Onkologie
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We wanted to determine the factors influencing survival in a retrospective review of patients with melanoma brain metastases to permit more specific recommendations regarding therapy. ⋯ Radiotherapy, chemotherapy and especially surgery and stereotactic radiosurgery seem to significantly prolong survival, as shown by multivariate analysis. Treatment with temozolomide will possibly play an important role in the future management of patients with brain metastases from cutaneous melanoma, but further prospective studies to verify this assumption are urgently needed.
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Case Reports
Complete response of multiple melanoma brain metastases after treatment with temozolomide.
Inoperable melanoma brain metastases are usually uniformly fatal, and complete response after cytotoxic therapy is rare. ⋯ The present observation suggests that temozolomide may be an active and well tolerated treatment for malignant melanoma brain metastases.
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The need for palliative care is increasing throughout the world. Developing countries are progressively faced with an ageing population, whose changing health needs require urgent action. Insufficient access to care for both cancer and AIDS patients make palliative care the only humane and feasible response in many contexts. ⋯ The synergistic effect of motivation and knowledge, coupled with the use of local resources, has made possible the development of a network of palliative care services, available for free to terminally ill patients. The challenge of adapting such a model to other developing countries is discussed.
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The results of the standard therapy of upper gastrointestinal tract cancer remain unsatisfactory, mainly because still the majority of cases are diagnosed at a late stage of disease, which implicates a poor prognosis. Innovative strategies focus on neoadjuvant chemotherapy in locally advanced gastric cancer and chemo- or radiochemotherapy in advanced oesophageal cancer. ⋯ There is rising evidence that adjuvant radiochemotherapy in gastric cancer may be of benefit for curatively resected patients, whereas the results of trials including a systematic lymphadenectomy have to be awaited. New substances like the taxanes or irinotecan in the palliative setting did not prove to be superior to platinum-based standard chemotherapy protocols so far.