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Low-dose-rate brachytherapy (LDR-BT) in localized prostate cancer is available since 15 years in Italy. We realized the first national multicentre and multidisciplinary data collection to evaluate LDR-BT practice, given as monotherapy, and outcome in terms of biochemical failure.Between May 1998 and December 2011, 2237 patients with early-stage prostate cancer from 11 Italian community and academic hospitals were treated with iodine-125 ((125)I) or palladium-103 LDR-BT as monotherapy and followed up for at least 2 years. (125)I seeds were implanted in 97.7% of the patients: the mean dose received by 90% of target volume was 145 Gy; the mean target volume receiving 100% of prescribed dose (V100) was 91.1%. Biochemical failure-free survival (BFFS), disease-specific survival (DSS) and overall survival (OS) were estimated using Kaplan-Meier method. Log-rank test and multivariable Cox regression were used to evaluate the relationship of covariates with outcomes.Median follow-up time was 65 months. 5- and 7-year DSS, OS and BFFS were 99 and 98%, 94 and 89%, and 92 and 88%, respectively. At multivariate analysis, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network score (p 0.0001) and V100 (p = 0.09) were correlated with BFFS, with V100 effect significantly different between patients at low risk and those at intermediate/high risk (p = 0.04). Short follow-up and lack of toxicity data represent the main limitations for a global evaluation of LDR-BT.This first multicentre Italian report confirms LDR-BT as an excellent curative modality for low-/intermediate-risk prostate cancer.Multidisciplinary teams may help to select adequately patients to be treated with brachytherapy, with a direct impact on the implant quality and, possibly, on outcome.

A system based on Macintosh™, Hypercard™ and a local network was developed at the University and Hospital Department of Radiation Therapy, Florence, Italy, to manage the clinical records as a complex data structure (data, texts, drawings and image storage and retrieval). After 4 years, the system produces over 2000 new charts a year and manages more than 15000 clinical records. Electronic records are produced, printed and updated in their traditional form to be put on file in our archive. On-line consultation of the clinical records is possible from every workstation of the structure even as it is producing, updating, or printing a chart. Physicians and clinical clerks, with different access privileges, currently use the system for all these purposes. The clinical records are typed by secretaries who receive dictation on microcassettes. No extra staff were necessary to set up and manage the system and training was simple. The new system changed neither the organization and structure of the tradit...

Objectives: The aim of this study was to define a method to evaluate the total dose delivered to the rectum during the whole treatment course in six patients undergoing irradiation for prostate cancer using an offline definition of organ motion with images from a cone beam CT (CBCT) scanner available on a commercial linear accelerator. Methods: Patient set-up was verified using a volumetric three-dimensional CBCT scanner; 9–14 CBCT scans were obtained for each patient. Images were transferred to a commercial treatment planning system for offline organ motion analysis. The shape of the rectums were used to obtain a mean dose–volume histogram (,DVH.), which was the average of the DVHs of the rectums as they appeared in each verification CBCT. A geometric model of an average rectum (AR) was produced using the rectal contours delineated on the CBCT scans (DVHAR). To check whether the first week of treatment was representative of the whole treatment course, we evaluated the DVHs related to only the first five CBCT scans (,DVH5. and DVHAR5). Finally, the influence of a dietary protocol on the goodness of our results was considered. Results: In all six patients the original rectal DVH for the planning CT scan showed higher values than all DVHs. Conclusion: Although the application of the model to a larger set of patients is necessary to confirm this trend, reconstruction of a representative volume of the rectum throughout the entire treatment course seems feasible.