Phase II study of irinotecan and amrubicin in patients with relapsed non-small cell lung cancer: Okayama Lung Cancer Study Group Trial 0402.

Background: The survival advantage achieved by existing anti-cancer agents as second-line therapy for relapsed non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is modest and further improvement of treatment outcome is desired. Combination chemotherapy with irinotecan and amrubicin for advanced NSCLC has not been fully evaluated.

Methods: The primary endpoint of this phase II clinical trial was objective response.

Long-term follow-up of phase II trial of docetaxel and cisplatin with concurrent thoracic radiation therapy for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: Chemoradiation improves survival for patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but clinical outcomes beyond five years are rarely reported. The aim of the present study was to identify the long-term results of a phase II study of docetaxel and cisplatin with concurrent thoracic radiation.

Methods: We previously reported short-term outcomes from the phase II study, which enrolled 42 patients (aged ≤ 75 years) with unresectable stage III NSCLC.

Non-localized Mycobacterium avium lung disease successfully treated with lobectomy and chemotherapy.

A 17-year-old boy presented with a large cavity and bilateral nodular opacities on his chest roentgenogram. Mycobacterium avium was identified in his sputum. According to the recommendations of the American Thoracic Society, he was not strongly recommended to undergo surgery because of non-localized lesions.

[Evaluation of COBAS TaqMan: a real-time PCR-based diagnostic kit for mycobacteria].

The real-time PCR-based diagnostic kits, COBAS TaqMan MTB and COBAS TaqMan MAI (Roche Diagnostics, Tokyo, Japan), were developed to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and M. avium (MAV)/M. intracellulare (MIN), respectively.

Combination of SN-38 with gefitinib or imatinib overcomes SN-38-resistant small-cell lung cancer cells.

Irinotecan is one of the effective anticancer agents for small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) and 7-ethyl-10-hydroxy-campthothecin (SN-38) is an active metabolite of irinotecan. Gefitinib and imatinib are tyrosine kinase inhibitors which have clinical activities in several malignancies and they are also potent inhibitors of breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) transporter, which confers the resistance of topoisomerase I inhibitors including SN-38 and topotecan. The cytotoxicity of SN-38, gefitinib and imatinib for the SN-38-resistant cells (SBC-3/SN-38) from human SCLC cells, SBC-3, was evaluated using AlamarBlue assay.

A triplet chemotherapy with cisplatin, docetaxel and gemcitabine in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: a phase I/II study.

Purpose: We conducted a phase I/II study of triplet chemotherapy consisting of cisplatin (CDDP), docetaxel (DCT) and gemcitabine (GEM) in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: Fifty-three untreated patients with stage IIIB or IV NSCLC were enrolled. All drugs were given on days 1 and 8.

Distance and oxygen desaturation in 6-min walk test predict prognosis in COPD patients.

The aim of the present study was to predict the prognosis of Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients who underwent comprehensive pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). A total of 144 patients who performed PR between 1992 and 1999 was assessed. After PR, 67 patients underwent lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS).

Comprehensive pulmonary rehabilitation according to severity of COPD.

A new classification for the severity of COPD was proposed at GOLD 2003: stage I: FEV(1) > or = 80% predicted; stage II: 50% < or = FEV(1)<80%; stage III: 30% < or = FEV(1)<50%; and stage IV: FEV(1) < 30%. To elucidate the acute effects of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) on patients with different stages of COPD, data on pulmonary function, arterial blood gas analysis, the 6-min walk test, respiratory muscle strength, and activities of daily living were analyzed before and after our comprehensive 4- to 8-week inpatient PR program between 1992 and 2003. A total of 225 patients (201 men and 24 women; 21 with stage II, 79 with stage III, and 125 with stage IV COPD) was assessed.

A phase I and pharmacological study of amrubicin and topotecan in patients of small-cell lung cancer with relapsed or extensive-disease small-cell lung cancer.

Cisplatin-based chemotherapy is considered to be a standard treatment in patients with relapsed or extensive-disease (ED) small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), the survival benefit remains modest. Relapsed or ED-SCLC patients were enrolled. Topotecan and amrubicin were administered on Days 1-5 and on Days 3-5, respectively.

[In vitro antituberculous activity of ofloxacin and levofloxacin against multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and clinical outcomes].

Objective: To investigate in vitro antituberculous activity of ofloxacin (OFLX) and levofloxacin (LVFX) against multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and to study the clinical outcomes.

Subjects And Methods: In vitro antituberculous activity of OFLX and LVFX against multidrug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from 46 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and a retropective clinical analysis of 45 patients were investigated.

Results: In susceptibility testing, resistance rates to OFLX or LVFX were higher in intractable cases (7/20: 35%) and in cases with prior chemotherapy using new quinolones (5/12: 42 %).

[Antimycobacterial susceptibility against nontuberculous mycobacteria using brothmic NTM].

Purpose: Recently the incidence of pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacteria infection has increased among patients not only implicated with AIDS, but also without predisposing conditions. However, an effective antimicrobial therapy for the disease has not been established yet, because of the absence of highly active therapeutic drugs. We compared the in vitro antimicrobial activities of five antituberculous drugs, clarithromycin and fluoroquinolones against 92 clinical isolates belonging to three species of slowly growing nontuberculous mycobacteria.

