ASTRO Journals

Editor-in-Chief, Robert Amdur, MD, discusses two papers published in PRO related to the question of using a vaginal dilator during radio-chemotherapy for carcinoma of the anus: "Daily Vaginal Dilator Use During Radiation for Women With Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Anus: Vaginal Wall Dosimetry and Patient-Reported Sexual Function” (2024, Volume 14, Issue 2, PMID 37898354) and “ECOG-ACRIN Guideline for Contouring and Treatment of Early Stage Anal Cancer Using IMRT/IGRT” (2022, Volume 12, Issue 4, PMID 35717050).

Editor-in-Chief Sue Yom hosts a British-American conversation about brachytherapy. Guests include Dr. Mahbuba Choudhury, Clinical Oncology Registrar and Stereotactic Radiotherapy Fellow at Imperial College London NHS Trust, and Dr. Imtiaz Ahmed, Consultant Clinical Oncologist and Clinical Lead at Southend University Hospital in the UK, first and supervising authors on this month’s paper, Timing of High-Dose Rate Brachytherapy with External Beam Radiotherapy in Intermediate and High-Risk Localized Prostate Cancer Patients and Its Effects on Toxicity and Quality of Life: A Randomized Controlled Trial, as well as Dr. Akila Viswanathan, Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Johns Hopkins University, supervising author of two papers publishing together this month, Updated Trends in the Utilization of Brachytherapy in Cervical Cancer in the U.S.: A Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End-Results Study and Updated Trends in Brachytherapy Utilization and Disparities in the United States from 2004 to 2020.

Editor-in-Chief, Robert Amdur, MD, discusses a paper from the March 2024 issue of PRO: “Dose-Volume Predictors of Radiation Pneumonitis After Thoracic Hypofractionated Radiation Therapy” (Volume 14 Issue 2, PMID 37984711). This paper suggests V5, V20, and Mean Lung Dose values to minimize grade ≥2 pneumonitis when treating lung cancer with the moderate hypofractionation programs of 60 or 72 Gy at 4 Gy per treatment. The values they propose are lower than those stated in consensus group guidelines.

Sue Yom, our Editor-in-Chief, co-hosts with Dr. Salma Jabbour, Deputy Editor at the Red Journal and Professor, Vice Chair of Clinical Research and Faculty Development, and Clinical Chief of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Rutgers University. Guests include Drs. Amar Kishan, Professor, Vice Chair of Clinical and Translational Research, and Chief of the Genitourinary Oncology Service, and Minsong Cao, Professor, Vice Chair of Academic Mission Development, and Director of the Medical Physics Residency Training Program, who were supervising authors on a new study published this month, Quantifying Intrafraction Motion and the Impact of Gating for Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Guided Stereotactic Radiation therapy for Prostate Cancer: Analysis of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Arm From the MIRAGE Phase 3 Randomized Trial. We also welcome Dr. Lauren Henke, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology and Director of Gastrointestinal Radiation Oncology at the University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University, who authored an editorial this month entitled Undoing the Layers: Magnetic Resonance Imaging/Advanced Image Guidance and Adaptive Radiation Therapy.

Editor-in-Chief, Robert Amdur, MD, discusses using molecular markers to make decisions about adjuvant radiotherapy for Endometrial Cancer. The main references for the podcast are the PROshot article in the January 2024 issue of PRO (2024, Issue 1, January/February) and a Topic Discussion paper currently published online ahead of print with title “Path to Precision: Refining Radiation Therapy Guidelines for Early-Stage Endometrial Cancer Through Incorporation of Primary Tumor Size, Lower Uterine Segment Invasion, and Molecular Markers” (PMID 38048989).

Editor-in-Chief Sue Yom hosts Dr. Lachlan McDowell, a consultant Radiation Oncologist at the Princess Alexandra Hospital and the first author of a new paper this month, "A longitudinal study evaluating sexual health outcomes and prioritization in patients undergoing chemoradiation for human papillomavirus-associated oropharyngeal cancer," Dr. Jie Deng, Professor of Nursing, Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, and Faculty Director of the Laboratory of Innovative & Translational Nursing Research at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Barbara Murphy, Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Oncology Division Director, and Director of the Pain and Symptom Management Oncology Services at Vanderbilt University. Drs. Deng and Murphy were the first and last authors on a second paper this month, Longitudinal Pattern of Lymphedema and Fibrosis in Patients with Oral Cavity or Oropharyngeal Cancer: A Prospective Study.

