Astro Journals

Editor-in-Chief Dr. Sue Yom hosts Dr. Shankar Siva, Associate Professor and Radiation Oncologist from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Australia and the supervising author of "Cost-Effectiveness of Single- versus Multi-Fraction SABR for Pulmonary Oligometastases - The SAFRON II Trial"; Dr. David Sher, Professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the Red Journal's Methodology Section Editor who first-authored this month's OncoScan "The Cost-Effectiveness of Consolidative Radiation Therapy in Oligometastatic Disease: High-Value Proposition or Wishful Thinking?"; and Dr. Aisling Barry, Professor and Chair of Radiation Oncology at University College Cork and Cork University Hospital, Ireland, who first-authored "The Impact of Disease Progression on Health-Related Quality of Life Outcomes in Patients with Oligo-Metastatic Disease at 12-Months post Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy."

Editor-in-Chief, Robert Amdur, MD, reviews a paper published in the November/December 2022 issue of PRO that presents the latest guidelines on CTV definition with postoperative radiotherapy for bladder cancer: “International Consensus Guidelines for Adjuvant Radiation Therapy for Bladder Cancer After Radical Cystectomy: Update From an IBIS Workgroup.”

Editor-in-Chief, Robert Amdur, MD, explains the 2021 World Health Organization Classification of Adult Brain Gliomas and then comments on the guideline paper published in the September/October 2022 issue of PRO: “Radiation Therapy for IDH-Mutant Grade 2 and Grade 3 Diffuse Glioma: An ASTRO Clinical Practice Guideline.”

Deputy Editor Dr. Salma Jabbour, Vice Chair of Clinical Research and Faculty Development and Clinical Chief in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, hosts Dr. Matthias Guckenberger, Chairman and Professor of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University Hospital Zurich and University of Zurich, discussing a new article from his European team, "Completeness of reporting oligometastatic disease characteristics in the literature and influence on oligometastatic disease classification using the ESTRO/EORTC nomenclature," and Dr. David Palma, Clinician Scientist II at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Radiation Oncologist at the London Health Sciences Center, and Associate Professor at Western University, who was the supervising author on the 5-year update of the SABR-COMET trial, " Stereotactic Radiation for the Comprehensive Treatment of Oligometastases (SABR-COMET) – Extended Long-Term Outcomes."

Dr. Jeffrey Olsen, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Colorado and section editor of our gastrointestinal section, co-leads a discussion along with our Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief Dr. Sue Yom hosts Dr. Sara Alcorn, Associate Editor and Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Minnesota, who first-authored this month’s Oncology Scan, Toxicity and Timing of Breast Radiotherapy with Overlapping Systemic Therapies and Dr. Jennifer Bellon, Section Editor for breast cancers. Director of Breast Radiation Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and first author of a Red Journal paper from May 2022 called Local Therapy Outcomes and Toxicity From the ATEMPT Trial (TBCRC 033), a Phase II Randomized Trial of Adjuvant T-DM1 vs. TH in Women With Stage I HER2 Positive Breast Cancer, as well as Dr. Jeffrey Cao, Provincial Breast Tumour Team Lead for Alberta Health Services and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Calgary, wh

Editor-in-Chief, Robert Amdur, MD, reviews a Topic Discussion paper from the September/October issue of PRO, "Variation in Routine Use of a 60-63 Gy Intermediate Dose CTV with Primary Radiotherapy for Mucosal Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck." This paper summarizes major published guidelines on the use of an intermediate risk target volume and the current practice of four clinicians that specialize in head and neck radiotherapy.

Practical Radiation Oncology associate section editor Debra Nana Yeboa, MD, of MD Anderson Cancer Center, hosts a conversation on ASTRO clinical practice guideline on radiation therapy for IDH-Mutant Grade 2 and Grade 3 Diffuse Glioma. Two of the guideline authors, Lia M. Halasz, MD, of University of Washington and Helen A. Shih, MD, MS, MPH, of Massachusetts General Hospital discuss the development process of the guideline and the evidence for the recommendations.

