Talk:Radiation Oncology/Kidney

The SRS article is somewhat unintellegable. I have a meeting with my oncologist tomorrow to discuss WBR vs Stereotactic. As I'm one of a typical group that would find the article useful, I wonder if someone could clarify the abbreviations, and their implications, bringing them down to a layman level without losing information. For example,

"Median OS: 14.2 months "  "OS"?? ....average survival after treatment?? If so how much longer is that than without any treatment?

and "1-year LC: renal cell 64% vs. melanoma 47% vs. sarcoma 0% (SS). " LC = Lung Cancer?

and "Median OS: renal cell 40% vs. melanoma 25% vs. sarcoma 22% (SS) " OS again? And what do the persentages mean in months?

and "Median OS: 8.3 months, 32% died from CNS death." OK. What is central nervous system death. I thought dementia was a risk, but not sure what the mechanism of cns death would be.

and "Predictors impacting survival: age, KPS, [...]" What is KPS?

The wayne state explanation is good. Clear. I'd like it if it had a 3rd category comparing stereotactic alone. I'd be really grateful if anyone's keen and available, if you could rewrite the section in that format, and perhaps email me at  tonyjeffs at tonyjeffs dot com.

ThanksTony


 * The Radiation Oncology textbook, of which this is a subpage, is targeted primarily at radiation oncologists, and secondarily at cancer specialists. It is also designed to serve as a repository of the evidence, sometimes with brief summary, but without interpreting the evidence. There are textbooks and other sources such as [www.nccn.org] and [www.cancer.gov] that provide treatment recommendations and standards of care. As far as we (the authors) are concerned, each radiation oncologist interprets the evidence and applies it to their particular patient as appropriate. As a result, this textbook is highly technical and is not meant for lay population. Having said that, I am happy to explain some of the abbreviations.
 * WBRT = whole brain radiation therapy
 * SRS = stereotactic radiosurgery = Gamma Knife Surgery or linear-accelerator based radiosurgery
 * Median OS = median overall survival = average survival of all patients in the study after treatment; this means 50% survived more and 50% survived less and this number is the average survival given in months. Median survival without any treatment of patients who develop brain metastases is ~1-2 months (please see here), but that is highly dependent on what is the original tumor histology (renal, lung, breast, etc). In comparison, 1-year OS is percentage of patients who are alive 1 year after their treatment
 * I have updated the MD Anderson paper to reflect 1-year survival (rather than median OS with %); thank you for pointing this inconsistency out
 * LC = local control = control of that given brain metastasis treated with SRS
 * LRC = loco-regional control = control within brain, including other metastases
 * CNS death = death due to the metastasis/metastases progressing (growing) in brain, affecting normal brain function, and ultimately leading to death. For the purpose of treating the brain, this distinction is important compared with the tumor elsewhere in the body continuing to grown and ultimately leading to non-CNS death.
 * Dementia = side effect of radiation therapy, but also of continued metastasis growth in the brain
 * KPS = Karnofsky Peformance Scale shows to what degree is the patient affected by his disease
 * As for interpretation, the oncologist is best qualified to interpret this information/evidence Tdvorak (talk) 20:57, 22 May 2008 (UTC)