Radiation Oncology

Hematologic Malignancies   

Questions discussed in this category


There seems to be a wide variety of palliative doses used in clinical practice (8 Gy x1, 2 Gy x2, and 20 Gy in 10 fx). Do you have a preferred dose? D...

For example, a large iliac or sacral plasmacytoma causing symptoms. Both medical oncologists and radiation oncologists get nervous about RT-related cy...

Per the NCCN guideline for HR HD, if treated per OEPA-COPDAC, you can omit ISRT. This patient received treatment per AHOD1331, which recommends ISRT f...

Would you change your radiation therapy treatment dose or volume if you needed to treat a chloroma? If a patient had a separate cancer (e.g., skin can...

The patient has a history of a lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma with a CR after chemotherapy but presented with a large frontal lobe mass that was biopsied ...

For example, would you offer 4 Gy x 5 fx (vs 24 Gy/12 fx) in a patient with isolated recurrent follicular lymphoma of the breast after RCHOP and maint...

Would you offer palliative (4 Gy) radiation therapy to the stomach mass vs. definitive doses (24 - 30 Gy) encompassing all of the disease? 

If a patient had a high dose of radiation to the spleen (10 Gy over 5 fractions) over a year ago but with increasing splenomegaly now, would you consi...

Given pelvic RT is likely to induce ovarian dysfunction/menopause, would you consider systemic options?

There was a recall on viscous lidocaine and many of our patients cannot find it. What would you recommend as alternatives?

What field design and dosing is most appropriate? Would you use ISRT or a more extended field? 

Would you consider observation following surgical resection with negative margins? Would you recommend WBRT and/or ISRT? What would be your preferred ...

Would you follow an algorithm such as the one proposed by Hall et al., PMID 29940062?How do you decide between intrathecal chemotherapy vs systemic th...

How do you counsel patients and caregivers? Do you prescribe medications (''appetite stimulants'') with the goal to improve appetite even if they do n...

Initial tumor size:18 cm. Partial response was achieved after cycle 2 and cycle 6 of chemotherapy. Complete response (Deauville 2, size: 6 cm) was ach...

Would your management be different in node + vs. node - patients? What would be your radiation volume and dose?

Are you concerned about cases where radiation has to be started urgently before leukapheresis?

If the mesentery is widely involved with small lesions would this change your management? What if the patient was symptomatic? 

What influences your decision to proceed with palliative vs. definitive, and standard vs. hypofractionation dosing regimens?

How many cycles of systemic therapy is recommended? is XRT needed and what XRT dose is recommended?

What XRT dose do you use? Does the location of the disease (e.g., mediastinum) affect your decision when taking toxicity into account? would you offer...

Please specify how your institution is allocating resources now or will be soon.

This is an adult patient that is status-post orchiectomy and R-CHOP now requiring prophylactic contralateral testicular radiation. Would you recommend...

Good performance score, 7 cm in size, CSF cytology is negative, MRI complete spine is negative. Would you consider any additional systemic therapy mod...

Elderly patient with large fungating necrotic breast mass positive for high grade BCL and a solitary hypermetabolic ipsilateral axillary node. Medical...

This is a recently described entity with poor prognosis, so even with a CR after RCHOPx6 cycles, is your bias to push for ISRT due to EBV being poor p...

When would you treat the entire orbit versus partial orbit? One patient has medial rectus involvement and another has only conjunctival involvement. I...

Are there particular indications you use for RT? i.e. multiply recurrent, refractory to other therapies, near critical structures, unresectable (or re...

iPET2 and iPET4 showed Deauville 5 response. CT biopsy after 4 cycles was negative. Patient is currently scheduled for 2 additional cycles of ABVD.

Would you treat as bulky or non-bulky? Is ISRT indicated? Biopsy was performed because there was concern for soft tissue sarcoma. 

My experience has been that patients can be neurologically devastated years out from WBRT. In Medical Oncology practice at my institution, we do not r...

Do you use a cutoff of 10 cm? Do you measure the size of the largest node or measure the largest conglomerate or measure the total length of the entir...

Would 5000 cGy ISRT be appropriate?  Would you include the entire maxilla to 3000 cGy and cone down or just treat the post incisional biopsy site...

If the plasmacytoma was originally limited to the femoral neck, is it necessary to cover the entire femur out of concern for marrow space involvement?

In situations when we are waiting for insurance clearance or due to other logistical reasons. 

Plasmacytoma of 6th rib s/p resection. Negative multiple myeloma work-up.

