Browsing by Author "Aebersold, Daniel M. (6701543931)"

Purpose: Pterygium is a common lesion affecting the population in countries with high levels of ultraviolet exposure. The final shape of a pterygium is the result of a growth pattern, which remains poorly understood. This manuscript provides a mathematical analysis as a tool to determine the shape of human pterygia. Materials and methods: Eighteen patients, all affected by nasal unilateral pterygia, were randomly selected from our patient database independently of sex, origin, or race. We included all primary or recurrent pterygia with signs of proliferation, dry eye, and induction of astigmatism. Pseudopterygia were excluded from this study. Pterygia were outlined and analyzed mathematically using a Cartesian coordinate system with two axes (X, Y) and five accurate landmarks of the pterygium. Results: In 13 patients (72%), the shape of the pterygia was hyperbolic and in five patients (28%), the shape was rather elliptical. Conclusion: This analysis gives a highly accurate mathematical description of the shape of human pterygia. This might help to better assess the clinical results and outcome of the great variety of therapeutic approaches concerning these lesions. © 2016 Pajic et al.

Background: To evaluate the current status of prospective interventional clinical trials that includes brachytherapy (BT) procedures. Methods: The records of 175,538 (100%) clinical trials registered at ClinicalTrials.gov were downloaded on September 2014 and a database was established. Trials using BT as an intervention were identified for further analyses. The selected trials were manually categorized according to indication(s), BT source, applied dose rate, primary sponsor type, location, protocol initiator and funding source. We analyzed trials across 8 available trial protocol elements registered within the database. Results: In total 245 clinical trials were identified, 147 with BT as primary investigated treatment modality and 98 that included BT as an optional treatment component or as part of the standard treatment. Academic centers were the most frequent protocol initiators in trials where BT was the primary investigational treatment modality (p < 0.01). High dose rate (HDR) BT was the most frequently investigated type of BT dose rate (46.3%) followed by low dose rate (LDR) (42.0%). Prostate was the most frequently investigated tumor entity in trials with BT as the primary treatment modality (40.1%) followed by breast cancer (17.0%). BT was rarely the primary investigated treatment modality for cervical cancer (6.8%). Conclusion: Most clinical trials using BT are predominantly in early phases, investigator-initiated and with low accrual numbers. Current investigational activities that include BT mainly focus on prostate and breast cancers. Important questions concerning the optimal usage of BT will not be answered in the near future. © 2016 Cihoric et al.