Anticancer research
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Anticancer research · Mar 2003
HER-2/neu determination in blood plasma of patients with HER-2/neu overexpressing metastasized breast cancer: a longitudinal study.
This retrospective study was designed to evaluate the serological HER-2/neu determination as a predictor of the clinical outcome of patients with metastasized breast cancer receiving a trastuzumab therapy. Twenty trastuzumab patients were included into this study. Plasma samples of each patient were collected from the beginning of a trastuzumab therapy until the first imaging diagnostics. ⋯ All ten therapy responders displayed a normal HER-2/neu either from the beginning of the trastuzumab administration or a value normalization paralleled the course. Patients with permanent elevated or increasing HER-2/neu levels displayed a poor clinical outcome in six out of ten cases. Our data suggest that HER-2/neu determination in the plasma of patients with metastasized breast cancer could be a powerful tool for prediction of the patient's outcome after a trastuzumab-based therapy.
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Anticancer research · Mar 2003
Comparative StudyPharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of cisplatin after intraoperative hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemoperfusion (HIPEC).
HIPEC is a new treatment modality for abdominal cancers that combines cytoreductive surgery with Hyperthermic, Intraoperative Peritoneal Chemotherapy, followed by systemic chemotherapy. A significant survival benefit has been shown for HIPEC compared with systemic therapy alone. However, it is not clear what is the contribution of i.p. drug delivery and what influence the mild hyperthermia has on the uptake of cisplatin in abdominal tumors. ⋯ Mild hyperthermic perfusion with cisplatin (40 degrees C/90 minutes) did not improve drug uptake in small intra-peritoneal tumors, relative to normothermic perfusion or i.p. bolus injection.