If the patient cannot tolerate methotrexate or further chemotherapy, how effective is radiation therapy (e.g. WBRT) in rendering the patient disease-f...

NCCN only recommends palliative ISRT for non-transplant eligible patients with refractory/relapsed DLBCL

Would you move straight to second-line systemic therapy or first attempt consolidative ISRT/boost, or employ both? Assume node is biopsy-proven. 

If the patient has received RCHOPx3 and the post treatment PET is negative, what would your management be?

Would your recommendation change based on grade and/or location (weight-bearing vs non weight-bearing bone)? 

Would your recommendations change if the mass were significantly smaller, say 1-2 cm, and was completely excised with negative margins?  

Should systemic therapy or ISRT be utilized?   Is there a risk for intrabdominal spread with perforation? If the ulcer is repaired by simple...

Would you consider ISRT after 3 cycles of RCHOP, omit radiation and proceed to surgery after 6 cycles of RCHOP, or do something else?

Specifically, would you consolidate initially bulky sites or allow patient to proceed to next line systemic therapy / transplant? 

The patient was started immediately on chemotherapy due to gastric bleed and scrotal irradiation is planned.

The patient in question has Stage IIIA DLBCL with a CR after 6 cycles R-CHOP. When would you treat the involved tonsil?

PET/CT negative for any other sites of metastatic disease. Focal activity noted on PET (postop changes?). CSF negative. Bone marrow biopsy negative. 2...

Does your recommendation change based on whether the patient has one or multiple lesions? 

Would you offer refractory doses (40-50 Gy) to the RPnodes and send for splenectomy? Or would you offer refractory doses to both RP nodes and spleen?&...

Specifically, are there strategies you use to 1) empower patients to participate in decision-making and 2) reassure patients who may be skeptical?

Do you use specific tools or take into account certain factors when considering treatment options for older adults?

For example, in a patient treated with multiple systemic therapies over ~10 years, would it be reasonable to use radiation to a single asymptomatic si...

If so, what is your time threshold for when you'll start PCP prophylaxis--when you anticipate steroid courses greater than 1 week? 1 month? 3 months?&...

In this scenario, is systemic treatment better given bilateral involvement? In a patient who has already had cataract surgery and is not at risk for c...

 Does your dose recommendation change if a patient has cord compression or has undergone surgery? There is a range of doses in the ILROG guidelin...

At what point would you recommend transfusion? At what point would you stop radiation?

The patient received R-EPOCH followed by consolidative RT (36 Gy in 18 fractions) approximately one year ago and was subsequently salvaged with RICE.

At what age would you treat an early stage hodgkins lymphoma patient with ABVD + RT (adult treatment) vs OEPA x 2 or AV-PC x 3 (pediatric paradigm)?&n...

The unfavorable risk factors for stage I-II Classic Hodgkin's Lymphoma differ depending on the cooperative group (GHSG, EORTC, NCCN), which criteria d...

Guidelines indicate RCHOPx3 +RT as category I and RCHOP x 6 below that; long term f/u for SWOG 8736 showed similar PFS and OS. Do you have and approac...

For a stage IAE DLBCL (in this case, of the oral cavity) that was completely excised, s/p R-CHOP, is the ISRT target volume just the preop volume plus...

The patient is not a transplant candidate due to multiple co-morbidities. Some of the sites in question have had a complete response and other have ha...

Some specific questions: Would you recommend repeat biopsy to confirm residual disease? How would your recommendations vary if the patient had pre...

If the breast was previously radiated 15 years ago, would that change your decision?  If there was residual lymphoma on cytology of a chronic se...

Would you recommend RCHOP x 3-6 or RCHOP x 3 + ISRT?  If you end up doing ISRT, would your target be any different than the principles that guide...

Is your scoring based on SUV uptake vs the subjective interpretation of the radiologist? How do you go about reconciling Deauville scoring when there ...

Repeat EGD and additional biopsies of the stomach were all negative for MALT lymphoma and H. Pylori. A CT of the C/A/P was done showing no evidence of...

For example, would you go ahead with 20 Gy of ISRT if medical oncology has already treated a stage I-IIA patient with 2 cycles of ABVD meeting all oth...

If they are symptomatic do you relax that time interval? Do you ever consider partial brain radiation instead of whole brain to minimize neurotoxicity...

In a patient who absolutely cannot receive chemotherapy due to impaired performance status, what dose would you use for WBRT and what dose would you u...

