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Lateral lymph nodes in low, locally advanced, rectal cancer have proven implications for local recurrence rates, which increase drastically in the presence of persistently enlarged lateral lymph nodes. These clinical implications warrant a thorough understanding of lateral nodal disease with awareness and knowledge from all three specialties involved – radiology, radiation oncology, and surgery – to ensure proper treatment. Relevant literature for each specialty, including all current guidelines and perspectives, were examined. Variations in definitions and treatment paradigms were evaluated. There is still no consensus for the standardized treatment of lateral nodal disease. Each discipline works according to their own available evidence, but relevant data are scarce. Current international guidelines and standard recommendations for the diagnostics and treatment of lateral lymph nodes are lacking. This results in differing perspectives and interpretations between the disciplines which can lead to challenging communication in an area where multidisciplinary collaboration is essential. This review addresses this by presenting the current evidence, perspectives and practices of each specialty and makes suggestions for each phase of the diagnostic and treatment process for patients with lateral nodal disease. By doing this, steps are taken toward achieving international consensus, and multidisciplinary collaboration.

BACKGROUND: Radiolabeled prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has shown superior diagnostic accuracy to conventional imaging for the detection of prostate cancer deposits . Consequently, clinical management changes have been reported in patients with biochemical recurrence (BCR) of disease after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP). We hypothesized that, due to the exclusion of patients with metastatic disease on PSMA-PET/CT, those who underwent local salvage radiation therapy (SRT) after restaging PSMA-PET/CT for BCR may have better oncological outcomes than patients who underwent "blind" SRT.OBJECTIVE: To compare the oncological outcome of a patient cohort that underwent PSMA-PET imaging prior to SRT with that of a patient cohort that did not have PSMA-PET imaging before SRT.DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: We included 610 patients who underwent SRT, of whom 298 underwent PSMA-PET/CT prior to SRT and 312 did not. No additional hormonal therapy was prescribed.OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: To compare both cohorts, case-control matching was performed, using the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value at the initiation of SRT, pathological grade group, pathological T stage, surgical margin status, and biochemical persistence after RARP as matching variables. The outcome variable was biochemical progression at 1 yr after SRT, defined as either a rise of PSA ≥0.2 ng/ml above the nadir after SRT or the start of additional treatment.RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: After case-control matching, 216 patients were matched in both cohorts (108 patients per cohort). In the patient cohort without PSMA-PET/CT prior to SRT, of 108 patients, 23 (21%) had biochemical progression of disease at 1 yr after SRT, compared with nine (8%) who underwent restaging PSMA-PET/CT prior to SRT (p = 0.007).CONCLUSIONS: PSMA-PET/CT is found to be associated with an improved oncological outcome in patients who undergo SRT for BCR after RARP.PATIENT SUMMARY: Performing prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography/computed tomography imaging in patients with biochemical recurrence of disease after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy, before initiating salvage radiation therapy, resulted in improved short-term oncological outcomes.

Not all clinics have breath‐hold radiotherapy available for left‐breast irradiation. However intensity‐modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) has also been advocated as a means of lowering heart doses. There is currently no large‐scale, long‐term follow‐up data after breast IMRT and, since dose distributions may differ from classic tangent‐based radiotherapy, caution is needed to avoid unexpected worsening of the late toxicity profile. We compared four IMRT techniques for free‐breathing left‐breast irradiation. Consistent with the aforementioned concerns, our goal in planning was to prioritize organ at risk (OAR) sparing in a way that mimicked tangent‐based radiotherapy. Ten simultaneous integrated boost treatment plans (PTVelective=15×2.67 Gy;PTVboost=15×3.35 Gy) were created using 1) hybrid‐IMRT (H‐IMRT), 2) full IMRT (F‐IMRT), and 3) volumetric‐modulated arc therapy with two partial arcs (2ARC) and 4) six partial arcs (6ARC). Reduction in OAR mean and low dose was prioritized. End‐points included OAR sparing (e.g., heart, left anterior descending artery [LAD+3 mm], lungs, and contralateral breast) and PTV coverage/dose homogeneity. Under these conditions we found the following: 1) H‐IMRT provided the best mean and low dose OAR sparing, PTVelective coverage (mean V95%=98%),PTVboost coverage (V95%=98%), and PTV homogeneity. However, it delivered most intermediate–high dose to the heart, LAD+3 mm and ipsilateral lung; 2) 6ARC had the best intermediate–high dose sparing, followed by F‐IMRT, but this was at the expense of more dose in the contralateral lung and breast and worse PTV coverage (PTVelective mean V95%=96%/97% and PTVboost mean V95%=91%/96% for 6ARC/F‐IMRT). When trying to spare mean and low dose to OARs, the preferred IMRT technique for left‐breast irradiation without breath‐hold was H‐IMRT. This is currently the standard solution in our institution for left‐breast radiotherapy under free‐breathing and breath‐hold conditions. PACS numbers: 87.53kn, 87.53Jw, 87.55.D‐, 87.55.de, 87.55.dk

Complete excision is key to successful breast-conserving treatment for patients diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Patients with extensive DCIS should be considered the choice of mastectomy (followed by reconstruction), while for smaller DCIS breast-conserving treatment should be performed by complete excision. This review reports on the effect of margins on the clinical management of patients with a diagnosis of DCIS. The role of preoperative imaging including MRI, surgical procedures, and pathology are described.

Purpose The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer conducted a randomized trial investigating the role of radiotherapy (RT) after local excision (LE) of ductal carcinoma-in-situ (DCIS) of the breast. We analyzed the efficacy of RT with 10 years follow-up on both the overall risk of local recurrence (LR) and related to clinical, histologic, and treatment factors. Patients and Methods After complete LE, women with DCIS were randomly assigned to no further treatment or RT (50 Gy). One thousand ten women with mostly (71%) mammographically detected DCIS were included. The median follow-up was 10.5 years. Results The 10-year LR-free rate was 74% in the group treated with LE alone compared with 85% in the women treated by LE plus RT (log-rank P < .0001; hazard ratio [HR] = 0.53). The risk of DCIS and invasive LR was reduced by 48% (P = .0011) and 42% (P = .0065) respectively. Both groups had similar low risks of metastases and death. At multivariate analysis, factors significantly associated with an increased LR risk were young age (≤ 40 years; HR = 1.89), symptomatic detection (HR = 1.55), intermediately or poorly differentiated DCIS (as opposed to well-differentiated DCIS; HR = 1.85 and HR = 1.61 respectively), cribriform or solid growth pattern (as opposed to clinging/micropapillary subtypes; HR = 2.39 and HR = 2.25 respectively), doubtful margins (HR = 1.84), and treatment by LE alone (HR = 1.82). The effect of RT was homogeneous across all assessed risk factors. Conclusion With long-term follow-up, RT after LE for DCIS continued to reduce the risk of LR, with a 47% reduction at 10 years. All patient subgroups benefited from RT.