Intensive weekly chemotherapy for good-prognosis patients with small-cell lung cancer.

A weekly, intensive chemotherapy regimen has been used to treat 70 patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). Forty-five patients had limited disease (LD) and 25 extensive disease (ED) with good prognostic features. The regimen consisted of cisplatin 50 mg/m2 intravenously (IV) day 1 and etoposide 75 mg/m2 IV days 1 and 2, alternating weekly with ifosfamide 2 g/m2 IV day 8 and doxorubicin 25 mg/m2 IV day 8, for a total of 12 weeks. Dose modifications were made according to defined hematologic criteria. Responding patients with limited disease subsequently received mediastinal radiotherapy. Overall response to chemotherapy was 91% with a complete response (CR) rate of 50%. Forty-five patients with limited disease (LD) achieved an overall response rate of 91% with a CR rate of 51%, and 25 patients with extensive disease (ED) achieved an overall response rate of 92% with a CR rate of 48%. Median survival for the whole group was 54 weeks (LD, 58 weeks; ED, 42 weeks). Hematologic toxicity was predictable, without the wide fluctuations in WBC count seen in conventional 3-weekly regimens. In all, one quarter of treatment courses were delayed, most frequently because of leukopenia. Dose reductions were required in 63% of cases. The average delivered dose intensity was calculated and shown to be 73% of projected. Nonhematologic toxicity was mild with nausea and vomiting being the most common. This weekly schedule of chemotherapy has proved to be active and well tolerated and is currently being compared with conventional 3-weekly chemotherapy in a randomized study.     

Über Angio-gliomatosis retinae (sog. v. Hippelsche Krankheit)

Ohne ZusammenfassungNach einem am 23. X. 13 in der Berl. ophth. Ges. gehaltenen Vortrag.     

Risk factors for well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma in patients with thyroid nodular disease.

OBJECTIVES: Evaluate current accepted risk factors for well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma, and develop a predictive model to determine one's risk of malignancy given a thyroid nodule. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of 600 patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Patients with benign thyroid nodular disease and with well-differentiated thyroid cancer were randomly selected. Patient, clinical, and investigational data were compared by means of univariate and multivariate regression analyses. RESULTS: Age, regional lymphadenopathy, ipsilateral vocal cord palsy, solid and/or calcified nodules, and an aspiration biopsy being malignant or suspicious predicted for cancer (P < 0.05). Regional lymphadenopathy and vocal cord palsy are perfect predictors of malignancy. Multivariate analysis indicated age, solid and/or calcified nodules, and all fine-needle aspiration biopsy results to be significant in assessing risk (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Taking individual risk factors in isolation is not always reliable. Using a predictive model, one can anticipate a patient's risk of malignancy when the diagnosis is unclear.     

Predictive value of tumor thickness in squamous carcinoma confined to the tongue and floor of the mouth

In this review of 105 consecutive patients who underwent operation for previously untreated, N0 squamous carcinomas arising in the oral tongue or the floor of the mouth, 86 percent of the determinate patients remained alive and well 2 years after treatment. Included were 48 patients, 49 patients, and 8 patients who had T1, T2, and T3 tumors respectively. Elective cervical lymphadenectomy was performed in about a third, but tumor staging did not facilitate selection of those who were most likely to have occult metastases. For this reason, we retrospectively assessed the impact of tumor thickness using an optical micrometer to measure the thickness in millimeters of the excised tumors in routinely prepared paraffin sections. Disease-related death appears to be unusual when oral tumors are thin (2 mm or less), regardless of the tumor stage. Multivariate analysis confirms that increasing tumor thickness, rather than tumor stage, had the best correlation with treatment failure and survival. These findings need to be verified in prospective studies involving a larger patient population and other head and neck sites, but they strongly suggest that measurement of tumor thickness may be a better way to select those oral cancer patients who are most likely to benefit from elective treatment of the N0 neck.     

Observations on the natural history and treatment of recurrent major salivary gland cancer

In an attempt to define the natural history and the indications for postoperative radiotherapy (RT) in locally recurrent major salivary gland cancers, we reviewed 78 patients treated between 1965 and 1982. All patients underwent resection of the tumor. Group 1 (N = 38) had complete resection of tumors, with low or intermediate grade histology and without lymph node spread. Group 2 consisted of the remaining 40 patients who had high-risk features (HR) (high grade histology, lymph node metastases, and close or positive margins of resection). Half of the Group 2 patients received radiation therapy. Overall survival was 63% at 5 years, and 35% at 15 years. Survival of Group 1 was 83% at 5 years and 58% at 15 years. Local control for Group 1 was 69% at 5 years, 54% at 15 years, and was size-dependent. Group 2 survival was 40% at 5 years and 29% at 10 years. Local control at 5 and 10 years was 49% and 35%. Our data indicate that surgery alone yielded good local control in patients with small tumors (less than or equal to 3 cm) and no HR features, suggesting that postoperative RT may be unnecessary for these patients. Other patients have suboptimal local control, and although there is a rationale for the use of postoperative radiotherapy, we cannot assess its impact in this retrospective study.     

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Zur Jodtherapie der Bleivergiftung

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