Prior trials of systemic therapy including alkylating agents and rituximab have failed and the patient is medically inoperable with no history of Hepa...

The staging bone marrow biopsy was negative. The staging manual simply states "bone involvement is identified using appropriate imaging studies."...

Would you use a similar dose and fractionation as gastric MALT (30Gy in 1.5 Gy fractions)?

Do you generally always boost the scalp and/or soles even if those sites are not involved with disease?  

The patient had a bilateral orchiectomy (pathology demonstrated no invasion of the tunica) followed by R-CHOP x 6 and IT Mtx with a PET CR in a para-a...

The patient is a 75 yo immunocompetent man who has a history of inverted papilloma of the sinuses and presented with a new lesion in the right maxilla...

Would you use 10 Gy in 1 Gy per fraction as mentioned in a litterature review in Pubmed?

The patient does have significant weight loss, drenching night sweats, but no evidence of other involved sites on PET, thorough skin exam, and has nor...

In the case of an excised groin node with no residual disease and no chemotherapy in a young adult patient, how large should the fields be? Is it requ...

I have a patient with low volume disease of Castleman's disease with cervical lymphadenopathy and tonsillar hyperplasia that is suspicious but not bio...

If a patient has an increase in PET avidity between the PET/CT done after 2 cycles of ABVD and after completion of chemo, how would you proceed? Would...

Does your follow-up differ depending on the dose you used (e.g. boom boom vs. 24 Gy)?  Do you routinely image?  If so, do you use MRI or PET...

If the patient had a CR by PET/CT after 2 cycles of ABVD and received 6 cycles of ABVD would you recommended consolidating only the bulky disease and ...

What technique do you use (IMRT vs direct electrons w bolus)?  The ILROG paper on extranodal NHL says "For tumors confined to the conjunctiva or...

If a patient will receive a total of 4 cycles ABVD and has a CR by PET/CT after cycle 2, can RT be omitted to non-bulky sites to avoid toxicity?

PET/CT/bone marrow biopsy negative for evidence of distant disease. Following 4 cycles of combination chemotherapy with no evidence of progressive dis...

For example: would you treat the entire Waldeyer's ring?  For a stage II patient who also has cervical lymph node involvement on one side, do you...

We often see young women with favorable, early stage disease in the mediastinum who have had a complete response to chemotherapy. With current smaller...

Specifically, is there still a role for dd RCHOP followed by ICE, or do you recommend DA-R-EPOCH for all patients?

Would you include one vertebral body above and below the involved vertebral body? Is IMRT appropriate in order to reduce dose to small bowel? What oth...

If a patient had recently completed R-EPOCH x 6 cycles, would you change your dose for a low grade follicular lymphoma?

With the field moving more toward ISRT/ INRT, and conformal radiation, would you generate separate PTV for initial nodal involvements that are within ...

When nodal regions not amenable to biopsy but are enlarged without significant SUV uptake, should they be treated as involed and recieve RT?

After ABVE-PC X4 and Ifos/vinorelbine x 2 per AHOD 0831 (and is unable to have these sites biopsied), what dose would you treat to and what volume wou...

When radiation therapy is utilized, what should the radiation therapy treatment fields include and what imaging studies should be completed to assist ...

If so, should involved site radiation thearpy (ISRT) or involved field radiation therapy (IFRT) be used for the radiation therapy treatment fields? Wo...

When the disease (in this case, lymphoma) involves almost all of the entire muscle compartment of the distal lower extremity, what is a safe dose? I'm...

In drawing the lung blocks approximately 1 cm in from the chest wall, diaphragm and mediastinum, should the blocks stop underneath the clavicle o...

If a patient with stage I, low grade follicular lymphoma achieves a complete response after rituxan and treanda is there any role for consolidative ra...

Is it necessary to treat the whole orbit or is conformal treatment ok? 

After a nerve sparing parotidectomy, would you offer postoperative radiotherapy? If so, what volume and dose? Would it change your management if the p...

In a patient with Stage IE DLBCL, is your treatment volume postchemo ISRT or whole breast? Would you consolidate if a lumpectomy was performed prior t...

Hoskin et al (Lancet Oncology 2014) suggest 24Gy/12fx is more effect RT dose compared to 4Gy.

Is there a benefit to IMRT when we treat to relatively low doses (as compared to squamous cell cancers of the head and neck)?

Or is it more appropriate for certain sites/stages/histologies?

It seems that with the arms up, you get better lung blocking but with arms akimbo, you might have a lower dose to the humeral head. 


Papers discussed in this category


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