Protective effect of amifostine during fractionated radiotherapy in patients with pelvic carcinomas: results of a randomized trial.

Purpose: To evaluate whether pretreatment with amifostine can reduce treatment-induced toxicity in patients with pelvic malignancies undergoing radiotherapy (RT).

Methods And Materials: A total of 205 patients with pelvic malignancies (rectal, 32; bladder, 47; prostate, 40; gynecologic, 86) were randomized to receive RT (Group 1, n = 95) or RT plus amifostine (Group 2, n = 110). The patient characteristics for both treatment groups were well balanced.

Randomized phase III trial of radiation treatment +/- amifostine in patients with advanced-stage lung cancer.

Purpose: This multicenter trial investigated whether daily pretreatment with amifostine (A) could reduce the incidence of acute and late lung toxicity and esophagitis without affecting antitumor efficacy of radiation in advanced lung cancer.

Patients And Methods: Radiotherapy (XRT) patients (n = 146) received a daily fraction of 2 Gy/5 days/week to a total of 55-60 Gy +/- amifostine 340 mg/m(2) administered daily 15 min before irradiation. Acute and late toxicities were graded from 0 to 4 according to the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group/European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer system.

[Readiness of operating room for coping with mass disaster victims].

Mass disasters are sudden events which entail various damages and a large number of victims. For this purpose hospitals prepare disaster plans which give directions and define personnel duties in case of a disaster. In this paper an operating room disaster plan is presented which includes: organization of adequate and appropriate supplies; personnel duties and procedures during a disaster; and a continuous education programme in relation to the disaster plan for the staff.