In vivo
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We have initiated a clinical database of patients with neuroendocrine tumours (n = 132). Data on patients with well-differentiated endocrine carcinoma (WHO classification) previous classified as midgut carcinoid patients, are presented. ⋯ This group of patients exhibited the same characteristic clinical features with similar survival as reported from other specialised centres. Radical surgery, normal CgA level and <5 liver metastases indicated a good prognosis and patients with <5 liver metastases had a significantly better survival compared to patients with multiple liver metastases.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of pain quality descriptors in cancer patients with nociceptive and neuropathic pain.
The aim of this study was to explore the differences in the descriptors for neuropathic and nociceptive pain in cancer patients. ⋯ Sensory quality and some of pain descriptors may differentiate neuropathic from nociceptive pain in cancer patients.
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Pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) is a rare and fatal disease for which no standard treatment has been established. Encouraging results have been recently reported with the combination of cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intra-peritoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). ⋯ Favourable outcome after CRS and HIPEC can be expected in patients affected by PMP variants with low histological aggressiveness, undergoing optimal surgical cytoreduction and with no pre-operative systemic chemotherapy.
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Skin metastasis from lung cancer is an unusual event carrying an ominous prognosis. Three cases with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with skin involvement and rapidly fatal clinical course due to extensive CNS metastasis are reported. The eventual association of skin metastases and a phenotype with "CNS-predilection" or an aggressive phase of NSCLC are discussed.
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Pulmonary irradiation fibrosis involves migration to the lungs of bone marrow origin myofibroblast progenitor cells (marrow stromal cells (MSCs)). Smad3-/- mice display decreased ionizing irradiation-induced skin fibrosis, defective osteochondrogenesis and other abnormalities thought to be associated with a defective stromal cell response(s) to transforming growth factor-beta (TGFFbeta). Clonal bone marrow stromal cell lines were derived from the adherent layer of continuous bone marrow cultures of homozygous deletion recombinant negative Smad3-/- mice and Smad3+/+ littermates. ⋯ Intravenously injected GFP transgene product labeled Smad3-/- (MSCs) seeded 10-fold less effectively than ds-red transgene product labeled Smad3+/+ cells to the 80 days post 20 Gy irradiated lungs of C57BL/6J mice and proliferated less significantly for 60 days after cell injection. Female mice chimeric for male Smad3-/- compared to Smad3+/+ marrow showed decreased irradiation pulmonary fibrosis, Y+ stromal cell migration to the lungs, and improved survival. The data show that the reduced in vitro and in vivo migratory capacity of Smad3-/- bone marrow stromal cells correlates with decreased radiation pulmonary fibrosis observed in mice chimeric for Smad3-/- marrow.