1/5. Clinical delivery of intensity modulated conformal radiotherapy for relapsed or second-primary head and neck cancer using a multileaf collimator with dynamic control.BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Concave dose distributions generated by intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) were applied to re-irradiate three patients with pharyngeal cancer. patients, MATERIALS AND methods: Conventional radiotherapy for oropharyngeal (patients 1 and 3) or nasopharyngeal (patient 2) cancers was followed by relapsing or new tumors in the nasopharynx (patients 1 and 2) and hypopharynx (patient 3). Six non-opposed coplanar intensity modulated beams were generated by combining non-modulated beamparts with intensities (weights) obtained by minimizing a biophysical objective function. Beamparts were delivered by a dynamic MLC (Elekta Oncology Systems, Crawley, UK) forced in step and shoot mode. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Median PTV-doses (and ranges) for the three patients were 73 (65-78), 67 (59-72) and 63 (48-68) Gy. Maximum point doses to brain stem and spinal cord were, respectively, 67 Gy (60% of volume below 30 Gy) and 32 Gy (97% below 10 Gy) for patient 1; 60 Gy (69% below 30 Gy) and 34 Gy (92% below 10 Gy) for patient 2 and 21 Gy (96% below 10 Gy) at spinal cord for patient 3. Maximum point doses to the mandible were 69 Gy for patient 1 and 64 Gy for patient 2 with, respectively, 66 and 92% of the volume below 20 Gy. A treatment session, using the dynamic MLC, was finished within a 15-min time slot.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/5. tongue and oropharynx: findings on MR imaging.Ten healthy subjects and 44 patients with diseases of the tongue or oropharynx were studied with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Axial, coronal, and sagittal images with a thickness of 4 mm were obtained with a pixel size of 0.75 X 0.75 mm on a 256 matrix. Nineteen of the patients underwent computed tomography (CT). Nine of those patients later had surgery, and the specimens were obtained for organ sectioning. These three studies as well as clinical history and physical examination findings were correlated. MR imaging was equal to or better than CT in those patients having both examinations. However, neither CT nor MR allowed recognition of histologic features or detection of microscopic spread of disease. Direct coronal and sagittal imaging planes on MR imaging allowed visualization of intrinsic tongue musculature, not possible with CT; this was important in recognizing subtle tumor extension. For these reasons, MR is the imaging method of choice for studying diseases of the tongue and oropharynx.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 21.431977347783keywords = physical examination, physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/5. Elusive head and neck carcinomas beneath intact mucosa.This study presents 19 patients who had mucosally inapparent carcinomas of the upper aerodigestive tract demonstrated by computed tomography (CT). This group contains subpopulations that were identified both retrospectively and prospectively. During the same period 40 nasopharyngeal, 20 oropharyngeal-tongue base, and over 100 laryngeal and hypopharyngeal carcinomas were studied; all had clinically obvious mucosal components. Nine of our 19 patients had strictly submucosal tumors and a variety of clinical presentations; 5 patients had strictly submucosal recurrence of treated carcinomas and 5 had mucosal lesions which were not identified on examinations by more than one practicing head and neck surgeon. Sixteen of the 19 tumors were confirmed histologically; in 3 others confirmation was by a combination of CT and clinical course. CT can demonstrate the deep extent of aerodigestive tract carcinomas more accurately than physical examination and it can show mucosally inapparent disease. CT should be part of the staging work-up in nearly all upper aerodigestive tract carcinomas and in patients suspected of harboring an unknown primary within this region.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 21.431977347783keywords = physical examination, physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/5. Ganglioneuroblastomas of the cervical sympathetic nerve.Although ganglioneuroblastomas occur infrequently in the head and neck area, if they are recognized and completely excised initially, the chances of cure are greatly increased. Two patients are reported who demonstrate some of the more important aspects of diagnosis and treatment. The first patient, whose retropharyngeal tumor was diagnosed when he was 12 years of age, was treated with transoral excisional biopsy. He is alive and tumor-free 3 1/2 years later. The second patient, a 2-year-old , was treated by incisional biopsy without a major resection. He died on year later. The diagnostic evaluation of a patient with suspected neurogenic tumor includes a complete physical examination for distant adenopathy, abdominal masses, hypertension, and neurological impairment. Intraoperatively, neurosurgical and pathological consultation should be available.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 21.431977347783keywords = physical examination, physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/5. Retropharyngeal masses in infants and young children.Six patients are described who illustrate different causes of retropharyngeal mass lesions in infants and young children. Differential diagnosis, clinical history, physical examination, and adequate roentgenographic evaluation of the neck are important.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 21.431977347783keywords = physical examination, physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |