Faculty Bibliography

Brain tumors are the second most common malignancy of childhood after acute lymphocytic leukemia. Improvements in therapy have led to increased survival. It is estimated that by the year 2000 there will be approximately 200,000 survivors of childhood cancer. A proportion of these will have survived a central nervous system malignancy. As more children survive, complications of treatment are increasingly recognized. This paper reviews the spectrum of radiation-induced complications, both short- and long-term. Their frequency and characteristics will be reviewed as well as suggestions made to decrease their incidence

The ability of surgery or bromocriptine to produce endocrine control of a prolactin macroadenoma decreases as the prolactin level increases. Guidelines for the use of multimodality therapy have not been developed for tumors associated with markedly elevated prolactin levels. We reviewed the records of 21 patients with prolactin levels greater than 200 ng/ml treated by transsphenoidal surgery and postoperative radiotherapy with or without a dopamine agonist. Values before and after treatment were available for 19 patients (13 men and 6 women). The mean basal prolactin level before treatment for the entire group was 2410 ng/ml. Surgery and radiotherapy resulted in a 90% reduction and serum prolactin levels within normal limits in 0 of 7 patients, versus the combination of surgery, radiotherapy, and dopamine agonist, which resulted in a 99.5% reduction and values within the normal range in 12 of 12 patients. Spontaneous physiological improvement was not often observed. One woman and two men were able subsequently to have children. A plan for these patients is discussed.

The optimal treatment of prostatic carcinoma limited to the gland remains controversial. Treatment has included implantation of Iodine-125 seeds via both a suprapubic approach and, more recently, a transperineal technique utilizing ultrasound guidance. We recently have noted a heretofore unreported complication with this latter technique, namely, embolization of seeds to the lungs. Review of the chest x-ray films of 31 patients who underwent suprapubic implants showed no evidence of this phenomenon. One of 5 patients undergoing transperineal implant was found to have seeds lodged in the lung. Complications surrounding the various treatments of localized prostate carcinoma are reviewed

Keratoacanthomas infrequently are treated by radiotherapy. However, keratoacanthomas that are recurrent after surgical excision or whose resection would result in cosmetic deformity may benefit from radiotherapy. Between January 1970 and June 1988, 29 such keratoacanthomas in 18 patients were irradiated. Doses ranged from 3500 cGy in 15 fractions to 5600 cGy in 28 fractions. Measured end points of therapy were (1) initial response, (2) freedom from recurrence, and (3) quality of the subsequent cosmetic appearance (scored as good, fair, or poor). No lesion progressed and all eventually regressed completely. Cosmetic results generally were considered good by both the patient and the referring dermatologist; none of the results was considered poor. Our results demonstrate that radiation is an effective means of treating keratoacanthomas