A simple outpatient treatment with oral ifosfamide and oral etoposide for patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC)

For the first time in a clinical study oral Ifosfamide was used: 65 elderly or unfit patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) were treated as outpatients with fractionated oral Ifosfamide and Etoposide. Forty patients (62%) had extensive stage (ED) disease. The median age of the patients was 66 years. In the 60 patients evaluable for response the objective response rate was 90% with a complete response (CR) rate of 32% and a partial response (PR) rate of 58%. The overall median survival of all 65 patients was 11 months (13 months for LD, 9.5 months for ED). In those patients with LD achieving a CR or a PR radiotherapy was given to the mediastinum. No prophylactic cranial irradiation was given. There was a rapid improvement in the responding patients' performance status and symptoms generally with the first treatment cycle. Overall haematological toxicity was mild, with intravenous antibiotics only being required in 4% of the courses and with only one treatment-related death from septicaemia. A higher than expected rate of CNS toxicity was seen (30%). This was generally mild and always fully reversible and consisted mainly of forgetfulness, occasionally hallucinations, nightmares and somnolence. In only one case did encephalopathy necessitate early termination of treatment. This raises the question of whether Ifosfamide metabolism differs quantitatively or qualitatively when given by the oral route as opposed to the usual intravenous route. We conclude that this simple outpatient based treatment gives a high response rate with rapid improvement in symptoms.     

The use of choline chloride in ataxic disorders.

Fourteen patients with a variety of ataxic disorders were given choline chloride, double blind for six weeks, in an attempt to improve gait and manual dexterity. One patient withdrew before receiving the active drug, twelve patients showed no functional improvement, but one achieved greater mobility; his response, which was dose dependent, ceased when choline was stopped and was reproducible.     

Evaluation of Individualized Asthma Self-Management Programs

We compared the effectiveness of personalized asthma self-management recommendations with that of a group self-management program. We assigned each of 34 asthma patients randomly to one of three conditions: individualized asthma self-management, group asthma self-management, and control. We derived individualized self-management recommendations from patient recordings of asthma occurrence, asthma precipitants, and peak expiratory flow rate made during a 3-month period. The group program we used was the Wheezers Anonymous program. As compared to a control group of patients who received no self-management training, the patients in both the individualized and group condition evidenced improvement of pulmonary function, as measured daily with a home peak flow meter. The improvement was equivalent for patients in the two conditions. Patients in the individualized condition also exhibited a drop in frequency of asthma attacks, but patients in the group condition did not. We concluded that individualized asthma self-management is effective in reducing symptoms of asthma.