Department of Clinical Oncology

Professor Dora Lai-wan KWONG

鄺麗雲教授

MBBS, MD, FRCR, FHKCR, FHKAM
Clinical Professor

E-mail:dlwkwong@hkucc.hku.hk

 

Research Interest:

I am interested in precision radiotherapy with the emphasis on intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). IMRT is an advanced radiotherapy technique which can concentrate radiation in tumor while sparing normal tissue from high dose radiation. With IMRT, radiation complications can be minimized while maintaining high chance of tumor control after treatment. Queen Mary Hospital is the first to start this advanced radiotherapy technique in Hong Kong. We have shown that IMRT can attain high rate of tumor cure as well as reserving normal function and quality of life in patients after treatment. I am also interested in studies of normal tissue response to radiation and the means to reduce radiation complications. For cancer treatment, we emphasize on multimodality treatment and multidisciplinary care. There are ongoing clinical studies, translational research and molecular studies for head and neck cancers especially nasopharyngeal carcinoma, paediatric cancers, brain tumors and esophageal cancer. Combined modality treatment like chemoradiotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy and other novel drug treatment are being studied. For basic research, we study the cytogenetics of esophageal carcinoma, their role in carcinogenesis and progression of cancer. For head and neck cancers, we have found gene hypermethylation to be common phenomenon and are performing studies to test the sensitivities of hypermethylated genes and proteonomics in detection of cancer and monitoring of residual disease after treatment.

Fig.1 Isodose distribution using IMRT for treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The parotids are spared of radiation.

 

Fig.2 Dose volume histogram of the same patient. The median dose to parotid was 22gy while the tumor received a prescribed dose of 68gy.

 

Selected Publications:

1. Choy EY, Siu KL, Kok KH, Lung RW, Tsang CM, To KF, Kwong DL, Tsao SW, and Jin DY, An Epstein-Barr virus-encoded microRNA targets PUMA to promote host cell survival. J Exp Med, 2008. 205(11): p. 2551-60.
   
   
2. Qin YR, Fu L, Sham PC, Kwong DL, Zhu CL, Chu KK, Li Y, and Guan XY, Single-nucleotide polymorphism-mass array reveals commonly deleted regions at 3p22 and 3p14.2 associate with poor clinical outcome in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Int J Cancer., 2008. 123(4): p. 826-30.
   
   
3. Tong DK, Kwong DL, Law S, Wong KH, and Wong J, Cervical nodal metastasis from intrathoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is not necessarily an incurable disease. J Gastrointest Surg., 2008. 12(10): p. 1638-45.
   
   
4. Yuan XJ, Chan GC, Chan SK, Shek TW, Kwong DL, Wei WI, Ha SY, and Chiang AK, Treatment outcome of rhabdomyosarcoma in Hong Kong Chinese children. Hong Kong Med J., 2008. 14(2): p. 116-23.
   
   
5. Fu L, Qin YR, Xie D, Chow HY, Ngai SM, Kwong DL, Li Y, and Guan XY, Identification of alpha-actinin 4 and 67 kDa laminin receptor as stage-specific markers in esophageal cancer via proteomic approaches. Cancer., 2007. 110(12): p. 2672-81.
   
   
6. Fu L, Qin YR, Xie D, Hu L, Kwong DL, Srivastava G, Tsao SW, and Guan XY, Characterization of a novel tumor-suppressor gene PLC delta 1 at 3p22 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Cancer Res. , 2007. 67(22): p. 10720-6.
   
   
7. Lee PW, Kwan TT, Kwong DL, Sham JS, Pow EH, McMillan AS, and Au GK, A prospective study of the impact of nasopharyngeal cancer and radiotherapy on the psychosocial condition of Chinese patients. Cancer., 2007. 109(7): p. 1344-54.
   
   
8. Li J, Kwong DL, and Chan GC, The effects of various irradiation doses on the growth and differentiation of marrow-derived human mesenchymal stromal cells. Pediatr Transplant., 2007. 11(4): p. 379-87.
   
   
9. Nicholls JM, Chan MC, Chan WY, Wong HK, Cheung CY, Kwong DL, Wong MP, Chui WH, Poon LL, Tsao SW, Guan Y, and Peiris JS, Tropism of avian influenza A (H5N1) in the upper and lower respiratory tract. Nat Med., 2007. 13(2): p. 147-9.
   
   
10. Qiu D, Kwong DL, Chan GC, Leung LH, and Khong PL, Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging finding of discrepant fractional anisotropy between the frontal and parietal lobes after whole-brain irradiation in childhood medulloblastoma survivors: reflection of regional white matter radiosensitivity? Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys., 2007. 69(3): p. 846-51.
    
    
11. Ying M, Wu VW, and Kwong DL, Comparison of sonographic appearance of normal and postradiotherapy parotid glands: a preliminary study. Ultrasound Med Biol., 2007. 33(8): p. 1244-50.

 

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