British journal of cancer
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British journal of cancer · Sep 1996
EditorialDelivering cancer care: a model from the West Midlands.
It would seem that time, tide and wind are favourably set for a shift in the organisation of cancer services. Let us test the hypotheses outlined in this brief paper and see if these changes will bring about demonstrable benefit.
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British journal of cancer · Aug 1996
Multicenter Study Clinical TrialA multicentre phase II study of docetaxel 75 mg m-2 as first-line chemotherapy for patients with advanced breast cancer: report of the Clinical Screening Group of the EORTC. European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer.
In this phase II study, 39 women (median age 51 years) with advanced breast cancer received docetaxel (75 mg m-2) intravenously over 1 h every 3 weeks as first-line chemotherapy for advanced disease, without routine premedication for hypersensitivity reactions. In 31 evaluable patients, an overall response rate of 52% (95% CI 33-70%) was achieved, including a complete response rate of 13%. The median time to first response was 12 weeks (range 3-35+), the median duration of response was 34 weeks (range 11-42+) and the median time to progression was 24 weeks (range 0-42+). ⋯ Compared with an earlier study of first-line docetaxel at the usual dose of 100 mg-2, it appears that 75 mg m-2 produces a lower response rate (52% vs 68%), although this still compares favourably with that of doxorubicin monotherapy in a similar patient population (43%). This difference is particularly striking in subgroups of patients with particularly poor prognostic factors, such as liver metastases or involvement of more than two organs. The incidence of fluid retention appears to be similar at the two doses and, it is likely that premedication with corticosteroids will be preferable to dose reduction for managing this adverse event.
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British journal of cancer · Jul 1996
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialInhaled sodium cromoglycate to treat cough in advanced lung cancer patients.
C-fibres probably represent the common final pathway in both ACE inhibitors and neoplastic cough. A recent report demonstrated that inhaled sodium cromoglycate is an effective treatment for ACE inhibitors' cough; this effect might be due to the suppression of afferent unmyelinated C-fibres. We tested the hypothesis that inhaled sodium cromoglycate might also be effective in lung cancer patients who presented with irritative neoplastic cough. ⋯ The efficacy of treatment was tested with the Mann-Whitney U-test for non-parametric measures, comparing the intergroup differences in the measures of summary of symptom scores calculated in each patient before and after treatment. We report that inhaled sodium cromoglycate can reduce cough, also in NSCLC patients and that such reduction, observed in all patients treated, is statistically significant (P < 0.001). Inhaled sodium cromoglycate appears to be a cost-effective and safe treatment for lung cancer-related cough.
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British journal of cancer · Jul 1996
Calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D, dairy products and colorectal carcinogenesis: a French case--control study.
A protective effect of calcium against colorectal cancer has been described in Anglo-Saxon but not in Latin communities, and no such effect has been observed regarding adenomas. We investigated the relationship between calcium, dairy products and the adenoma-carcinoma sequence in a French region by comparing small adenoma ( < 10 mm, n = 154), large adenoma (n = 208) and polyp-free (n = 426) subjects, and cancer cases (n = 171) with population controls (n = 309). There was no protective effect of calcium against colorectal tumours except for low fat calcium and large adenomas in men (OR for highest quintile = 0.3, P for trend = 0.06). ⋯ Regarding dairy products, only consumption of yoghurt displayed an inverse relationship with risk of large adenomas, in both men and women. These data failed to demonstrate a protective effect of calcium against colorectal carcinogenesis. They suggest that the type of dairy product might be the important factor with regard to prevention of colorectal tumours.