PubMed · 10112866
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S Begley, M Starr. 1991-08-26. Choosing death.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10112866/
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PURPOSE: Institutional structure, function, and philosophy reflect the organizational needs, and tend to mirror societal values of the times. For many years, the field of radiation oncology had among its major academic centers, an organization that served as a model for collaboration among health care institutions in an effort to serve the common good of its patients, hospitals, professional colleagues, and community. For over three decades, the Joint Center for Radiation Therapy (JCRT) was a leader in developing new organizational approaches for academic and clinical radiation oncology through the philosophy of collaboration in patient care, education, and research. METHODS AND RESULTS: In tracing the development and changes in organizational philosophy and structure of the JCRT, one can see the impact on academic oncology and cancer care through the emergence of both radiation and medical oncology as independent subspecialties, the importance of the National Cancer Act of 1971 accompanied by the growth of the NIH research and training programs and, more recently, the effect of the changing attitudes and approaches of hospitals, academicians, practitioners, and policy makers to health care delivery, structures, and cooperation. CONCLUSION: Lessons learned from the 31-year history of the JCRT may help provide organizational insight useful in guiding academic oncology and academic medical centers through periods of change.
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BACKGROUND: Ciliary body location is an established prognostic factor for metastasis-related death from uveal melanoma. We evaluated alternative approaches for classifying this covariate when constructing predictive models of patient survival. METHODS AND DESIGN: The analyses were based on a consecutive series of 1848 primary choroidal and/or ciliary body melanoma patients treated with proton beam irradiation (70 cobalt gray equivalent in 5 fractions) at the Harvard Cyclotron Laboratory, Boston, Mass, between July 1975 and December 1995. For each patient, the anatomic site of the tumor was classified according to an estimate of the proportion of the tumor base lying anterior to the ora serrata. Using proportional hazards regression, we estimated relative risk ratios and death rates from melanoma metastasis according to the extent of ciliary body involvement. All estimates were adjusted for other established prognostic factors. RESULTS: Patients were followed up through April 30, 1998; none were lost to follow-up. Of 1848 patients analyzed, 378 died of melanoma metastasis. The median follow-up period among survivors was 9.5 years. Ciliary body origin (>50% of tumor base anterior to the ora serrata) was positively associated with tumor pigmentation (P<.001), tumor height (P<.001), and extrascleral extension of the tumor (P<.001). Compared with tumors involving only the choroid, melanoma-associated death rates increased with the proportion of the tumor base lying within the ciliary body (P =. 006); the multivariate-adjusted relative risk ratio for greater than 75% involvement was 2.30 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.26-4.23). The covariate-adjusted 5-year death rates for ciliary body origin and choroidal origin were 15.9% (95% CI, 11.3%-21.2%) and 9.8% (95% CI, 8.3%-11.7%), respectively. CONCLUSION: Patients with melanomas of presumed ciliary body origin seem to be subject to a higher risk of death resulting from melanoma metastasis. Arch Ophthalmol. 2000;118:1066-1070