ASTRO Prostate Cancer Studies: Prognostic Factors and Definition of Biochemical PSA FailureIn evaluating outcomes from EBRT or brachytherapy, patients with localized prostate cancer are classified as being at a low, intermediate or high-risk of recurrence.

Androgen Suppression for Prostate Cancer
Neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant androgen suppression has become a relatively routine approach for the treatment of men with localized prostate cancer who receive treatment with EBRT or brachytherapy and are considered to be at high or intermediate-risk for recurrence.

Brachytherapy for Localized Prostate Cancer
Interstitial brachytherapy is a widely used form of radiation therapy for localized prostate cancer. There have been no randomized trials to determine the relative effects of brachytherapy versus EBRT in comparable patients, and comparisons of toxicities and outcomes between the two treatments have been difficult to assess.

Effects of Increased Dose of External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT)
There is growing evidence that increasing the dose of EBRT may decrease the rates of biochemical PSA and clinical recurrence in men with early prostate cancer.

Management of Mucositis
The 45th Annual meeting of the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) provided evidence through several different sessions that an optimal treatment for radiation- or chemotherapy-induced mucositis has yet to be identified.

Advances in the Management of NSCLC
The 45th annual meeting of the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO), held in Salt Lake City, UT, included many notable presentations on the management of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Head and Neck Presentations
Advancing the treatment for head and neck cancer is always high on the agenda of clinical investigation in radiation oncology, and the presentations at ASTRO this year focused on the most recent trends.

Advances in Rectal Cancer: Proceedings from ASTRO 2003
Cancer of the rectum is a highly treatable and often curable disease when localized. The prognosis of rectal cancer is clearly related to the degree of penetration of the tumor through the bowel wall and the presence or absence of nodal involvement.

ASTRO 2003 GI Review
Notable findings in esophageal, gallbladder, and hepatopancreaticobiliary cancers were presented at the 45th annual meeting of the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.