We compare different dosimetric parameters in cervical cancer patients receiving concurrent chemotherapy and three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) or intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and explore the incidence of hematological toxicity (HT) in these patients. Twenty patients receiving 3DCRT or IMRT and 4 weekly doses of cisplatin (25 mg/m/w) were studied. The volumes of bone marrow receiving 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 Gy or greater (V10, V20, V30, V40, and V50, respectively) were calculated. The HT was graded according to the guidelines of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group system. The associations between dosimetric parameters and HT and chemotherapy delivery were analyzed. The bone marrows V30, V40, and V50 were lower in the IMRT group than in the 3DCRT group (62.93% vs 76.91%, 31.36% vs 39.60%, and 9.79% vs 15.44%, respectively). No statistical difference was observed for both V10 and V20. Acute hematologic toxicity occurred in both groups but was more frequent in the 3DCRT group. The percentage of patients with grade 2 and worse leukopenia and neutropenia was 90% and 80% in the 3DCRT group, whereas it was 80% and 40% in the IMRT group. The median nadir of white blood cells and the absolute neutrophil count were significantly lower in the 3DCRT group than in the IMRT group (1.96 × 10(9) vs 2.72 × 10(9) and 1.09 × 10(9) vs 1.86 × 10(9), respectively). The IMRT reduced the volume of bone marrow irradiated at the higher doses and the incidence and severity of acute hematologic toxicity in cervical cancer patients undergoing concurrent chemoradiotherapy.

The goal of this study was to compare treatment outcomes for Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IIB cervical carcinoma patients receiving radical surgery followed by adjuvant postoperative radiotherapy versus radical radiotherapy.

Radiation-induced acute intestinal symptoms (RIAISs) are a common complication of radiotherapy for cervical cancer. The aim of this study was to use (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)H NMR) combined with chemometric analysis to develop a metabolic profile of patients with RIAISs. Fecal samples were collected from 66 patients with cervical cancer before and after pelvic radiotherapy. After radiotherapy, RIAISs occurred in eleven patients. We selected another 11 patients from participants without RIAISs whose age, stage, histological type and treatment methods are matched with RIAIS patients as the control group. (1)H NMR spectroscopy combined with multivariate pattern recognition analysis was used to generate metabolic profile data, as well as to establish a RIAIS-specific metabolic phenotype. Orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis was used to distinguish samples between the pre- and post-radiotherapy RIAIS patients and between RIAIS patients and controls. Fecal samples from RIAIS patients after pelvic radiotherapy were characterized by increased concentrations of α-ketobutyrate, valine, uracil, tyrosine, trimethylamine N-oxide, phenylalanine, lysine, isoleucine, glutamine, creatinine, creatine, bile acids, aminohippurate, and alanine, accompanied by reduced concentrations of α-glucose, n-butyrate, methylamine, and ethanol relative to samples from RIAIS patients before pelvic radiotherapy, while in RIAIS patients relative to controls, trimethylamine, n-butyrate, fumarate and acetate were down-regulated and valine, TMAO, taurine, phenylalanine, lactate, isoleucine and creatinine were up-regulated. We obtained the metabolic profile of RIAIS patients from fecal samples using NMR-based metabonomics. This profile has the potential to be developed into a novel clinical tool for RIAIS diagnosis or therapeutic monitoring, and could contribute to an improved understanding of the disease mechanism. However, because of the limitations of methods, technique, bacterial contamination of feces and small sample size, further research and verification are needed.

A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Clinical Outcomes and Toxicity of Lobaplatin- Versus Cisplatin-Based Concurrent Chemotherapy Plus Radiotherapy and High-Dose-Rate Brachytherapy for FIGO Stage II and III Cervical Cancer FIGO stage II and III cervical cancer;RCT;lobaplatin;cisplatin;chemoradiotherapy; Background: We designed this randomized controlled trial (RCT) to assess whether lobaplatin-based concurrent chemotherapy might be superior to cisplatin-based concurrent chemotherapy for FIGO stage II and III cervical cancer in terms of efficacy and safety. Materials and Methods: This prospective, open-label RCT aims to enroll 180 patients with FIGO stage II and III cervical cancer, randomly allocated to one of the three treatment groups (cisplatin $15mg/m^2$, cisplatin $20mg/m^2$ and lobaplatin $35mg/m^2$), with 60 patients in each group. All patients will receive external beam irradiation (EBRT) and high-dose-rate intracavitary brachytherapy (HDR-ICBT). Patients in cisplatin $15mg/m^2$ and $20mg/m^2$ groups will be administered four cycles of $15mg/m^2$ or $20mg/m^2$ cisplatin intravenously once weekly from the second week to the fifth week during EBRT, while patients inthe lobaplatin $35mg/m^2$ group will be administered two cycles of $35mg/m^2$ lobaplatin intravenously in the second and fifth week respectively during pelvic EBRT. All participants will be followed up for at least 12 months. Complete remission rate and progression-free survival (PFS) will be the primary endpoints. Overall survival (OS), incidence of adverse events (AEs), and quality of life will be the secondary endpoints. Results: Between March 2013 and March 2014, a total of 61 patients with FIGO stage II and III cervical cancer were randomly assigned to cisplatin $15mg/m^2$ group (n=21), cisplatin $20mg/m^2$ group (n=21) and lobaplatin $35mg/m^2$ group (n=19). We conducted a preliminary analysis of the results. Similar rates of complete remission and grades 3-4 gastrointestinal reactions were observed for the three treatment groups (P=0.801 and 0.793, respectively). Grade 3-4 hematologic toxicity was more frequent in the lobaplatin group than the cisplatin group. Conclusions: This proposed study will be the first RCT to evaluate whether lobaplatin-based chemoraiotherapy will have beneficial effects, compared with cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy, on complete remission rate, PFS, OS, AEs and quality of life for FIGO stage II and III cervical cancer.

The lymphatic system is a major route for cancer cell dissemination and also a potential target for antitumor therapy. To investigate whether increased lymphatic vessel density (LVD) is a prognostic factor for nodal metastasis and survival, we studied peritumoral LVD (P-LVD) and intratumoral LVD (I-LVD) in samples from 102 patients with endometrial carcinoma;