Cancer
-
Review Comparative Study
Adjuvant therapy for gastric carcinoma patients in the past 15 years: a review of western and oriental trials.
The early detection of gastric carcinoma is neither feasible nor practiced around the world, except on a limited basis in Japan. Thus, because gastric carcinoma is detected later in most patients throughout the world, those who undergo curative resection still remain at high risk for relapse. Adjuvant therapy therefore has a potentially important place in the treatment of these patients. It has been extensively investigated in the Orient, North America, and Europe. The authors reviewed the results of these trials to determine the current status of adjuvant therapy. ⋯ Postoperative chemotherapy as an adjuvant to potentially curative resection of gastric carcinoma remains investigational despite more than 30 years of investigation in the West. Newer therapeutic combinations or strategies (preoperative chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy) have the potential to benefit the high risk patients.
-
The authors retrospectively reviewed their institution's long term experience with conventional external beam radiation therapy (RT) for localized prostate carcinoma to identify criteria associated with long term biochemical cure. ⋯ These results suggest that a patient has a high likelihood of biochemical cure after treatment for prostate carcinoma with conventional doses of external beam RT if he has not demonstrated biochemical failure within 5 years of treatment. Patients with lower pretreatment PSA levels and lower Gleason scores may require longer follow-up than those with less favorable characteristics to achieve the same certainty of cure. Patients who achieve a PSA nadir /= 2.0 years to reach this nadir have the highest probability of cure.
-
Extranodal soft tissue extension of axillary lymph node metastases (ETE) has been considered an indication for postmastectomy radiotherapy, including the axilla. However, it is unclear whether patients with ETE are at an increased risk of axillary recurrence. ⋯ The risk of axillary recurrence, either as an isolated event or as part of simultaneous failure, is extremely low, even in patients with ETE. These data suggest that patients with ETE frequently have higher numbers of positive axillary lymph nodes and on that basis are at risk for local recurrence and as a rule would be considered for postmastectomy irradiation. However, these data suggest that the presence of ETE is not an indication for routine postmastectomy axillary lymph node irradiation.
-
Clinical Trial
A phase I/II study of carboplatin combined with hyperfractionated radiotherapy for brainstem gliomas.
Brainstem gliomas often respond to radiotherapy but long term disease control is exceptional. The concomitant administration of a chemotherapy agent with radiosensitizing properties such as carboplatin may increase the efficacy of radiotherapy. ⋯ The cumulative MTD for carboplatin is 1540 mg/m(2) when administered concomitantly with involved field, hyperfractionated radiotherapy in a twice-weekly schedule for 7 weeks. Subsequent Phase II and III clinical trials can be conducted safely at this level.
-
Pain control is one of the most important goals of end-of-life care, and the use of opioids for this purpose is extremely common in hospice settings. However, it is unknown how many of the patients require high dose morphine (HDM, >299 mg/day of oral morphine equivalent), what the characteristics of these patients are, and whether the use of HDM might affect their survival. ⋯ A fairly strong correlation exists between morphine dosage and some clinicodemographic data. No significant dose-limiting adverse effects were observed, suggesting a high clinical safety profile. High morphine dosage does not affect patient survival. Awareness of the dosage factors will improve our ability to treat and predict probable HDM dosage, thus shortening the period until pain relief is reached.