24% of cardiothoracic trainees were women, compared to 36% of surgical residents (p<0.01) and 46% of all residents (p<0.01). 66% of cardiothoracic residents were white, compared to 55% of residents overall (p<0.01) and 65% of surgery residents (p=0.68). 18% of cardiothoracic residents were Asian American/Pacific Islander, compared to 17% of surgery residents (p=0.87) and 24% of residents overall (p<0.01). Black/African American and Hispanic residents composed 4% and 5% of cardiothoracic residents, respectively, similar to surgery and residents overall.

Women and racial/ethnic minorities are significantly underrepresented among trainees and faculty in academic cardiothoracic surgery compared to surgery and medicine overall, demonstrating a need for concerted action.

Women and racial/ethnic minorities are significantly underrepresented among trainees and faculty in academic cardiothoracic surgery compared to surgery and medicine overall, demonstrating a need for concerted action.

The FiGaRO trial assessed the feasibility and safety of using an FDG-PET-based dose-painting technique to deliver a radiotherapy (RT) boostto the FDG-avid primary tumour in patients with locally advanced high and intermediate risk oropharyngeal cancer.

Patients underwent a planning 18FDG-PET-CT scan, immobilised in the treatment position, after one cycle of induction chemotherapy. The volume of persistent FDG-avidity in the primary tumour was escalated to 71.5Gy in30 fractions delivered using a simultaneous integrated boost Intensity Modulated RT (SIB-IMRT) technique. RT was delivered with concomitant Cisplatin following 2 cycles of induction chemotherapy. The primary outcome was the incidence of grade≥3 late mucosal toxicity 12months post-treatment, with an excess rate of >10% regarded as unacceptable.

Twenty-nine patients were included and twenty-four were treated between 2014 and 2018, in two UK centres. Median follow-up was 36months (range 4-56months). Pre-defined planning target volume objectives and organ at risk dose constraints were met in all cases. There were no incidents of acute grade 4 toxicity. There were 4 cases of grade≥3 mucosal toxicity at 12months post-treatment (19.1%). There were no cases of persistent mucosal ulceration at 12months. Overall survival at 3-years was 87.5%, 92.9% for intermediate and 70.0% for high risk patients.

Late toxicity rates, although higher than anticipated, are comparable to contemporary published data for standard dose chemo-IMRT. Results suggest improved 3y survival rates for high risk patients. This approach merits further investigation. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT02953197.

Late toxicity rates, although higher than anticipated, are comparable to contemporary published data for standard dose chemo-IMRT. Results suggest improved 3y survival rates for high risk patients. This approach merits further investigation. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT02953197.

(Chemo)-radiotherapy (RT) is the gold standard treatment for patients with locally advanced lung cancer non accessible for surgery. However, current toxicity prediction models rely on clinical and dose volume histograms (DVHs) and remain unsufficient. The goal of this work is to investigate the added predictive value of the radiomics approach applied to dose maps regarding acute and late toxicities in both the lungs and esophagus.

Acute and late toxicities scored using the CTCAE v4.0 were retrospectively collected on patients treated with RT in our institution. Radiomic features were extracted from 3D dose maps considering Gy values as grey-levels in images. DVH and usual clinical factors were also considered. IMT1 Three toxicity prediction models (clinical only, clinical+DVH and combined, i.e., including clinical+DVH+radiomics) were incrementally trained using a neural network on 70% of the patients for prediction of grade ≥2 acute and late pulmonary toxicities (APT/LPT) and grade ≥2 acute esophageal toxicitis seem to surpass usual models based on clinical factors and DVHs for the prediction of APT and LPT.

Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKRS) is a safe and effective treatment modality with a long-term tumor control rate over 90% for vestibular schwannoma (VS). However, numerous tumors may undergo a transient pseudoprogression during 6-18months after GKRS followed by a long-term volume reduction. The aim of this study is to determine whether the radiomics analysis based on preradiosurgical MRI data could predict the pseudoprogression and long-term outcome of VS after GKRS.

A longitudinal dataset of patients with VS treated by single GKRS were retrospectively collected. Overall 336 patients with no previous craniotomy for tumor removal and a median of 65-month follow-up period after radiosurgery were finally included in this study. In total 1763 radiomic features were extracted from the multiparameteric MRI data before GKRS followed by the machine-learning classification.

We constructed a two-level machine-learning model to predict the long-term outcome and the occurrence of transient pseudoprogression after GKRS separately. The prediction of long-term outcome achieved an accuracy of 88.4% based on five radiomic features describing the variation of T2-weighted intensity and inhomogeneity of contrast enhancement in tumor. The prediction of transient pseudoprogression achieved an accuracy of 85.0% based on another five radiomic features associated with the inhomogeneous hypointensity pattern of contrast enhancement and the variation of T2-weighted intensity.

The proposed machine-learning model based on the preradiosurgical MR radiomics provides a potential to predict the pseudoprogression and long-term outcome of VS after GKRS, which can benefit the treatment strategy in clinical practice.

The proposed machine-learning model based on the preradiosurgical MR radiomics provides a potential to predict the pseudoprogression and long-term outcome of VS after GKRS, which can benefit the treatment strategy in clinical practice.

To investigate the association between propulsion biomechanics, including variables that describe smoothness of the applied forces, and shoulder pain in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Cross-sectional, observational study.

Non-university research institution.

Community dwelling, wheelchair dependent participants (N=30) with chronic paraplegia between T2 and L1, with and without shoulder pain (age, 48.6±9.3y; 83% men).

Not applicable.

Rate of rise and jerk of applied forces during wheelchair propulsion. Participants were stratified in groups with low, moderate, and high pain based on their Wheelchair User Shoulder Pain Index score on the day of measurement.

A mixed-effect multilevel analysis showed that wheelchair users in the high pain group propelled with a significantly greater rate of rise and jerk, measures that describe smoothness of the applied forces, compared with individuals with less or no pain, when controlling for all covariables.

Individuals with severe shoulder pain propelled with less smooth strokes compared to individuals with less or no pain.