Editor-in-Chief Sue Yom co-hosts with Dr. Thomas Zilli, Associate Editor at the Red Journal and Professor and Director of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland. Dr. Zilli was co author on Prostate Bed Delineation Guidelines for Postoperative Radiation Therapy: On Behalf Of The Francophone Group of Urological Radiation Therapy, published in the April 2021 issue of the Red Journal. Guests include Dr. Alan Dal Pra, Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Research in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Miami, who first authored the ESTRO ACROP 2023 guideline and with colleagues at UCLA has worked on patterns of prostate bed recurrence on PSMA-PET in relation to the RTOG guidelines, as well as Dr. Floor Staal, PhD candidate at the University of Groningen, who is focused on the study of salvage radiotherapy treatment and is coordinator of the PSMA-PET Guided Hypofractionated Salvage Prostate Bed Radiotherapy (or PERYTON) trial. She first authored an article publishing this month, PSMA PET/CT based clinical target volume delineation guideline for postprostatectomy salvage radiation therapy: the PERYTON-Guideline.

Editor-in-Chief, Robert Amdur, MD, discusses the issues related to using a rectal spacer with prostate radiotherapy that is both radiopaque and viscous. The foundation of the discussion is a paper published in the 2024 January/February issue of PRO: “Application of a Radiopaque Viscous Hydrogel Spacer for Prostate Cancer Radiation Therapy: A Prospective Phase 2 Study” with PMID 37791943. A related paper “Barrigel Spacer Injection Technique” with PMID 37657504 was also published in the issue of PRO.

Editor-in-Chief Sue Yom co-hosts with Dr. Jose Bazan, Red Journal Associate Editor and Associate Professor and Director of Breast Radiation Oncology and Radiation Oncology Quality and Safety at City of Hope. Dr. Bazan first authored an editorial this month, Surgical De-Escalation in Breast Cancer: Qualitative Research Introduces Hope for Patients and Illuminates a Blind Spot within Blinded Studies. Guests include Dr. Alexander Stessin, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology and Pharmacology at Stony Brook University Medical Center and supervising author on the first article, Utility of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy in Establishing Local Control for Invasive Breast Cancer Patients Not Undergoing Definitive Surgery, as well as Dr. Simona Shaitelman, Professor of Radiation Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Dr. Henry Kuerer, the Robinson Endowed Distinguished Professor of Surgery and Cancer Research and Executive Director of the MD Anderson Cancer Network Breast programs. Drs. Shaitelman and Kuerer were supervising authors on another article this month, Patient Interest in Exploring Non-Surgical Treatment Approaches for Early Stage Breast Cancer: A Qualitative Study. The group also summarizes a new article from Practical Radiation Oncology, Locoregional Ablative Radiotherapy for Breast Cancer Patients Unsuitable for Surgical Resection.

Editor-in-Chief, Robert Amdur, MD, reviews the evidence for treating Low-Intermediate Risk prostate cancer with Ultra Hypofractionated SBRT. This discussion was stimulated by a paper published in the November/December 2023 issue of PRO titled “Long-Term Outcomes of a Prospective Study on Highly Hypofractionated Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy for Localized Prostate Cancer for 3 Weeks” with PMID 37414247. However, the majority of the podcast will focus on data supporting 5 Fraction SBRT, including the most recent report from the PACE-B trial (Abstract only from the 2023 ASTRO annual Meeting). Additional Article: Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy: A Radiosurgery Society Guide to the Treatment of Localized Prostate Cancer Illustrated by Challenging Cases

Practical Radiation Oncology associate section editor, Sandra Meyers, PhD of University of California, San Diego, hosts a conversation on online adaptive radiotherapy, or the use of imaging to adapt radiation treatments to the anatomy observed each day. Lauren Henke, MD of University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and Bin Cai, PhD of UT Southwestern Medical Center discuss their clinical experience with both cone-beam CT and MR-based online adaptive radiotherapy. Benefits and challenges of online adaptive compared to conventional radiotherapy are discussed, as well as strategies for success when implementing this technologically.

Sue Yom, Editor-in-Chief, co-hosts with Dr. Michelle Kim, Professor and Co-Chair of the Cancer Center's Neuro-Oncology Clinical Research Team at the University of Michigan, and our journal’s section lead for the CNS section. Our guests are Dr. Joshua Palmer, Associate Professor at Ohio State University and supervising author on the article, Dose/volume tolerance of the brain and predictors of radiation necrosis after three fraction radiosurgery for brain metastases: A large single-institutional analysis, and Dr. Arjun Sahgal, Chair and Professor at the Odette Cancer Centre of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and supervising author on the article, Systematic Review Informing The Management of Symptomatic Brain Radiation Necrosis after Stereotactic Radiosurgery and International Stereotactic Radiosurgery Society (ISRS) Recommendations.

Editor-in-Chief Sue Yom hosts Dr. Karin Lindberg, a Clinical Oncologist at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and the supervising author of a new paper this month, "Expanded HILUS trial - a pooled analysis of risk factors for toxicity from SBRT of central and ultra-central lung tumors," and Dr. David Palma, a Radiation Oncologist at the London Health Sciences Centre who co-authored the accompanying editorial, "Beyond the HILUS Trial: How Can We Improve the Safety of SABR for Ultra-Central Thoracic Tumors?" Dr. Palma also describes the design and findings of the new clinical trial SUNSET, which he presented in the Multidisciplinary Thoracic Cancer Symposium plenary session simultaneously with this podcast release.

