The BNT162b2 vaccine was shown to be highly effective in reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection in healthy individuals and patients with chronic disease. However, there are little data regarding its efficacy in patients treated for cancer. We analyzed the humoral response following vaccination with the second dose of BNT162b2 in 140 patients with solid malignancies who were receiving anti-cancer therapy at the time of vaccination and 215 participants who had not been diagnosed with cancer. Multivariate analysis was performed, followed by matching the two groups by age, gender and days from vaccination. The humoral response in the cancer patient group was significantly lower than in the non-cancer group: 20/140 seronegative (14.3%) vs. 3/215 (1.4%), p < 0.001; median IgG levels 2231 AU/mL (IQR 445-8023) vs. 4100 (IQR 2231-6774) p = 0.001 respectively. The odds ratio for negative serology results in cancer patients adjusted by age and gender was 7.35 compared to participants without cancer. This effect was observed only in chemotherapy treated patients: 17/73 seronegative (23.3%) vs. 3/215 (1.4%), p < 0.001; median IgG 1361 AU/mL vs. 4100, p < 0.001 but not in patients treated with non-chemotherapeutic drugs. Reduced immunogenicity to COVID-19 vaccine among chemotherapy-treated cancer patients, raises the need to continue exercising protective measures after vaccination in these patients.

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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of hippocampal‐sparing whole‐brain radiotherapy (HS WBRT) using the Elekta Infinity linear accelerator and Monaco treatment planning system (TPS). Ten treatment plans were created for HS‐WBRT to a dose of 30 Gy (10 fractions). RTOG 0933 recommendations were applied for treatment planning. Intensity‐modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plans for the Elekta Infinity linear accelerator were created using Monaco 3.1 TPS‐based on a nine‐field arrangement and step‐and‐shoot delivery method. Plan evaluation was performed using D2% and D98% for the whole‐brain PTV (defined as whole brain excluding hippocampus avoidance region), D100% and maximum dose to the hippocampus, and maximum dose to optic nerves and chiasm. Homogeneity index (HI) defined as false(D2normal%−D98normal%false)/normalDmedian was used to quantify dose homogeneity in the PTV. The whole‐brain PTV D2% mean value was 37.28 Gy (range 36.95–37.49 Gy), and D98% mean value was 25.37 Gy (range 25.40–25.89 Gy). The hippocampus D100% mean value was 8.37 Gy (range 7.48–8.97 Gy) and the hippocampus maximum dose mean value was 14.35 Gy (range 13.48–15.40 Gy). The maximum dose to optic nerves and optic chiasm for all patients did not exceed 37.50 Gy. HI mean value was 0.36 (range 0.34–0.37). Mean number of segments was 105 (range 88–122) and mean number of monitor units was 1724 (range 1622–1914). Gamma evaluation showed that all plans passed 3%, 3 mm criteria with more than 99% of the measured points. These results indicate that Elekta equipment (Elekta Infinity linac and Monaco TPS) can be used for HS WBRT planning according to compliance criteria defined by the RTOG 0933 protocol.PACS numbers: 87.55D, 87.55 –v, 87.55 de

Lung cancer is a worldwide prevalent malignancy. This disease has a low survival rate due to diagnosis at a late stage challenged by the involvement of metastatic sites. Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is presented in 85% of cases. The last decade has experienced substantial advancements in scientific research, leading to a novel targeted therapeutic approach. The newly developed pharmaceutical agents are aimed towards specific mutations, detected in individual patients inflicted by lung cancer. These drugs have longer and improved response rates compared to traditional chemotherapy. Recent studies were able to identify rare mutations found in pulmonary tumors. Among the gene alterations detected were mesenchymal epithelial transition factor (MET), human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2), B-type Raf kinase (BRAF), c-ROS proto-oncogene (ROS1), rearranged during transfection (RET) and neurotrophic tyrosine kinase (NTRK). Ongoing clinical trials are gaining insight onto possible first and second lines of medical treatment options intended to enable progression-free survival to lung cancer patients.