Tumori
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The role of high-dose chemotherapy in breast cancer has not been fully defined. It has been concluded that new trials should focus on defining potential subgroups that are more likely to benefit from high-dose chemotherapy. We compared survival differences in patients receiving human granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) or granulocyte-monocyte colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) after high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell support. ⋯ Patients receiving GM-CSF posttransplant lived longer and they had fewer relapses than those who received G-CSF. This result merits consideration. The antitumor activity of GM-CSF should be investigated further in prospective randomized trials.
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This study retrospectively analyzes the use of chemotherapy in patients who died of advanced cancer either after having been in care at the Medical Oncology Unit (MOU) of the University Hospital of Bologna, Italy, or after having been assisted in their terminal disease phase by the Bologna Oncological Hospice at Home (OHH) of the Associazione Nazionale Tumori (ANT) Italia Foundation. In the latter group, the prescription and delivery of chemotherapy had been performed by doctors of medical oncology departments other than the MOU. ⋯ The study suggests the urgent need to lay down guidelines for the appropriate use of chemotherapy in advanced cancer patients with a short life expectancy.
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Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common and most malignant primary brain tumor in adults. The current standard of care for glioblastoma is surgical resection to the extent feasible, followed by adjuvant radiotherapy plus temozolomide, given concomitantly with and after radiotherapy. This report is a prospective observational study of 43 cases treated in the Department of Radiotherapy, University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy. We examine the relationship between pathologic features and objective response rate in adult patients treated with concomitant radiation plus temozolomide to identify clinical, neuroradiologic, pathologic, and molecular factors with prognostic significance. ⋯ The results suggest that analysis of prognostic markers in glioblastoma multiforme is complex. In addition to previously recognized prognostic variables such as age and Karnofsky performance score, tumor size, total resection and proliferation index overexpression were identified as predictors of survival in a series of patients with glioblastoma multiforme.