Dr. Jeffrey Olsen, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Colorado and section editor of our gastrointestinal section, co-leads a discussion along with our Editor-in-Chief Dr. Sue Yom, with Dr. Nima Nabavizadeh, Associate Professor of Radiation Medicine at the Oregon Health and Science University, the supervising author of "Low Utilization of External Beam Radiation Therapy for Patients With Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma: An Analysis of the United Network for Organ Sharing Database" and Dr. Michael Buckstein, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at Mount Sinai Medical Center, also an editor at the Red Journal and the lead author of "Combination Transarterial Chemoembolization and Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Unresectable Single Large Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Results From a Prospective Phase 2 Trial." We discuss indications for EBRT/SBRT for hepatocellular carcinoma in the contemporary context of collaborating and competing liver-directed therapies.

Editor-in-Chief, Robert Amdur, MD, reviews two PRO papers that discuss the risk of serious esophageal damage from Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy to a vertebral body. One article is a Morbidity and Mortality Conference paper titled : “Esophageal Damage from Thoracic Spine SBRT” and the other is a Technical Report titled “Efficacy of an Esophageal Spacer for Spine Radiosurgery: First Experience”. Additional article: A Story of Hypofractionation and the Table on the Wall!

Our Editor-in-Chief Dr. Sue Yom hosts a discussion of reimbursement and the application of alternative payment models to radiation oncology. Guests are Dr. Brian Baumann, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology and Chief of the Genitourinary Service at Washington University in St. Louis, and Fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. James Yu, Professor and Executive Vice Chair of Radiation Oncology at Columbia University, who specializes in genitourinary and brain malignancies and is an expert in population-based data and comparative effectiveness research. We discuss three articles, "Association of the Oncology Care Model with Value-Based Changes in Use of Radiation Therapy", "Decreases in Radiation Oncology Medicare Reimbursement over Time: Analysis by Billing Code", led by Dr. Baumann, and "The RO-APM: The Wrong Solution to the Wrong Problem", written by Dr. Yu. We review the recent history of payment models for radiation oncology and what this n

Practical Radiation Oncology deputy editor James B. Yu, MD, Columbia University Irvine Center hosts a conversation on ASTRO clinical practice guideline on radiation therapy for Brain Metastases. Eric Chang MD of the Keck School of Medicine of USC and Veronica Chiang, MD, of Yale University School of Medicine discuss the recommendations in the four key areas: what are the indications for radiosurgery alone for brain metastases, what should be done before or after surgical resection of brain metastases, when and how should we do whole brain radiation, and what are the risks of radionecrosis. Two of the guideline authors, Jona A. Hattangadi‐Gluth, MD of the University of California, San Diego and Vinai Gondi, MD of Northwestern Medicine Cancer Center and Proton Center discuss the development process of the guideline and the evidence for the recommendations.

This month, Dr. Lucinda Morris, Consultant Radiation Oncologist at St George & The Sutherland Hospital in New South Wales, Australia and expert in geriatric cancer care, and our Education and Profession Section Editor Dr. Paris Ann Ingledew, Department Head at the British Columbia Cancer Agency in Vancouver, Canada and expert in educational frameworks and curricula, join our Editor-in-Chief Dr. Sue Yom, to review a new article in this month’s issue led by Dr. Morris, "An International Expert Delphi Consensus to Develop Dedicated Geriatric Radiation Oncology Curriculum Learning Outcomes". We discuss the increasing importance of geriatric expertise in the practice of radiation oncology and potential solutions to the knowledge and education deficits in this area.

Editor-in-Chief, Robert Amdur, MD, explains the group of six papers on radiopharmaceutical therapy published in the July/August issue of Practical Radiation Oncology. These papers summarize the information clinicians need to know to direct radiopharmaceutical therapy in their clinic. Two papers explain background information and four focus on patient selection and the details of administration when using Lutetium-177 DOTATATE for neuroendocrine cancer, and Lutetium-177 PSMA or Radium- 223 for prostate cancer.

