18%), and 0.39-1.29 for T1 (median %RC = 1%; %RDC = 33%). For DCE a nonlinear vendor-specific relation was observed between measured and true concentrations with magnitude data, whereas the relation was linear when phase data was used.Conclusion: We designed a QA framework for quantitative MRI protocols and demonstrated for a multi-center trial for cervical cancer that measurement of consistent T2 and apparent diffusion coefficient values is feasible despite protocol differences. For DCE-MRI and T1 mapping with the variable flip angle method, this was more challenging. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Show less
Wenzel, H.H.B.; Smolders, R.G.V.; Beltman, J.J.; Lambrechts, S.; Trum, H.W.; Yigit, R.; ... ; Aa, M.A. van der 2020
Aim: Recently, the safety of laparoscopic radical hysterectomy (LRH) has been called into question in early-stage cervical cancer. This study aimed to evaluate overall survival (OS) and disease... Show moreAim: Recently, the safety of laparoscopic radical hysterectomy (LRH) has been called into question in early-stage cervical cancer. This study aimed to evaluate overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) in patients treated with abdominal radical hysterectomy (ARH) and LRH for early-stage cervical cancer and to provide a literature review.Methods: Patients diagnosed between 2010 and 2017 with International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (2009) stage IA2 with lymphovascular space invasion, IB1 and IIA1, were identified from the Netherlands Cancer Registry. Cox regression with propensity score, based on inverse probability treatment weighting, was applied to examine the effect of surgical approach on 5-year survival and calculate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Literature review included observational studies with (i) analysis on tumours <4 cm (ii) median follow-up >= 30 months (iii) >= 5 events per predictor parameter in multivariable analysis or a propensity score.Results: Of the 1109 patients, LRH was performed in 33%. Higher mortality (9.4% vs. 4.6%) and recurrence (13.1% vs. 7.3%) were observed in ARH than LRH. However, adjusted analyses showed similar DFS (89.4% vs. 90.2%), HR 0.92 [95% CI: 0.52-1.60]) and OS (95.2% vs. 95.5%), HR 0.94 [95% CI: 0.43-2.04]). Analyses on tumour size (<2/>2 cm) also gave similar survival rates. Review of nine studies showed no distinct advantage of ARH, especially in tumours <2 cm.Conclusion: After adjustment, our retrospective study showed equal oncological outcomes between ARH and LRH for early-stage cervical cancer - also in tumours <2 cm. This is in correspondence with results from our literature review. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Show less
Purpose: In patients with uterine cervical cancer, pretreatment recognition of uterine extension is crucial in treatment decision-making for fertility-sparing surgery and for target delineation in... Show morePurpose: In patients with uterine cervical cancer, pretreatment recognition of uterine extension is crucial in treatment decision-making for fertility-sparing surgery and for target delineation in radiotherapy. Although MRI is generally considered the most reliable method, its value for detecting involvement of the uterine internal os is unclear.Methods: Medline, Embase and Cochrane databases were systematically searched (January 1997-December 2012) for MRI studies that measured the accuracy of involvement of the uterine internal os compared to histopathology as reference standard in patients with uterine cervical cancer. Data were assessed using the QUADAS tool. Accuracy concerned either involvement (yes/no) of the uterine internal os, or measuring invasion distance toward the uterine corpus.Results: Two retrospective and two prospective studies described 366 patients diagnosed with uterine cervical cancer FIGO stage IIB or below, in whom 64 (17%) had uterine internal os involvement. For three studies the summary estimates of specificity, sensitivity, negative predictive value (NPV), positive predictive value (PPV), and accuracy were 91%, 97%, 99%, 79% and 95%, respectively; one study had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.8.Conclusion: MRI has a high level of accuracy; however, data are limited and for validation a large prospective study is needed that compares actual measurements on MRI with histopathological examination. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Show less