Pediatric surgery international
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Pediatr. Surg. Int. · May 2007
Long term cardiopulmonary effects of closed repair of pectus excavatum.
The closed or "Nuss" repair of pectus excavatum is widely accepted for correction of moderate to severe deformities. Patients typically report significant subjective improvements in pulmonary symptoms, and short and medium term evaluations (up to 2 years with the bar in place) suggest modest improvement to cardiac function but a decrease in pulmonary function. This study examined the effects at 3 months post-bar removal of closed repair of pectus on pulmonary function, exercise tolerance and cardiac function. ⋯ Objective measures of FEV1, total lung capacity, diffusing lung capacity, O(2) pulse, VO(2max), and respiratory quotient all showed significant improvement compared to preoperative values, while normalized values of cardiac index at rest did not (All values normalized for height and age, comparisons P < 0.05 by student's paired t test). These results demonstrate a sustained improvement in cardiopulmonary function after bar removal following closed repair of pectus excavatum. These findings contrast with results from previous studies following the open procedure, or with the closed procedure at earlier time points; the long term physiological effects of closed repair of pectus excavatum include improved aerobic capacity, likely through a combination of pulmonary and cardiac effects.
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Pediatr. Surg. Int. · May 2007
Effects of standard chemotherapy on tumor growth and regulation of multidrug resistance genes and proteins in childhood rhabdomyosarcoma.
The prognosis of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) in advanced stages is still sobering. Therapy is limited due to local tumor recurrence, development of metastases and multidrug resistance. The aim of this study was to investigate the development of multidrug resistance in cell lines and in xenografts of alveolar and embryonal RMS treated according to the German Soft Tissue Sarcoma Study (CWS). ⋯ Chemotherapy seemed to upregulate the expression of resistance-associated genes in vitro and in vivo. The mechanism of multidrug resistance depends on the tumor subtype. Therefore, further investigations will be required to evaluate multidrug resistance in patients and to investigate new modalities for a reversal of multidrug resistance.