Breast cancer is the commonest cancer among women the world over. In India, the reported age adjusted incidence of breast cancer in women is about 26.7/1 00 000 population (NCRP, 1992). Unlike the West, in India, majority of the patients (about 60%) present with locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) or disseminated disease (Goel et al, 1995). In LABC, the treatment policy followed at most centres, is neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) followed by surgery and local or locoregional radiotherapy. The response to NACT is assessed by clinical evaluation and supplemented by radiological measurement of reduction in tumour volume by mammography and/or ultra sonography. None of the currently available indicators of response (clinical and radiological) correlate well with the actual response as assessed on histopathological examination of the tumour.MR imaging (MRI) is a valuable new tool for diagnostic mammography (Orel et al, 1996;Friedrich, 1998; Harms, 1998;Orel, 1998). Recently, dynamic contrast enhanced MRI techniques have also been developed for differentiation between benign and malignant tumours (Kaiser, 1991;Harms et al, 1993; Haywang-Kobrunner et al, 1997;Piccoli, 1997;Daniel et al, 1998). The above techniques, however, do not provide any metabolic/ biochemical information. On the contrary, magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) permits non-invasive detection of metabolic (biochemical) differences between tumours and normal tissues, and can also be used to monitor response to different treatment regimens. Recently, we have shown that in LABC, the assessment of response to NACT can be made using water-to-fat ratio calculated from volume localized proton MRS (Jagannathan et al, 1998(Jagannathan et al, , 1999. In addition, we also reported the presence of choline in a majority of the breast cancer patients (Jagannathan et al, 1998).In this study, results of evaluation of choline in LABC and its response to NACT using in-vivo proton MRS are presented. The objectives are: (i) to evaluate the potential of proton MRS in the study of breast cancer, and (ii) to investigate further, the recent observation of choline containing compounds in malignant breast tissues and its response to NACT. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report assessing the response of breast cancer to NACT in a large cohort of patients using in-vivo proton MRS. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients67 women with cytologically confirmed infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) were recruited. Necessary clearance from the Institute ethical committee and written informed consent were obtained prior to examination from patients and controls. Patients were evaluated clinically and tumour size was measured using Vernier calipers. Metastatic workup included liver function tests, chest

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Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT) is a highly malignant embryonal central nervous system tumor commonly affecting children <3 years of age. It roughly constitutes 1%–2% of all pediatric central nervous system tumors. Recent data show that it is the most common malignant central nervous system tumor in children <6 months of age. Management of this aggressive tumor is associated with a myriad of diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. On the basis of radiology and histopathology alone, distinction of AT/RT from medulloblastoma or primitive neuroectodermal tumor is difficult, and hence this tumor has been commonly misdiagnosed as primitive neuroectodermal tumor for decades. Presence of a bulky heterogeneous solid-cystic mass with readily visible calcification and intratumor hemorrhage, occurring off-midline in children <3 years of age, should alert the radiologist toward the possibility of AT/RT. Presence of rhabdoid cells on histopathology and polyphenotypic immunopositivity for epithelial, mesenchymal, and neuroectodermal markers along with loss of expression of SMARCB1/INI1 or SMARCA4/BRG1 help in establishing a diagnosis of AT/RT. The optimal management comprises maximal safe resection followed by radiation therapy and multiagent intensive systemic chemotherapy. Gross total excision is difficult to achieve in view of the large tumor size and location and young age at presentation. Leptomeningeal spread is noted in 15%–30% of patients, and hence craniospinal irradiation followed by boost to tumor bed is considered standard in children older than 3 years. However, in younger children, craniospinal irradiation may lead to long-term neurocognitive and neuroendocrine sequel, and hence focal radiation therapy may be a pragmatic approach. In this age group, high-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell rescue may also be considered to defer radiation therapy, but this approach is also associated with significant treatment-related morbidity and mortality. Novel small molecule inhibitors hold promise in preclinical studies and should be considered in patients with relapsed or refractory tumor.

Radiation therapy (RT) is a very important part of multimodality cancer therapy. Addition of RT improves survival in many cancers, but there are some accompaniments of radiation. One of them is radiation induced heart disease (RIHD). RT for mediastinal lymphoma, breast, lung and oesophageal cancer is associated with the development of RIHD. The problem can be intensified with the addition of chemotherapy. Therapeutic modalities for RIHD are the same as in the non-irradiated population. However, surgery may be difficult in the irradiated patients. The long latent period is the reason why RIHD is not extensively studied. Survival of cancer patients has improved over past few decades, so RIHD is a growing concern especially in younger patients. In this review article, we have discussed the pathogenesis, clinical manifestation and management of RIHD along with impact of chemotherapeutic agents.

The lung is one of the most sensitive tissues to radiation. The most radiosensitive sub-unit of the lung is alveolarcapillary complex (Ghafoori et al., 2008). The alveolar epithelium consists of type 1 and type 2 pneumocytes