Jared R. Robbins

• MD
• Professor at University of Arizona - College of Medicine

Purpose This study reviewed palliative radiation therapy (RT) practices and outcomes and compared the percentage of remaining life spent receiving RT (PRLSRT) in patients treated for osseous metastases. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted using the National Cancer Database (2010–2016) to evaluate metastatic patients who received palliat...

Background Management of patients with locoregionally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) when cisplatin is contraindicated is controversial. We aimed to assess whether radiotherapy with concurrent and adjuvant durvalumab would improve outcomes compared with radiotherapy with cetuximab. Methods NRG-HN004 was designed as an open-...

Background: Dedicated palliative radiation oncology programs (PROPs) within radiation oncology (RO) practices have been shown to improve quality and decrease costs of radiation therapy (RT) in advanced cancer patients. Despite this, relatively few PROPs currently exist, highlighting an unmet need to understand characteristics of the few existing P...

Human papilloma virus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) is a unique entity with increased responsiveness to treatment and excellent oncologic outcomes. The purpose of this narrative review is to highlight how an improved prognosis for HPV (+) tumors and an ever-increasing understanding of the risk factors, risk stratification, and areas o...

Purpose/Objective(s) To compare how facility volume impacts palliative RT practices in patients with osseous metastases, radiation schema used, and outcomes of the applied therapies by analyzing the percentage of remaining life spent receiving RT (PRLSRT) and RT completion rates. Materials/Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted using the N...

Purpose/Objective(s) This study investigates the dosimetry achieved in VMAT/IMRT-planned lattice radiotherapy (LRT) for bulky, palliative head and neck tumors. LRT allows for the delivery of higher radiation doses without dramatically increasing toxicity by using high-dose spheres within the tumor while directing high dose away from OAR's. Our obje...

Purpose/Objective(s) Mobile devices provide platforms for consistent and real time symptom tracking for cancer patients, allowing for better symptom reporting and more timely interventions. There is limited research investigating barriers to adoption within the oncology setting and COVID-19 impacts on patent willingness to use health technology. Un...

Purpose/Objective(s) Among internal medicine (IM) physicians, limited knowledge of radiation oncology emergencies may delay consultations placed for emergent radiation and prolongs hospitalizations. We hypothesized that presenting a radiation oncology emergencies lecture to IM residents would expedite initial management, time to consultation, and s...

420 Background: Oral Mucositis related pain is one of the most common radiation therapy (RT) related toxicities associated with the treatment of head and neck cancer (HNC). Questionnaire-based assessment of mucositis pain is based on a patient's recall which can be inaccurate sometimes. Therefore, real-time monitoring of patient-reported pain is re...

Purpose Immunotherapy has emerged as a promising therapeutic option for advanced or unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, survival remains poor with only a subset of patients deriving benefit. This trial investigated the safety and efficacy of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) with immunotherapy in HCC. Methods and Materia...

Background Re-treatment of recurrent or second primary head and neck cancers occurring in a previously irradiated field is complex. Few guidelines exist to support practice. Methods We performed an updated literature search of peer-reviewed journals in a systematic fashion. Search terms, key questions, and associated clinical case variants were fo...

Purpose: Tumor and target volume manual delineation remains a challenging task in head-and-neck cancer radiotherapy. The purpose of this study was to conduct a multi-institutional evaluation of manual delineations of gross tumor volume (GTV), high-risk clinical target volume (CTV), parotids, and submandibular glands on treatment simulation MR scan...

Purpose: Tumor and target volume manual delineation remains a challenging task in head and neck cancer radiotherapy. The purpose of this study is to conduct a multi-institutional evaluation of manual delineations of gross tumor volume (GTV), high-risk clinical target volume (CTV), parotids, and submandibular glands on treatment simulation MR scans...

Purpose/Objective(s) To review palliative RT practices, outcomes, and compare the percentage of remaining life spent receiving RT (PRLSRT) for patients treated with RT for osseous metastases. Materials/Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted using the National Cancer Database (2010-2016). Patients with bone mets who underwent palliative bon...

Background: Squamous cell carcinoma of the Head and Neck (SCCHN) presents with distant metastases in ∼10% of cases. In this scenario, systemic therapy is the standard of care, but some patients receive local radiation therapy (RT). Understanding the prognosis and outcomes for these patients is important to guide management and determine the benefit...

Introduction The morbidity sequelae of advanced cancer are often irreversible. Early palliative radiation can prevent, delay, and even improve these consequences. Treatment may be delayed due to a packed computed tomography (CT) simulation schedule or other logistics, including the cost and burden of arranging ambulance transportation when radiatio...

Objective: To evaluate the role of social and geographic factors on the likelihood of receiving transoral robotic surgery (TORS) or non-robotic transoral endoscopic surgery treatment in early stage oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). Materials and methods: The National Cancer Database was queried to form a cohort of patients with T1-T...

