Aetiology and surgical management of toxic megacolon.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to review the surgical management and outcome of toxic megacolon and to update the aetiology of toxic megacolon.

Patients And Method: A retrospective chart review of three academic colorectal surgery units was undertaken. Over a period of 20 years, 70 patients with surgically managed toxic megacolon were identified: 32 men and 38 women, median age 63 years (range, 23-87 years).

[Immunocytochemical and molecular detection of minimal residual disease in blood and bone marrow in colorectal cancer].

Immunocytochemical and molecular biological methods to analyze minimal residual disease (MRD) in colorectal cancer in blood and bone marrow were compared. The concept of a study in the Donauspital will be presented which will permit a comparative judgement of minimal residual disease in blood and bone marrow in patients with colorectal cancer.

[Significance of minimal residual disease for the estimation of the prognosis and for therapeutic decisions in solid tumors].

The detection of disseminated tumor cells in bone marrow and blood is increasingly used for staging and therapeutic decisions in breast cancer and other solid tumors. Molecular biological methods improve the diagnostic accuracy. Limitations of the approach relate to the lack of disease-specific marker genes.

Successful treatment of invasive mould infection affecting lung and brain in an adult suffering from acute leukaemia.

We describe in detail a 67-yr-old woman who was treated with a cytostatic combination chemotherapy for newly diagnosed common-acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. At the end of induction therapy, the patient acquired invasive mould infection affecting lung and brain. The patient entered complete remission of her leukaemia.

[High dosage chemotherapy with autologous stem cell transplantation in multiple myeloma].

Between 1992 and 1999 15 patients (pts.) suffering from multiple myeloma (MM) were treated with high-dose chemotherapy and consecutive autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASTx). 10/15 pts underwent two courses of ASTx (tandem- or double ASTx).

[High dosage therapy with stem cell transplantation in neuroendocrine carcinoma].

Neuroendocrine carcinoma and small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) are highly responsive to chemo- and radiotherapy. Nevertheless, most patients (pts.) experience relapse.

[High dosage therapy and autologous peripheral stem cell transplantation in breast carcinoma].

42 breast cancer patients were treated by high-dose chemotherapy (HDC) and autologous peripheral stem-cell transplantation (ASTx) in the Donauspital between 1992 and 1999. 24 patients had stage II/III breast cancer with high risk for relapse. The other 18 patients underwent HDC and ASTx in chemosensitive stage IV.