Although hypofractionated radiotherapy has been standardised in early breast cancer, even in post-mastectomy no such consensus has been developed for locally advanced breast cancer (LABC), probably due to complex planning and field matching. This study is directed towards dosimetric evaluation and comparison of toxicity, response and disease-free survival (DFS) comparison between hypofractionation and conventional radiotherapy in post-mastectomy LABC.

In total, 222 female breast cancer patients were randomly assigned to be treated with either hypofractionated radiotherapy (n = 120) delivering 40 Gy in 15 fractions over 3 weeks or conventional radiotherapy (n = 102) with 50 Gy in 25 fractions over 5 weeks after modified radical mastectomy (MRM) along with neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant chemotherapy. All patients were planned with treatment planning software and assessed regularly during and after treatment.

Median follow-up period was 178 weeks in conventional arm (CRA) and 182 weeks in hypofractionation arm (HFA). There exists a dosimetric difference between the two arms of treatment, in spite of similar dose coverage [planning treatment volume (PTV) D90 92·04% in CRA versus 92·5% in HFA; p = 0·49], average dose in HFA is less than that of CRA (p < 0·001); so is the maximum clinical target volume (CTV) dose (p < 0·001). Similarly, average lung dose in HFA arm is significantly lower than CRA (9·9 versus 10·84; p = 0·06), but the V20Gy of lung and V30Gy of heart had no difference. The toxicity of radiation was comparable with similar mean time to produce toxicity [CRA: 7 W, HFA: 10 W; hazard ratio 0·64, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0·28–1·45]. Three-year recurrence event was alike in two arms (CRA: 4·9%, HFA: 5·8%; p = 0·76). Mean DFS in CRA is 230 weeks and that of HFA is 235 weeks with hazard ratio 1·01 (95% CI = 0·32–3·19; p = 0·987).

Though biologically effective dose (BED) in hypofractionation is lesser than that of conventional fractionation, there are indistinguishable toxicity, locoregional recurrence, distant failure rate and DFS between the two modalities.

In Pakistan, oral cancer ranks as the most common malignancy in males and the second most common malignancy in females. Cyclooxygenase-2 has been explored as an agent of carcinogenesis in oral and other neoplasms. This study aimed to observe the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 in oral squamous cell carcinoma, and to correlate the expression with patients’ clinical features and overall and disease-free survival.

Immunohistochemistry for cyclooxygenase-2 was performed on a total of 100 oral squamous cell carcinoma formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded blocks. Expression was correlated with patients’ clinicopathological variables and overall and disease-free survival.

Cyclooxygenase-2 was overexpressed in 55 per cent of oral squamous cell carcinoma patients. Overexpression was correlated with overall survival (p = 0.013) and disease-free survival (p = 0.001) on univariate analysis. However, on multivariate analysis, cyclooxygenase-2 was associated with only disease-free survival (p = 0.044) and not overall survival (p = 0.208).

Expression of cyclooxygenase-2 is associated with poorer overall survival and higher rates of recurrence in oral squamous cell carcinoma patients.

To determine the locoregional control and survival rates (in terms of risk factors) of patients who underwent surgical resection of early-stage lip cancer and for whom a ‘wait and see’ policy in terms of neck status had been implemented.

The sociodemographic data, tumour stage, tumour characteristics and histopathological features of 41 patients with early-stage lip cancer were evaluated. Factors predictive of survival and locoregional recurrence were analysed. The five-year overall survival and disease-free survival rates were determined, and the prognostic risk factors were compared.

The mean follow-up period was 60.5 months (range, 4–92 months). Age, sex, tumour stage, tumour thickness and volume, and perineural involvement were not predictive of locoregional recurrence or survival. Pathological tumour stage (T1vs T2) was a prognostic factor for both five-year overall survival (87.3 vs 65.6 per cent, p = 0.042) and disease-free survival (88.6 vs 65.6 per cent, p = 0.037).

Tumour stage was clearly a major factor affecting the prognosis of surgically treated patients with early-stage lip cancer for whom a ‘wait and see’ policy in terms of neck status had been implemented.

This study assessed the relationship between vascular endothelial growth factor expression and the laryngeal cancer prognosis.

Systematic computerised searches of PubMed were performed up to 31 January 2015. Prognostic endpoints were overall survival and disease-free survival. The pooled hazard ratios for overall survival and disease-free survival were also calculated.

Seven studies containing 975 patients were included. The pooled hazard ratio was 1.703 (95 per cent confidence interval, 1.373 to 2.112; z score = 4.85, p = 0.000) for overall survival and was 1.918 (95 per cent confidence interval, 1.410 to 2.609; z score = 4.15, p = 0.000) for disease-free survival. No significant publication bias was found. A sensitivity analysis showed that the results were robust. Power analyses also showed there was enough power to detect the calculated hazard ratios.

The study found that vascular endothelial growth factor overexpression predicted a worse prognosis for laryngeal cancer patients. This supports a strategy of targeted therapy by blocking the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor.

Serum thyroglobulin is used as a surrogate marker for well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma recurrence. This study investigates whether thyroglobulin measured at the time of ablative radioactive iodine therapy predicts disease-free survival.

A retrospective review was conducted of patients with well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma presenting from 1989 to 2010 at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, New South Wales, Australia. Disease-free survival of patients with a significantly elevated stimulated thyroglobulin level (27.5 µg/l or higher) at the time of ablative radioactive iodine therapy was compared to that of patients without a significantly elevated thyroglobulin level using univariate analysis.

Patients with a thyroglobulin level of 27.5 µg/l or higher had an increased relative risk of disease recurrence of 4.50 (95 per cent confidence interval = 1.35–15.04). If lateral neck dissection was required at the time of surgery, patients also had an increased relative risk of macroscopic disease recurrence of 4.94 (95 per cent confidence interval = 1.47–16.55).

An elevated thyroglobulin level of 27.5 µg/l or higher at the time of ablative radioactive iodine therapy is a prognostic indicator for macroscopic disease recurrence in well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

There is no consensus on how long the initiation of radiotherapy (RT) can be delayed after surgery without a negative impact on survival.

We conducted a retrospective study of 278 patients with stage 0–II breast cancer, all of whom were treated with surgery and RT, with those at stages I–II also receiving chemotherapy. Patients were followed-up for 5 years after diagnosis to assess disease-free and overall survival.The independent variable was the delay in the initiation of RT, assessed by two criteria: time since the last treatment, considered acceptable if ≤6 weeks, and time since surgery, considered acceptable if ≤7 months, these cut-offs being used to categorise patients into two groups according to the length of delay.

No statistically significant differences were observed in the probability of disease-free survival (p=0·412) or overall survival (p=0·890). The appearance of recurrence was 5–59 months, with an average of 38·50 (14·31).

Delaying the initiation of RT for more than 6 weeks after last treatment does not seem to have a negative impact on disease-free or overall survival.