33 research outputs found
Ifosfamide with regional hyperthermia in soft-tissue sarcomas
No full textFor high-risk soft tissue sarcomas (HR-STS) of adults, new treatment strategies are needed to improve outcome with regard to local control and overall survival. Therefore, systemic chemotherapy has been integrated either after (adjuvant) or before (neoadjuvant) optimal local treatment by surgery and radiotherapy in HR-STS. The combination with regional hyperthermia as a new treatment strategy seems to open a new therapeutic window. Copyright (C) 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel
Single-cell detection of ets-1 transcripts in human neuroectodermal cells
No full textThe genes of the ets family are thought to code for a novel class of transcriptional factors. These proteins have a specific DNA-binding domain different from the basic domain of both the helix-loop-helix and leucine zipper families of DNA-binding proteins. The ets-1 gene product has been shown to bind to the enhancer region of the human T-cell receptor alpha gene during thymocyte ontogeny. This finding explains the high expression of ets-1 observed in T cells and the correlation between ets-1 expression and the expression of the T-cell receptor gene during fetal development. The ets-1 gene is also possibly biologically active in neural cells. By using RNA in situ hybridization analysis, we demonstrate the presence of ets-1 transcripts in cells of peripheral embryonal neuroectodermal tumors, specifically neuroepithelioma and neuroblastoma. In addition, the gene is found transcribed in Ewing's sarcoma, postulated to be ontogenetically related to tumors derived from the neural crest
Limited clinical relevance of imaging techniques in the follow-up of patients with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia: results of a meta-analysis.
No full textThe clinical value of imaging is well established for the follow-up of many lymphoid malignancies but not for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). A meta-analysis was performed with the dataset of 3 German CLL Study Group phase 3 trials (CLL4, CLL5, and CLL8) that included 1372 patients receiving first-line therapy for CLL. Response as well as progression during follow-up was reassessed according to the National Cancer Institute Working Group1996 criteria. A total of 481 events were counted as progressive disease during treatment or follow-up. Of these, 372 progressions (77%) were detected by clinical symptoms or blood counts. Computed tomography (CT) scans or ultrasound were relevant in 44 and 29 cases (9% and 6%), respectively. The decision for relapse treatment was determined by CT scan or ultrasound results in only 2 of 176 patients (1%). CT scan results had an impact on the prognosis of patients in complete remission only after the administration of conventional chemotherapy but not after chemoimmunotherapy. In conclusion, physical examination and blood count remain the methods of choice for staging and clinical follow-up of patients with CLL as recommended by the International Workshop on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia 2008 guidelines. These trials are registered at http://www.isrctn.org as ISRCTN 75653261 and ISRCTN 36294212 and at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00281918
Fractionated radiotherapy of lentigo maligna and lentigo maligna melanoma in 64 patients
No full textThermochemotherapy in patients with extremity high-risk soft tissue sarcomas (HR-STS).
No full textPURPOSE: We report data from phase II trials examining the efficacy of multimodality treatment with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, hyperthermia, surgery, radiation and postoperative thermochemotherapy in adult patients with high-risk sarcomas of the extremities. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From 1991 to 2001 47 patients with high risk soft tissue sarcoma of the extremities were prospectively treated in two clinical trials with a treatment plan of four cycles of etoposide, ifosfamide and doxorubicin combined with regional hyperthermia followed by surgery, radiation and adjuvant chemotherapy. RESULTS: Objective response rate assessable in 39 patients was 21% (one complete and seven partial responses). A favourable histological response (>75% tumour necrosis) was observed in 34% of the 35 evaluable patients who had surgical resection. Median overall survival (OS) was 105 months. The five-year probability of local failure-free survival (LFFS), distant disease-free survival (DDFS), event-free survival (EFS) and OS were 48%, 55%, 35% and 57%, respectively. There were no significant differences between responders and non-responders of minimum temperatures (Tmin) and time-averaged temperatures achieved in 50% (T(50)) and 90% (T(90)) at all measured tumour sites. Response to this neoadjuvant regimen predicted for prolonged LFFS (p = 0.0123), but not for OS (p = 0.2). Limb preservation was achieved in 37 patients (79%) and did not result in inferior DDFS (52% versus 50%) or OS (61% versus 50%) at five years (p = 0.8) in comparison to patients who underwent amputation. CONCLUSION: Response to combined modality treatment with RHT and neoadjuvant chemotherapy was predictive for an improved LFFS and led to limb preservation in 79% of patients with extremity sarcomas
MR-imaging changes of musculoskeletal soft-tissue sarcomas associated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and hyperthermia.
No full textChromosomal translocations are associated with poor prognosis in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
No full textIn chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), chromosomes usually evade detailed cytogenetic analyses because cells poorly respond to the traditionally used set of mitogens. We applied novel technologies, such as stimulation of CLL cells either with CD40 ligand or with a combination of CpG-oligodeoxynucleotides and IL-2, to increase the frequency of metaphase spreads for detailed chromosome analysis in 96 patients with CLL. This approach revealed that translocations occurred in 33 of 96 (34%) of our patients with CLL. The presence of translocations defined a new prognostic subgroup because these patients have significantly shorter median treatment-free survival (24 months vs 106 months; P < .001) and significantly inferior overall survival (OS; median, 94 months) than patients without translocations (346 months; P < .001). In multivariate analysis-including Binet stage, complex karyotype, CD38 expression, and 17p deletions-translocation proved to be the prognostic marker with the highest impact for an unfavorable clinical outcome (P < .001). In summary, we identified a new subgroup of patients with CLL defined by chromosomal trans-locations and poor prognosis. Our data may facilitate the identification of molecular events crucial for transforming activity in this disease and should have implications for risk-adapted clinical management of patients with CLL
Systematic Review of Escalated Imatinib Doses Compared with Sunitinib or Best Supportive Care, for the Treatment of People with Unresectable/Metastatic Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumours Whose Disease has Progressed on the Standard Imatinib Dose
No full textPMID: 21971958 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] PMCID: PMC3348468 Free PMC Article This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are creditedPeer reviewe
