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PURPOSE In oncology trials, the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) is the standard tool for reporting adverse events (AEs), but it may underreport symptoms experienced by patients. This analysis of the NRG Oncology RTOG 1203 compared symptom reporting by patients and clinicians during radiotherapy (RT). PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients with cervical or endometrial cancer requiring postoperative RT were randomly assigned to standard 4-field RT or intensity-modulated RT (IMRT). Patients completed the 6-item patient-reported outcomes version of the CTCAE (PRO-CTCAE) for GI toxicity assessing abdominal pain, diarrhea, and fecal incontinence at various time points. Patients reported symptoms on a 5-point scale. Clinicians recorded these AEs as CTCAE grades 1 to 5. Clinician- and patient-reported AEs were compared using McNemar’s test for rates > 0%. RESULTS Of 278 eligible patients, 234 consented and completed the PRO-CTCAE. Patients reported high-grade abdominal pain 19.1% ( P < .0001), high-grade diarrhea 38.5% ( P < .0001), and fecal incontinence 6.8% more frequently than clinicians. Similar effects were seen between grade ≥ 1 CTCAE toxicity and any-grade patient-reported toxicity. Between-arm comparison of patient-reported high-grade AEs revealed that at 5 weeks of RT, patients who received IMRT experienced fewer GI AEs than patients who received 4-field pelvic RT with regard to frequency of diarrhea (18.2% difference; P = .01), frequency of fecal incontinence (8.2% difference; P = .01), and interference of fecal incontinence (8.5% difference; P = .04). CONCLUSION Patient-reported AEs showed a reduction in symptoms with IMRT compared with standard RT, whereas clinician-reported AEs revealed no difference. Clinicians also underreported symptomatic GI AEs compared with patients. This suggests that patient-reported symptomatic AEs are important to assess in this disease setting.

Objective Women with endometrial or cervical cancer at risk for recurrence receive postoperative radiation therapy (RT). A patient reported outcomes (PRO) instrument to assess bowel and urinary toxicities is the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC), which has been validated in men with prostate cancer. As this instrument specifically measures bowel toxicity and the degree to which this is a problem, it was used in NRG Oncology/RTOG 1203 to compare intensity modulated RT (IMRT) to standard RT. This paper reports on the expanded validation of EPIC for use in women receiving pelvic RT. Methods In addition to the EPIC bowel domain, urinary toxicity (EPIC urinary domain), patient reported bowel toxicities (PRO-CTCAE) and quality of life (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT)) were completed before, during and after treatment. Sensitivity, reliability and concurrent validity were assessed. Results Mean bowel and urinary scores among 278 women enrolled were significantly worse during treatment and differed between groups. Acceptable to good reliability for bowel and urinary domain scores were obtained at all time points with the exception of one at baseline. Correlations between function and bother scores within the bowel and urinary domains were consistently stronger than those across domains. Correlations between bowel domain scores and PRO-CTCAE during treatment were stronger than those with the FACT. Conclusion Correlations within and among the instruments indicate EPIC bowel and urinary domains are measuring conceptually discrete components of health. These EPIC domains are valid, reliable and sensitive instruments to measure PRO among women undergoing pelvic radiation.

Purpose NRG Oncology/RTOG 1203 was designed to compare patient-reported acute toxicity and health-related quality of life during treatment with standard pelvic radiation or intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in women with cervical and endometrial cancer. Methods Patients were randomly assigned to standard four-field radiation therapy (RT) or IMRT radiation treatment. The primary end point was change in patient-reported acute GI toxicity from baseline to the end of RT, measured with the bowel domain of the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC). Secondary end points included change in patient-reported urinary toxicity, change in GI toxicity measured with the Patient-Reported Outcome Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, and quality of life measured with the Trial Outcome Index. Results From 2012 to 2015, 289 patients were enrolled, of whom 278 were eligible. Between baseline and end of RT, the mean EPIC bowel score declined 23.6 points in the standard RT group and 18.6 points in the IMRT group ( P = .048), the mean EPIC urinary score declined 10.4 points in the standard RT group and 5.6 points in the IMRT group ( P = .03), and the mean Trial Outcome Index score declined 12.8 points in the standard RT group and 8.8 points in the IMRT group ( P = .06). At the end of RT, 51.9% of women who received standard RT and 33.7% who received IMRT reported frequent or almost constant diarrhea ( P = .01), and more patients who received standard RT were taking antidiarrheal medications four or more times daily (20.4% v 7.8%; P = .04). Conclusion Pelvic IMRT was associated with significantly less GI and urinary toxicity than standard RT from the patient’s perspective.

