Complementary and alternative medicine in present day oncology care: promises and pitfalls.

Cancer is already a well-recognized global phenomenon. The traditional approaches to cancer therapy have been surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. These modalities have shown considerable promise and presently form cornerstones of management of most malignancies. However, these conventional approaches have associated toxicities and suffer from limitations in curing advanced lesions. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), for reasons varying from cost to accessibility, has assumed significant importance in cancer therapy. In this article, we review the prominent modalities in CAM in present day cancer management and critically analyze their emerging potential into an evidence-based oncology practice.

Outcomes of patients with unresected stage III and stage IV non-small cell lung cancer: A single institution experience.

INTRODUCTION: To report on the demographic profile and survival outcomes of North Indian population affected with stage III and stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: From November 2008 to January 2012, 138 consecutively diagnosed NSCLC patients were included in this study. The patient, tumor and treatment related factors were analyzed. Median overall survival (OS), Kaplan-Meier survival plots, t-test, Cox proportional hazards models were generated by multivariate analysis [MVA]) and analyzed on SPSS software (version 19.0; SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL). RESULTS: Median OS of stage III patients was 9.26 ± 1.85 months and 2-year survival rate of 13% while stage IV patients had median OS of 5 ± 1.5 months with a 2-year survival rate of 8%. Cox regression modeling for MVA demonstrated higher biologically equivalent dose (BED) (P = 0.01) in stage III while in stage IV non-squamous histology (P = 0.01), administration of chemotherapy (P = 0.02), partial responders to chemotherapy (P = 0.001), higher BED (P = 0.02), and those with skeletal metastasis alone (P = 0.17) showed a better OS. CONCLUSION: Our data showed that a higher BED is associated with favorable outcomes, indicating a role of dose escalated radiation therapy to the primary lesion in both stage III and essentially in stage IV NSCLC. Additionally, optimal use of chemotherapy relates to better survival. The developing, resource restrained nations need to follow an economically feasible multimodality approach.

Additional rectal and sigmoid mucosal points and doses in high dose rate intracavitary brachytherapy for carcinoma cervix: a dosimetric study.

BACKGROUND: Late rectal and sigmoid toxicities seen in cervical cancer patients are attributed to brachytherapy despite rectal doses within tolerance limits. The purpose of this study was to identify additional dosimetric points which may better forecast rectal complications. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifteen high dose rate intracavitary brachytherapy (ICA-HDR) applications with conventional X-ray and computed tomography (CT) based planning were studied. In addition to International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurement (ICRU) rectal and bladder points, proximal and distal rectal and sigmoid points were digitized on CT scans and dose volume histograms' (DVHs') parameters were computed and correlated. RESULTS: The mean ICRU, additional distal, proximal and sigmoid point doses were 486 ± 152 cGy, 527 ± 156 cGy, 401 ± 149 cGy and 838 ± 254 cGy, respectively, for a prescription of 700 cGy to point A. The mean sigmoid point dose was significantly higher than the ICRU rectal point doses (P=0.001). The high-dose sigmoid points were situated at a mean -8 mm (range -22.95 to 10.43 mm) lateral, 10 mm posterior (range -15.87 to 27.82 mm) and 31 mm (range 8.08-62.91 mm) cranial to the intracavitary applicator flange of central tandem. CONCLUSIONS: Our dosimetric study suggests that sigmoid points and 0.1 cm 3 receive significantly higher doses than rectal points during ICA-HDR in carcinoma of the uterine cervix. No definite conclusion on reproducible spatial distribution on orthogonal X-rays could be achieved. To document and reduce sigmoid doses, some form of 3D image-based planning is necessary.