Aims This observational study characterized cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality risk for multiple cancer sites, with respect to the following: (i) continuous calendar year, (ii) age at diagnosis, and (iii) follow-up time after diagnosis. Methods and results The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program was used to compare the US general population to 3 234 256 US cancer survivors (1973–2012). Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated using coded cause of death from CVDs (heart disease, hypertension, cerebrovascular disease, atherosclerosis, and aortic aneurysm/dissection). Analyses were adjusted by age, race, and sex. Among 28 cancer types, 1 228 328 patients (38.0%) died from cancer and 365 689 patients (11.3%) died from CVDs. Among CVDs, 76.3% of deaths were due to heart disease. In eight cancer sites, CVD mortality risk surpassed index-cancer mortality risk in at least one calendar year. Cardiovascular disease mortality risk was highest in survivors diagnosed at <35 years of age. Further, CVD mortality risk is highest (SMR 3.93, 95% confidence interval 3.89–3.97) within the first year after cancer diagnosis, and CVD mortality risk remains elevated throughout follow-up compared to the general population. Conclusion The majority of deaths from CVD occur in patients diagnosed with breast, prostate, or bladder cancer. We observed that from the point of cancer diagnosis forward into survivorship cancer patients (all sites) are at elevated risk of dying from CVDs compared to the general US population. In endometrial cancer, the first year after diagnosis poses a very high risk of dying from CVDs, supporting early involvement of cardiologists in such patients.

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Radiation therapy is one of the most widely used therapies for malignancies. The therapeutic use of heavy ions, such as carbon, has gained significant interest due to advantageous physical and radiobiologic properties compared to photon based therapy. By taking advantage of these unique properties, carbon ion radiotherapy may allow dose escalation to tumors while reducing radiation dose to adjacent normal tissues. There are currently 13 centers treating with carbon ion radiotherapy, with many of these centers publishing promising safety and efficacy data from the first cohorts of patients treated. To date, carbon ion radiotherapy has been studied for almost every type of malignancy, including intracranial malignancies, head and neck malignancies, primary and metastatic lung cancers, tumors of the gastrointestinal tract, prostate and genitourinary cancers, sarcomas, cutaneous malignancies, breast cancer, gynecologic malignancies, and pediatric cancers. Additionally, carbon ion radiotherapy has been studied extensively in the setting of recurrent disease. We aim to provide a comprehensive review of the studies of each of these disease sites, with a focus on the current trials using carbon ion radiotherapy.

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is an emerging treatment modality aimed at improving the therapeutic ratio for traditionally difficult to treat tumors. BNCT utilizes boronated agents to preferentially deliver boron-10 to tumors, which, after undergoing irradiation with neutrons, yields litihium-7 and an alpha particle. The alpha particle has a short range, therefore preferentially affecting tumor tissues while sparing more distal normal tissues. To date, BNCT has been studied clinically in a variety of disease sites, including glioblastoma multiforme, meningioma, head and neck cancers, lung cancers, breast cancers, hepatocellular carcinoma, sarcomas, cutaneous malignancies, extramammary Paget’s disease, recurrent cancers, pediatric cancers, and metastatic disease. We aim to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive review of the studies of each of these disease sites, as well as a review on the challenges facing adoption of BNCT.

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As the overlap between heart disease and cancer patients increases as cancer-specific mortality is decreasing and the surviving population is aging, it is necessary to identify cancer patients who are at an increased risk of death from heart disease. The purpose of this study is to identify cancer patients at highest risk of fatal heart disease compared to the general population and other cancer patients at risk of death during the study time period. Here we report that 394,849 of the 7,529,481 cancer patients studied died of heart disease. The heart disease-specific mortality rate is 10.61/10,000-person years, and the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of fatal heart disease is 2.24 (95% CI: 2.23-2.25). Compared to other cancer patients, patients who are older, male, African American, and unmarried are at a greatest risk of fatal heart disease. For almost all cancer survivors, the risk of fatal heart disease increases with time.

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IMPORTANCEAlthough stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is preferred for limited brain metastases from most histologies, whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) has remained the standard of care for patients with small cell lung cancer. Data on SRS are limited.OBJECTIVE To characterize and compare first-line SRS outcomes (without prior WBRT or prophylactic cranial irradiation) with those of first-line WBRT.DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS FIRE-SCLC (First-line Radiosurgery for Small-Cell Lung Cancer) was a multicenter cohort study that analyzed SRS outcomes from 28 centers and a single-arm trial and compared these data with outcomes from a first-line WBRT cohort.