The ability of either 0.5% betaxolol (1 drop topically, bid; n=31) or a combination of 0.25% demecarium bromide and a topical corticosteroid (gentamicin/betamethasone) (DB/GB; 1 drop of each topically, sid; n=55) to prevent glaucoma in the fellow eye of dogs with unilateral, primary closed angle glaucoma (PCAG) was investigated in a multicenter, open-label, clinical trial. Untreated control dogs (n=20) developed glaucoma significantly sooner (median, eight mos; p less than 0.001) than dogs treated either with DB/GB (median, 31 mos) or betaxolol (median, 30.7 mos). Although DB/GB and betaxolol equally delayed or prevented the onset of glaucoma in the second eye, a less frequent dosing schedule for DB/GB suggests demecarium bromide in combination with a topical corticosteroid may be preferable to betaxolol in preventing PCAG in dogs.

We are the first to report the mutation status of KRAS and BRAF in pre-therapeutic biopsies from locally advanced rectal cancers. The high number of KRAS mutations in codons 61 and 146 emphasizes the importance to expand current mutation analyses, whereas BRAF mutations are not relevant for rectal carcinogenesis. Although the KRAS mutation status was not correlated with response, the subtle difference between G12V and G13D mutations warrants analysis of a larger patient population.

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Purpose To evaluate toxicity of radiochemotherapy schedule using daily-low-dose-cisplatin in radiochemotherapy of locally-advanced head-and-neck-cancer (HNSCC).

BackgroundExcellent dosimetric characteristics were demonstrated for volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) in preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). In a single-center retrospective analysis, we tested whether these advantages may translate into significant clinical benefits. We compared VMAT to conventional 3D conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) in patients, homogeneously treated according to the control arm of the CAO/ARO/AIO-04 trial.MethodsCRT consisted of pelvic irradiation with 50.4/1.8Gy by VMAT (n = 81) or 3DCRT (n = 107) and two cycles of 5-fluorouracil. Standardized total mesorectal excision surgery was performed within 4–6 weeks. The tumor regression grading (TRG) was assessed by the Dworak score. Acute and late toxicity were evaluated via the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events and the Late effects of normal tissues scale, respectively. Side effects greater than or equal to grade 3 were considered high-grade.ResultsMedian follow-up was 18.3 months in the VMAT group and 61.5 months in the 3DCRT group with no differences in TRG between them (p = 0.1727). VMAT treatment substantially reduced high-grade acute and late toxicity, with 5 % versus 20 % (p = 0.0081) and 6 % vs. 22 % (p = 0.0039), respectively. With regard to specific organs, differences were found in skin reaction (p = 0.019) and proctitis (p = 0.0153).ConclusionsVMAT treatment in preoperative CRT for LARC showed the potential to substantially reduce high-grade acute and late toxicity. Importantly, we could demonstrate that VMAT irradiation did not impair short-term oncological results. We conclude, that the reduced toxicity after VMAT irradiation may pave the way for more efficient systemic therapies, and hopefully improved patient survival in the multimodal treatment of LARC.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-015-1812-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.