The prevalence of heterotopic ossification in war-wounded patients is higher than that in civilian trauma. Although trends associated with local wound conditions were identified, the risk factors for the development of heterotopic ossification found in this study suggest that systemic causes predominate.

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Purpose Ampullary carcinoma is a rare malignancy. Despite radical resection, survival rates remain low with high rates of local failure. We performed a single institution outcomes analysis to define the role of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in addition to surgery. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed of all patients undergoing potentially curative pancreaticoduodenectomy for adenocarcinoma of the ampulla of Vater at Duke University Hospitals between 1976 and 2009. Time to event analysis was performed comparing all patients who underwent surgery alone to the cohort of patients receiving CRT in addition to surgery. Local control (LC), overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and metastases-free survival (MFS) were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier Method. Results One hundred thirty-seven patients with ampullary carcinoma underwent Whipple procedure. Sixty-one patients undergoing resection received adjuvant (n= 43) or neoadjuvant (n=18) CRT. Patients receiving chemoradiotherapy were more likely to have poorly differentiated tumors (p=0.03). Of 18 patients receiving neoadjuvant therapy, 67% were downstaged on final pathology with 28% achieving pathologic complete response (pCR). With a median follow up of 8.8 years, three-year local control was improved in patients receiving CRT (88% vs. 55%, p= 0.001) with trend toward 3-year DFS (66% vs 48%, p=0.09) and OS (62% vs. 46%, p=0.074) benefit in patients receiving CRT. Conclusions Long term survival rates are low and local failure rates high following radical resection alone. Given patterns of relapse with surgery alone and local control benefit in patients receiving CRT, the use of chemoradiotherapy in selected patients should be considered.

Obesity is an important co-morbidity within end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and renal transplant populations. Previous studies have suggested that chronic corticosteroids result in increased body weight post-transplant. With the recent adoption of steroid-sparing immunosuppressive strategies, we evaluated the effect of these strategies on body mass index (BMI) after renal transplantation. We examined 95 renal transplant recipients enrolled in National Institutes of Health clinical transplant trials over the past three yr who received either lymphocyte depletion-based steroid sparing or traditional immunosuppressive therapy that included steroids for maintenance immunosuppression. Recipients were overweight prior to transplant and no significant differences existed in pre-transplant BMI among treatment groups. Regardless of therapy, BMI increased post-transplant in all recipients. The BMI increase consisted of an average weight gain of 5.01 +/- 7.12 kg (mean, SD) post-transplant. Additionally, in a number of recipients placed on maintenance steroids, subsequent withdrawal at a mean of 100 d post-transplant had no impact on weight gain. Thus, body weight and BMI increase following kidney transplantation, even in the absence of steroids. Thus, patients gain weight after renal transplantation regardless of the treatment strategy. Steroid avoidance alone does not reduce risk factors associated with obesity in our patient population.

The role of radiation therapy for those with leukemia cutis, particularly pediatric patients, remains unclear. This report describes the first two cases of disseminated leukemia cutis in adolescents treated with total skin electron beam therapy. Both patients had resolution of their skin disease and significant palliation of symptoms. Total skin electron irradiation is an option for adolescents suffering from significant extramedullary leukemia involving the skin. While it is uncertain if this treatment has any improvement in disease-free survival, the benefits of total skin electron therapy for symptom palliation should be considered.

BackgroundTo examine toxicity and outcomes for patients treated with preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for gastric cancer.MethodsPatients with gastroesophageal (GE) junction (Siewert type II and III) or gastric adenocarcinoma who underwent neoadjuvant CRT followed by planned surgical resection at Duke University between 1987 and 2009 were reviewed. Overall survival (OS), local control (LC) and disease-free survival (DFS) were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Toxicity was graded according to the Common Toxicity Criteria for Adverse Events version 4.0.ResultsForty-eight patients were included. Most (73%) had proximal (GE junction, cardia and fundus) tumors. Median radiation therapy dose was 45 Gy. All patients received concurrent chemotherapy. Thirty-six patients (75%) underwent surgery. Pathologic complete response and R0 resection rates were 19% and 86%, respectively. Thirty-day surgical mortality was 6%. At 42 months median follow-up, 3-year actuarial OS was 40%. For patients undergoing surgery, 3-year OS, LC and DFS were 50%, 73% and 41%, respectively.ConclusionsPreoperative CRT for gastric cancer is well tolerated with acceptable rates of perioperative morbidity and mortality. In this patient cohort with primarily advanced disease, OS, LC and DFS rates in resected patients are comparable to similarly staged, adjuvantly treated patients in randomized trials. Further study comparing neoadjuvant CRT to standard treatment approaches for gastric cancer is indicated.

LRR risk increases monotonically for stages IA to IIB in the new TNM 7 system. This information might be valuable when designing future studies of postoperative RT.