Respiratory illness and air pollution from the steel industry: the case of Piquiá de Baixo, Brazil (Preliminary report).

Background: This report is based on an independent study carried out by medical professionals of the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori (National Cancer Institute) in Milan, Italy, and  aimed to assess the incidence of respiratory diseases in a Brazilian community (Piquiá de Baixo, in the city of Açailandia) exposed to extreme air pollution in connection to a local steel manufacturing plant. The study has the objective to contribute to the existing literature on the health risks associated with fine particle pollution (PM2.5) due to steel production with data from Brazil.

Effect of Bleomycin Administration on the Development of Pulmonary Toxicity in Patients With Metastatic Germ Cell Tumors Receiving First-Line Chemotherapy: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Studies.

Background: Limited information is available about the effect of bleomycin administration on the development of pulmonary toxicity in metastatic germ cell tumors (GCT).

Patients And Methods: A literature search was conducted to identify randomized trials of first-line chemotherapy for GCT. We conducted univariate and multivariate analyses using random effects models to evaluate the predictive role of bleomycin administration in the development of all Grade and Grade 3 to 4 (G3-4) pulmonary toxicity.

Cardiopulmonary toxicity of different chemoradiotherapy combined regimens for Hodgkin's disease.

Unlabelled: The majority of patients with Hodgkin's disease can be cured by combination of polychemotherapy and radiotherapy (RT) that can produce late toxic pulmonary and cardiac effects which often remain at a subclinical level. The aim of the present investigation was to compare the late pulmonary and cardiac toxicity of three chemotherapeutic regimens combined with RT and particularly doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine (ABVD), vincristine, epirubicin, cyclophosphamide, etoposide and prednisone (VEBEP) and ABVD with mechloretamine, vincristine, procarbazine and prednisone (MOPP).

Patients And Methods: We investigated 147 patients suffering from Hodgkin's disease after a follow-up of at least 5 years from the completion of CT-RT.

Serum cytokine in response to chemo-radiotherapy for Hodgkin's disease.

Aims And Background: Mediastinal radiotherapy and multiple-drug chemotherapy, including bleomycin employed in the treatment of Hodgkin's disease, can produce lung toxicity leading to fibrosis. There is increasing evidence of the involvement in the fibrosing process of different cytokines and growth factors such as TNF-alfa, IL-1 beta, TGF-beta and PDGF.

Material And Methods: In a pilot study, we evaluated lung function in 20 patients suffering from Hodgkin's disease, mainly in stage II A, submitted to multiple-drug chemotherapy including bleomycin (ABVD) and mediastinal radiotherapy and correlated its modifications with serum concentration of the cytokines determined by immunoenzymatic assay.

Preoperative evaluation of patients submitted to pneumonectomy for lung carcinoma: role of exercise testing.

The aim of the present investigation was to evaluate which parameters of preoperative spirometry, arterial blood gas, radionuclide lung scanning and cardiopulmonary exercise test are the best predictor of postoperative morbidity and mortality in patients submitted to pneumonectomy. The study was conducted in 150 patients (mean age, 57.1).