Influence of altering administration sequence of docetaxel, gemcitabine and cisplatin in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: A phase II study of a triplet chemotherapy with the administration sequence of gemcitabine (GEM), docetaxel (DCT) and cisplatin (CDDP) (OLCSG9908) was previously conducted in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The objective response rate was 34% and the median survival time (MST) and 1-year survival rate were 11.7 months and 49%, respectively.

The combination effect of amrubicin with cisplatin or irinotecan for small-cell lung cancer cells.

The single agent of amrubicin is active in untreated small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). Cytotoxicity of amrubicinol, the active form of amrubicin, was evaluated in a parent SCLC cell line (SBC-3); an active metabolite of irinotecan, 7-ethyl-10-hydroxy-camptothecin (SN-38)-resistant subline (SBC-3/SN-38); and cisplatin-resistant subline (SBC-3/CDDP) using AlamarBlue assay. Interaction of the combined drugs was evaluated by median-effect plot analysis, and the fraction of apoptotic cells was determined using flow cytometry.

Successful treatment of a patient with severe Churg-Strauss syndrome by a combination of pulse corticosteroids, pulse cyclophosphamide, and high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin.

A 24-year-old woman with a 4-year history of bronchial asthma suffered from bloody sputum, numbness of the extremities, elevated eosinophil count, and hypoxemia. A diagnosis of alveolar hemorrhage was made by bronchoalveolar lavage. Echocardiogram revealed severe hypokinesis of the left ventricular wall.

Successful treatment of a patient with synchronous advanced non-small cell lung cancer and acute myeloid leukemia by a combination of gefitinib, low-dose cytarabine and aclarubicin.

There are few reports describing simultaneous occurrence of acute leukemia and lung cancer. We describe here an 83-year-old woman who simultaneously developed advanced adenocarcinoma of the lung and acute myeloid leukemia. She could not receive intensive chemotherapy due to poor performance status.

Smoking history before surgery and prognosis in patients with stage IA non-small-cell lung cancer--a multicenter study.

The prognosis of lung cancer patients with surgically resected non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can be predicted generally from age, sex, histologic type, stage at diagnosis, and additional treatment. Nine studies have reported that a history of smoking before diagnosis influences the prognosis of the disease in lung cancer patients. In this study, a total of 3082 patients who underwent surgery and were diagnosed with primary pathological stage IA NSCLC at 36 national hospitals from 1982 to 1997 were analyzed for the effect of smoking on survival.

[Factors affecting the success or failure of smoking cessation using nicotine patches].

We identified the initial diagnostic factors that influenced the success or failure of patients trying to quit smoking using nicotine patches. In a smoking cessation treatment program at a smoking clinic, each patient received about 30 minutes of counseling in the initial diagnosis, then undertook a 2-month smoking cessation program using the nicotine patch. Between March 2000 and June 2002, 45 patients consulted the clinic.

[Pulmonary tuberculosis case with consistant findings of endobronchial spread in chest roentogenography for about three years: a case report].

We reported a case of pulmonary infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis complicated by endobronchial spread. Chest roentogenography and CT for an 85-year-old male complaining of cough showed endobronchial spread in right upper lung field. His sputum culture for eight weeks showed 10-20 colonies of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

[Interstitial pneumonia due to gefitinib followed in detail by high-resolution CT in a patient with adenocarcinoma of the lung].

We describe the case of a 69-year-old woman with advanced adenocarcinoma of the lung, in whom interstitial pneumonia was induced by gefitinib. The shadow was not clear on chest radiography, but diffuse ground-glass opacity was detected on high-resolution CT. Two treatments with pulse corticosteroids improved the lung injury temporarily.

[Beijing family and other genotypes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates in Okayama district].

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the distribution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis genotypes, such as Beijing family and other genotypes in Okayama district, and to examine the relation between these genotype strains and prevalent strains.

Methods: The 142 M. tuberculosis strains isolated in Okayama City from January 2000 to December 2002 were subjected to IS6110-RFLP and spoligotyping for the population-based study.

Focal tuberculous lymphadenitis in an HIV-1 infected patient.

A 41-year-old man was admitted to the hospital because of focal swelling of the left supraclavicular lymph nodes. Eighteen months prior to admission, he had been diagnosed with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection and was started on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). He responded well to HAART with an increase in CD4+ cell count and improvement in symptoms.

[IS6110 restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated in Okayama Prefecture].

Similarity of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated in Okayama Prefecture from December 1999 to December 2001 was investigated. The RFLP patterns showed diversity, 342 different RFLP patterns were found among 395 strains. There were 34 identical clusters (84 strains).

[Effects of pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis sequelae].

Pulmonary rehabilitation was evaluated for a mean period of 3.9 weeks in 37 inpatients with pulmonary tuberculosis sequelae. The rehabilitation program consisted of relaxation, breathing retraining, exercise training, respiratory muscle training and instruction.