The latest podcast by Sue Yom, MD, Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics addresses the status of hypofractionation in radiation therapy for locoregonally advanced lung cancer. Articles discussed include Hoppe et al.’s article "Chemoradiation with Hypofractionated Proton Therapy in Stage II-III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Proton Collaborative Group Phase 2 Trial", Contreras et al.’s article "Phase I Study of Accelerated Hypofractionated Proton Therapy and Chemotherapy for Locally Advanced Non Small Cell Lung Cancer", and Brownstein and Salama’s editorial, "Moderately Hypofractionated Proton Beam Therapy for Locally Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A New Way Forward for Dose Escalation?" which is available in the July 15, 2022 issue.

Editor-in-Chief, Robert Amdur, MD, summarizes two essays from the Narrative Oncology section of recent issues of Practical Radiation Oncology. “The First Human Heart Transplant and Radiation Therapy” is published in the Jan/February issue and “The Gold Ring” in the May/June issue.

July 1, 2022 RJ podcast: The Role of Radiation Therapy in Diffuse Large B-cell lymphoma. The latest podcast by Sue Yom, MD, Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics addresses the balance of local and systemic issues that condition the use of radiation therapy in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Articles discussed include Campbell et al.'s Oncology Scan entitled "Balancing the Therapeutic Ratio in DLBCL Requires Appropriate, Individualized Patient Selection Rather Than Broad Elimination of Radiation Therapy" and Ladbury et al.’s article "Role of Salvage Radiation Treatment of Relapses in Relapsed/Refractory Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Post-Autologous Stem Cell Transplant."

Editor-in-Chief, Robert Amdur, MD, reviews two papers that explain how to improve OAR sparing based on more demanding dosimetry goals. One article is published in the March/April issue of PRO titled “Clinical Use of A Priori Knowledge of OAR Sparing During Radiotherapy Treatment for Oropharyngeal Cancer: Dosimetric and Patient Reported Outcome Improvements”. The other article is In Press at PRO and titled “Stricter Postoperative Oropharyngeal Cancer Radiotherapy Normal Tissue Dose Constraints Are Feasible”.

June 1, 2022 RJ podcast: Three Chippy Topics in Prostate Cancer. In this month’s podcast, two Genitourinary section editors, Dr. Alison Tree, consultant clinical oncologist at The Royal Marsden and Honorary Faculty at the Institute of Cancer Research, and Dr. Daniel Spratt, Chairman and Professor of Radiation Oncology at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Case Western Reserve University, join Editor-in-Chief Dr. Sue Yom to review three articles addressing cutting-edge issues in prostate cancer. The group discusses the new oral gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonist relugolix ("An Expert Review on the Combination of Relugolix With Definitive Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer" at https://www.redjournal.org/article/S0360-3016(21)03240-5/fulltext), the future of MRI-based radiation dose escalation to the dominant intraprostatic lesion ("SABR for High-Risk Prostate Cancer - A Prospective Multilevel MRI-Based Dose Escalation Trial" at https://www.redjournal.org/article/S0360-3016(21)03047-9/full

May 1, 2022 RJ podcast: Leadership and Real World Practice in Lung Cancer and Head and Neck Cancer. The latest podcast by Sue Yom, MD, Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics addresses: the definition and importance of leadership, radiographic followup in stage I lung cancer, maintenance immunotherapy in stage III lung cancer, and decision making with T1a glottic cancer patients.

Editor-in-Chief, Robert Amdur, MD, reviews a paper from the March/April issue of PRO, "Is elective inguinal or external iliac irradiation during neoadjuvant (chemo)radiotherapy necessary for locally advanced lower rectal cancer with anal sphincter invasion?" This paper presents a nomogram to inform the decision about targeting the inguinal and external iliac nodes for elective dose radiotherapy in patients with rectal cancer that involves the anal canal. Other links: Radiation Therapy for Rectal Cancer: Executive Summary of an ASTRO Clinical Practice Guideline