European journal of surgical oncology : the journal of the European Society of Surgical Oncology and the British Association of Surgical Oncology
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Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Prolonged venous access in cancer patients.
One hundred and forty-eight Hickman-Broviac (HB) catheters and 299 Port-a-Cath R (PAC) were inserted over the past 5 years at the Institut Jules Bordet. The HB catheter was associated with a complication rate of 4.1/1000 days of access, of which infections were the most common, leading to catheter removal in 22% of patients. The average PAC remained in situ for 232.9 (range 1-1298) days; the complication rate was only 0.45/1000 days of access. The Hickman-Broviac catheter and the totally implanted port Port-a-Cath achieve safe and reliable venous access in cancer patients.
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The titres of IgA against Epstein-Barr virus, viral capsid antigens and the titres of IgG against early antigen were found to be useful markers for the diagnosis of different histopathological types of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
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A relationship between breast and colonic cancer has been suggested so we looked at the incidence of colonic carcinoma in the relatives of familial and sporadic breast cancer patients. We found that there is an increased incidence of colonic cancer in the relatives of familial breast cancer patients as compared with the relatives of sporadic breast cancer patients. This risk was higher in men than women (P less than or equal to 0.05). The relatives of familial breast cancer patients are a high risk group for developing colonic carcinoma, and would benefit from colonic screening.
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Perineal pain caused by cancer in the pelvic region is difficult to manage. Systemic narcotics often provide incomplete relief. A patient with perineal pain due to recurrence of a rectal carcinoma successfully treated with repeated intrathecal neurolytic blocks is described.