Background: Palliative radiation therapy (RT) for bone metastases (BMs) is a common practice. Wide variation exists in clinically used dose schema despite numerous studies demonstrating palliative equipoise between single and multifraction courses. We hypothesize that fraction scheme for palliating BMs for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) significan...

Background: Among patients with osseous metastases, breast cancer (BC) patients typically have the best prognosis. In the palliative setting, BC is often considered a single disease, but based on receptor status there are four distinct subtypes: luminal A (LA), luminal B (LB), triple negative (TN), and HER2-enriched (HER2). We hypothesize that sur...

Background The aims of this systematic review are to (a) evaluate the current literature on the impact of postoperative therapy for resected squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) on oncologic and non‐oncologic outcomes and (b) identify the optimal evidence‐based postoperative therapy recommendations for commonly encountered clinical...

Background We conducted the current systemic review to provide up‐to‐date literature summary and optimal evidence‐based recommendations for ipsilateral radiation for squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsil. Methods We performed literature search of peer‐reviewed journals through PubMed. The search strategy and subject‐specific keywords were develope...

PURPOSE: To evaluate the use of palliative radiotherapy (pRT) for osseous metastases among patients with gastrointestinal malignancies by sociodemographic factors, tumor type, and survival. METHODS: The NCDB was used to identify 9297 patients with GI cancers who received pRT to bony metastases from 2004 to 2013. Cancers assessed included esophageal...

Radiation therapy is an essential treatment modality for local, regional, and metastatic cancer management. This chapter provides a general overview of the field of radiation oncology. We discuss the underlying radiobiologic principles of the field and highlight the innovations in technology and advances in oncology and cancer biology that have inf...

Purpose: Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is an effective therapy for treating liver malignancies. However, little is known about interfractional dose variations to adjacent organs at risk (OARs). We examine the effects of interfractional organ movement and setup variation on dose delivered to OARs in patients receiving liver SBRT. Meth...

Background: Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) after neoadjuvant therapy (NT) in well-selected patients with unresectable hilar cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) achieves excellent recurrence-free survival. Current criteria for NT-OLT exclude patients with locally advanced hilar and intrahepatic CCA from potential cure. We sought to evaluate the effica...

Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) trials in endemic regions of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) found improved survival, but studies are lacking in nonendemic regions. We assessed whether adding NAC to concurrent chemoradiation (CRT) improves overall survival (OS), especially in high-risk nonendemic patients. Methods: Definitively treated...

Background Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is an emerging option for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) without consensus regarding optimal dose schemas. This analysis identifies practice patterns and factors that influence dose selection and overall survival, with particular emphasis on dose and tumor size. Materials/Methods Q...

Background: Current standard radiotherapy for oropharynx cancer (OPC) is associated with high rates of severe toxicities, shown to adversely impact patients' quality of life. Given excellent outcomes of human papilloma virus (HPV)-associated OPC and long-term survival of these typically young patients, treatment de-intensification aimed at improvi...

Purpose: The purpose of this work is to investigate the use of low-energy monoenergetic decompositions obtained from dual energy CT (DECT) to enhance image contrast and the detection of radiation-induced changes of CT textures in pancreatic cancer. Methods: DECT data acquired for 10 consecutive pancreatic cancer patients during routine non-gated...

Purpose: To investigate radiation-induced changes of computed tomography (CT) textures in parotid glands (PG) to predict acute xerostomia during radiotherapy (RT) for head and neck cancer (HNC). Methods and materials: Daily or fraction kilovoltage CTs acquired using diagnostic CT scanners (eg, in-room CTs) during intensity-modulated RT for 59 HN...

151 Background: Radiation therapy (RT) is a common palliative treatment for bone metastasis. Despite copious evidence of palliative equipoise between single and multiple fractions, practice patterns vary widely amongst physicians. We evaluate practice patterns and the impact of treatment regimens on percentage of remaining life spent receiving RT (...

173 Background: Oncology inpatients frequently need urgent palliative radiation therapy (RT). Evaluating and treating these unscheduled patients adds challenge and stress to all members of the radiation oncology team. To efficiently and compassionately address these situations, and ensure prompt, evidence-based, quality treatment, we developed the...

242 Background: Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is an emerging modality of treatment designed to deliver high radiation doses in few fractions. We examine practice trends in the use of SBRT for managing bone metastases in patients with breast, kidney, non-small-cell lung, melanoma, or prostate cancer. Methods: We selected patients from t...

Purpose: Four-dimensional computed tomography (CT) images are typically used to quantify the necessary internal target volumes for thoracic and abdominal tumors. However, 4-dimensional CT is typically associated with excessive imaging dose to patients and the situation is exacerbated when using repeat 4-dimensional CT imaging on a weekly or daily b...

