Radiotherapy for benign diseases in Turkey: a patterns of care survey of the Turkish Society for Radiation Oncology (TROD 05-002).

PURPOSE: We aimed to investigate the patterns of radiotherapy (RT) care in cases of benign diseases in Turkey. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was sent to all radiation oncology (RO) departments in Turkey. The number of patients treated for benign disease between 2015 and 2020 was requested. A list of benign conditions was given, and information on the number of patients per disease, single and total doses prescribed, weekly fractions, radiation type, energy, and device was requested. RESULTS: Of the 138 RO departments, 29 (21%) responded. The data received concerned 15 (52%) university, 10 (34%) public, and four (14%) private hospitals. A total of 130,846 patients were treated with RT in these departments. Of these patients, 6346 (4.85%) were treated for benign conditions. The most common benign diseases treated with RT were meningioma (35%), plantar fasciitis (19%), schwannoma (16%), arteriovenous malformation (11%), and pituitary adenoma (7%). Most centers performed RT for paraganglioma, heterotopic ossification, vertebral hemangioma, and Graves' ophthalmopathy, but none treated arthrosis. Wide variations were observed across the departments. Radiosurgery for intracranial pathologies was performed intensively in four centers. By contrast, RT for plantar fasciitis was predominantly treated in five centers, one of which had more than 1000 patients. CONCLUSION: The ratio of patients who underwent RT for benign diseases in Turkey among all patients who underwent RT was 4.85%. The common pattern of RT in 72% of patients was radiosurgery for intracranial benign diseases, followed by low-dose RT for plantar fasciitis in 19%.

Discriminant Efficacy of mpMRI for Variant Pathology Associated with Prostate Adenocarcinoma.

Purpose - Implementation of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI)  for prostate adenocarcinoma's variant pathology requires awareness. The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate the discriminant efficacy of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging modality for variant pathology associated with prostate adenocarcinoma. Methods - Consecutive 247 prostate cancer patients who underwent radical prostatectomy in our university-based hospital between October 2014 and October 2019, were retrospectively reviewed. Data of mpMRI-associated contrast enhancements, T2 signals, apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC), ages and PSA values were compared. Clinical and demographic data of patients were noted including associated variant pathologies and reports of preoperative mpMRI images. Results - Among the patients, 63 (26%) had variant pathology and 14 (22%) had mpMRI before primary prostate biopsy. The group with variant pathology and the control group had similar perfusion curves and increased contrast when compared for mpMRI parameters, but different ADC values for each of the adjusted b-values for 400, 800 and 1400. Conclusion - Our study demonstrates that mpMRI appears to have no role in distinguishing rare variant pathologies associated with prostate adenocarcinoma despite different ADC values.

Oncological outcomes for encapsulated papillary carcinoma of the breast: Multicentric study of Turkish Society for Radiation Oncology breast cancer study group (TROD 06-014 study).

BACKGROUND: Encapsulated papillary carcinoma (EPC) is a rare malignant papillary breast cancer accounting for approximately .5%-2% of all breast tumors. The aim of this multicenter study was to evaluate clinicopathologic features of EPC in addition to oncological outcomes and radiotherapy (RT) details. METHODS: From 10 different academic hospitals in Turkey, we obtained pathology reports of 80 patients with histologically confirmed EPC between 2005 and 2022. Demographic, diagnostic, and treatment data were collected from medical records, retrospectively. Local failure, distant progression, toxicity-adverse effects, overall survival (OS), and disease-free survival were evaluated, and survival analyzes were performed using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: Eighty patients with the diagnosis of misspelled sorry (ECP) were retrospectively evaluated. The median age of the patients was 63 (range, 35-85). After a median follow-up of 48 (range; 6-206) months, local recurrence was observed in three patients (4%). Local recurrence was less common in the patients who received whole breast RT with a tumour bed boost (p = .025). There were not any distant metastasis or disease-related death. RT was applied to 61% of the cases, and no treatment-related grade 3 or higher toxicity was reported in any of the patients. Five year OS, cancer-specific survival (CSS), and  were observed as 85%, 100%, and 96%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: ECP is a rare, slow-progressing breast carcinoma associated with good prognosis, it is a disease of elderly patient, and usually occurs in postmenopausal women. It responds extremely well to optimal local treatments and appropriate adjuvant treatments on a patient basis, and has excellent OS and CSS ratios.

Removal of naproxen from wastewater using chitosan-aerogel-activated carbon biocomposites: Theory, equilibrium, kinetics, thermodynamics, and process optimization.

This study investigated the performance of chitosan-aerogel-activated carbon (CHT:AEO:AC) biocomposite as an adsorbent for the removal of naproxen from wastewater. Naproxen removal in % was 99, 33, 62, and 90 using 300 mg of raw AC, raw CHT, CHT:AEO, and CHT:AEO:AC, respectively. Langmuir, Freundlich, Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R), and Temkin isotherm models were used to obtain adsorption isotherms. Chi-squared (χ2 ) and correlation coefficients (R2 ) values showed that the parameters of the Freundlich, Temkin, and D-R models were more suitable for naproxen adsorption than the Langmuir model for raw CHT, CHT:AEO, and CHT:AEO:AC, whereas the Langmuir model fitted well for raw AC. The adsorption of naproxen onto biocomposites was defined by pseudo-second-order kinetic model, and adsorption rate constants were 0.245, 0.036, 0.075, and 0.147 mg g-1  min-1 for raw AC, raw CHT, CHT:AEO, and CHT:AEO:AC, respectively. The impact of optimum process conditions on naproxen adsorption was explored using response surface methodology. The optimum independent variables were 288.94 mg, 29.64°C, and 372.5 min, leading to a rate of naproxen removal onto CHT:AEO:AC of 90.29%. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Naproxen adsorption from wastewater using chitosan-aerogel-activated carbon biocomposite (CHT:AEO:AC) was investigated. The effects of the amount of biocomposite, temperature, and time on the adsorption were investigated. Optimization of the process conditions was carried out using the response surface methodology.