Editor-in-Chief, Robert Amdur, MD, explains how radiation oncologists are using ChatGPT and other Large Language Model programs in clinical practice. The discussion is based on a paper published in the November/December 2023 issue of PRO titled "Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT, Artificial Intelligence, and Large Language Models: Practical Suggestions for Radiation Oncologists" (2023, Issue 6, November/December, PMID: 37598727).

Editor-in-Chief Sue Yom co-hosts with Dr. Jean Wright, Breast Section Editor and Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology and Director of the radiation oncology Breast Cancer Program at Johns Hopkins University. Joining is Dr. Juliane Hörner-Rieber, Managing Senior Physician and Associate Professor at the Department of Radiation Oncology of Heidelberg University Hospital, who was supervising author of an article published this month, "Non-inferiority of Local Control and Comparable Toxicity of Intensity-modulated Radiotherapy With Simultaneous Integrated Boost in Breast Cancer: 5-year Results of the IMRT-MC2 Phase III Trial." Also joining is is Dr. Danielle Rodin, Associate Section Editor, radiation oncologist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, who first-authored our Oncology Scan this month, "The Internal Mammary Node Irradiation Debate in Node-Positive Breast Cancer: Case Closed."

Practical Radiation Oncology associate editor Louis Potters, MD, of Northwell Health hosts a conversation on Treatment of Oligometastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: An ASTRO/ESTRO Clinical Practice Guideline. Two of the authors, Puneeth Iyengar MD, PhD of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Matthias Guckenberger MD of the University Hospital Zurich, along with patient advocate Jill Feldman discuss the framework for the treatment of oligo-mets of lung cancer.

Dr. Sue Yom hosts Dr. Charles "Chuck" Mayo, Professor and Director of Radiation Oncology Informatics and Analytics at the University of Michigan and first author of an article in this month's issue, Operational Ontology for Oncology (O3) – A Professional Society-Based, Multi-Stakeholder, Consensus-Driven Informatics Standard Supporting Clinical and Research Use of "Real-World" Data from Patients Treated for Cancer, and Dr. Ying Xiao, Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania and supervising author of this same article, who also issued an accompanying explanatory editorial. Our group discusses the status and potential of oncology data standardization and its practical implementation through O3.

Editor-in-Chief, Robert Amdur, MD, explains the main values used to evaluate conformality and dose gradient in treatment plans with high intensity hypofractionated dose schedules as are used in radiosurgery or stereotactic body radiotherapy. The basis for the discussion is a paper published in the September 2023 issue of PRO titled "Benchmarking Tests of Contemporary SRS Platforms: Have Technological Developments Resulted in Improved Treatment Plan Quality?" (2023, Issue 5, September/October, PMID: 37290672).

Editor-in-Chief Dr. Sue Yom hosts a discussion this month on audiovisual technology in the service of patients, along with Pediatrics/Sarcoma Section Editor Dr. Ralph Ermoian, Associate Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Joining the discussion are Dr. Susan Hiniker, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at Stanford University, who is the supervising author of an article in this month’s issue, Feasibility of the Audio-Visual Assisted Therapeutic Ambience in Radiotherapy (AVATAR) System for Anesthesia Avoidance in Pediatric Patients: A Multicenter Trial. We also welcome Dr. Jee Suk Chang, Assistant Professor at Yonsei University in Korea, currently on sabbatical at BC Cancer in Vancouver, who is (co) first author on an article in press that has just issued online, An Investigation of the Impact of Virtual Reality on Alleviating Anxiety in Patients with Breast Cancer Undergoing Radiotherapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Editor-in-Chief Dr. Sue Yom is joined this month by co-host Dr. Danielle Margalit, the Red Journal's Head and Neck Section Editor and Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School. Guests are Dr. Adam Garden, Professor of Radiation Oncology at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, who is the first author of an article in this month's issue, "Final Report of NRG Oncology RTOG 0022: A Phase 1/2 Study of Conformal and Intensity Modulated Radiation for Oropharyngeal Cancer"; Dr. Michelle Echevarria, Assistant Member in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center and first author of another article printing this month, "Phase 1 Dose Escalation of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy and Concurrent Cisplatin for Reirradiation of Unresectable, Recurrent Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck"; and Dr. Robert Chin, Associate Professor at UCLA Radiation Oncology and supervising author of a third article in the October issue, "High Recurrence for HPV-Positive Oropharyngeal Cancer With Neoadjuvant Radiation Therapy to Gross Disease Plus Immunotherapy: Analysis From a Prospective Phase Ib/II Clinical Trial."