American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2017 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium

Background: Palliative therapies are provided to a subset of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with the aim of providing symptomatic relief, better quality of life and improved survival. The present study sought to assess and compare the efficacy of different palliative therapies for HCC. Methods: The National Cancer Database (NCDB), a ret...

Objective: The negative impact of comorbidity on survival in women with endometrial carcinoma (EC) is well-known. Few validated comorbidity indices are available for clinical use, such as the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), the Age-Adjusted CCI (AACCI), and the Adult Comorbidity Evaluation-27 (ACE-27). The aim of the study is to determine which...

Introduction: External radiation therapy (XRT) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been limited due to potential radiation induced liver disease (RILD). Interest in XRT has recently grown due to the ability to deliver focused high doses of XRT. We aimed to evaluate and synthesize the recent published data regarding HCC and stereotactic body radi...

390 Background: Palliative care is provided to a subset of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with the aim of symptomatic relief and improving quality of life. The present study sought to assess and compare the prevalence and efficacy of different palliative therapies for HCC from the National Cancer Database (NCDB). Methods: The NCDB, a retro...

Purpose: To propose single-isocenter dynamic conformal arcs (SIDCA), a novel technique for radiosurgery of multiple brain metastases, and to compare SIDCA with volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and multiple-isocenter dynamic conformal arcs (MIDCA) for plan quality. Methods and materials: SIDCA, MIDCA, and VMAT plans were created on 6 patie...

Abstract Pretreatment evaluation is performed to determine the number, location, and size of the brain metastases and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the recommended imaging technique, particularly in patients being considered for surgery or stereotactic radiosurgery. A contiguous thin-cut volumetric MRI with gadolinium with newer gadolinium-ba...

Objectives:: People over the age of 75 years account for approximately 40% of patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, many with comorbidities that may limit their treatment options. This study reports on the use of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in this population. Materials and methods:: Twenty consecutively treated patients over...

Deformable image registration (DIR) is an integral component for adaptive radiation therapy. However, accurate registration between daily cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and treatment planning CT is challenging, due to significant daily variations in rectal and bladder fillings as well as the increased noise levels in CBCT images. Another sign...

To determine the impact of age-adjusted Charlson comorbidity (AAC) index score on survival outcomes for patients with early stage endometrial cancer. After IRB-approval, AAC score at time of hysterectomy was retrospectively tabulated by physician chart review for 671 patients with 2009 FIGO stage I-II endometrioid adenocarcinoma. Patients were grou...

Purpose/objective: The optimal adjuvant treatment of type II endometrial carcinoma after hysterectomy remains controversial. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of adjuvant radiation therapy (RT) on recurrence-free survival (RFS), disease-specific survival (DSS), and overall survival in patients with early-stage type II endomet...

Introduction Hidradenitis suppurativa is a disfiguring skin condition characterized by recurring inflammatory and suppurative lesions in the flexural regions (ie, the axillae, inframammary folds, and inguinal, perineal, and intergluteal areas). It can have a tremendously detrimental impact on quality of life [1]. It is a part of the follicular tetr...

To evaluate the benefit of adding pelvic radiation treatment (EBRT) to vaginal cuff brachytherapy (VB) for women with early stage uterine serous carcinoma (USC) treated with adjuvant chemotherapy. After institutional review board (IRB) approval, the authors retrospectively identified 56 patients with 2009 International Federation of Gynecology and...

Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to determine whether racial disparity exists between African American (AA) and non-African American (NAA) patients with uterine endometrioid carcinoma who received similar multidisciplinary management. Methods: We identified 766 patients with endometrioid adenocarcinoma 2009 FIGO stages I-II who u...

Aim: To evaluate clinical outcomes and identify factors predictive for recurrence in patients with 1988 (FIGO) stage IA uterine endometrioid carcinoma. Patients who underwent hysterectomy for stage IA carcinoma were identified in our database. Fisher's exact and χ(2) tests were used to identify factors that influenced outcome. Survival plots were g...

Objective(s): To determine the influence of income on clinical outcomes in patients with surgical stages I to II endometrioid adenocarcinoma of the uterus. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the records of 660 women initially treated from 1985 to 2009. On the basis of income data obtained from the 2000 US census, patients were separated into v...

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S): To determine the prognostic significance of time to recurrence (TTR) on overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) following recurrence in patients with stage I-II uterine endometrioid carcinoma. After IRB approval, we retrospectively identified 57 patients with recurrent endometrioid carcinoma who were initiall...

Multiple options for retreatment are available, which include whole-brain radiation therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, surgery, chemotherapy, and supportive care. Size, number, timing, location, histology, performance status, and extracranial disease status all need to be carefully considered when choosing a treatment modality. There are no random...