A total of 960 complementary DNA (cDNA) clones from an HL60 cell cDNA library were screened to discover genes that were differentially expressed in HL60 cells exposed to 60 Hz square-wave magnetic fields (MFs) compared to sham-exposed cells. Square-wave fields are rich in odd harmonic frequency content. We used a two-gel cDNA library screening method (BIGEL) to identify treatment-induced alterations in gene expression. Four cDNA clones were tentatively identified as differentially expressed after exposure to square-wave MFs at 2 mT for 24 h. BIGEL-identified genes (GenBank accession number) corresponding to these clones were: TI227H (D50525), EST Homo sapiens partial cDNA (Z17814), human ribosomal protein S13 (L01124), and AICAR transformylase mRNAs (D82348). The differences in mRNA levels were not confirmed in test compared to experimental cells by Northern analysis. In other experiments, we used concurrent exposure to 60 Hz sine- or square-wave MFs (0 or 2 mT, duration of 3 or 24 h, no postexposure delay). In addition to the four BIGEL genes, we also investigated MYC, HSP70, RAN and SOD1. In the case of MYC and HSP70, square-wave MFs appeared to exhibit more marked alterations when compared to sinusoidal waveforms, but the overall results indicated no effect of possible differential magnetic-field-induced expression of all eight genes. In contrast, alterations of mRNA levels were observed for seven genes after exposure to X irradiation, hyperthermia and TPA. These results are contrary to previously proposed similarities between the action of these agents and MF effects on gene transcription.

Background Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is the most common primary malignant tumor of the central nervous system. Standard of care includes maximal resection followed by chemoradiotherapy. Tumors need adequate perfusion and neovascularization to maintain oxygenation and for removal of wastes. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a well characterized pro-angiogenic factor. We hypothesized that the increases in urinary VEGF levels would occur early in the course of tumor recurrence or progression. We examine the feasibility of collecting and analyzing urinary VEGF levels in a prospective, multi-institutional trial (Radiation Therapy Oncology Group, RTOG, 0611) as well as the role of VEGF as a marker of tumor recurrence. Method We evaluated VEGF levels in urine specimens collected post-operatively, at the conclusion of radiation therapy (RT) and one month following RT. Urinary VEGF levels were correlated with tumor progression at one year. VEGF levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay in urine specimens and normalized to urinary creatinine levels. Sample size was determined based on a 50% 1-year recurrence rate. With a sensitivity and specificity of 80%, the expected 95% confidence interval was (0.69, 0.91) with 100 patients. A failure was defined as documented disease progression, recurrence or death before one year. Results 202 patients were enrolled between February-2006 and October-2007. Four patients were ineligible as they did not receive RT. Of the remaining 198 patients, 128 had all three samples collected. In this group, 35 patients (27.3%) did not progress, 89 (69.5%) had progression and 4 (3.1%) died without evidence of progression. Median VEGF levels at baseline were 52.9 pg/mg Cr (range 0.2- 15,034.4); on the last day of RT, 56.6 (range 0–2,377.1); and at one month follow-up, 70.0 (range 0.1-1813.2). In patients without progression at 1-year, both baseline VEGF level and end of RT VEGF level were lower than those of patients who progressed: 40.3 (range 0.2-350.8) vs. 59.7 (range 1.3-15,034.4) and 41.8 (range 0–356.8) vs. 69.7 (range 0–2,377.1), respectively. This did not reach statistical significance. Comparison of the change in VEGF levels between the end of RT and one month following RT, demonstrated no significant difference in the proportions of progressors or non-progressors at 1-year for either the VEGF increased or VEGF decreased groups. Conclusion Urine can be collected and analyzed in a prospective, multi-institutional trial. In this study of patients with GBM a change in urinary VEGF levels between the last day of RT and the one month following RT did not predict for tumor progression by one year.