Mortality rates among early-stage hormone receptor-positive breast cancer patients: a population-based cohort study in Denmark.

Background: Indications for adjuvant endocrine treatment of breast cancer have gradually increased over the past several years. We aimed to define subgroups of patients who may or may not benefit from adjuvant endocrine therapy.

Methods: A population-based cohort of systemically untreated breast cancer patients (N = 3197) were identified within the registry of the Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group (DBCG).

Population-based study of peritumoral lymphovascular invasion and outcome among patients with operable breast cancer.

Background: Lymphovascular invasion has been associated with poor prognosis in women with breast cancer, but it is unclear whether the presence of lymphovascular invasion should be considered sufficient to reclassify breast cancer patients who are at a low risk of recurrence into a high-risk category.

Methods: Of the 16,172 patients with operable breast cancer who were entered into the Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group Registry from January 1, 1996, to December 31, 2002, lymphovascular invasion was classified at primary diagnosis in 16,121 patients as present (n = 2453, 15%) or as absent (n = 13,206, 82%). Patients with at least one of the risk criteria (positive lymph nodes, tumor size > 2 cm, high grade, hormone receptor-negative tumor, or younger than 35 years) were assigned to the high-risk group; the other patients were assigned to the low-risk group.

Preoperative prediction model of outcome after cholecystectomy for symptomatic gallstones.

Background: After cholecystectomy for symptomatic gallstone disease 20%-30% of the patients continue to have abdominal pain. The aim of this study was to investigate whether preoperative variables could predict the symptomatic outcome after cholecystectomy.

Methods: One hundred and two patients were referred to elective cholecystectomy in a prospective study.

Comparison of the dynamics of bile emptying by quantitative hepatobiliary scintigraphy before and after cholecystectomy in patients with uncomplicated gallstone disease.

Purpose: Quantitative hepatobiliary scintigraphy, a noninvasive method frequently used to diagnose several biliary tract disorders, shows abnormalities in bile secretion and outflow. It is well known that there are wide variations in the normal pattern of bile emptying, but the effect of cholecystectomy on the bile flow has not yet been investigated. The goal of the current study was to examine the dynamics and normal variations of bile flow by quantitative hepatobiliary scintigraphy before and after cholecystectomy in a group of patients with uncomplicated gallstone disease.

[Hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy in patients with spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage].

One hundred and eighteen consecutive cases of spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage seen at one hospital during a three-year period were examined to assess the prevalence of hypertension and the correlation between the presence of hypertension and the risk of early death. Eighty-seven of the patients had intracranial aneurysms. The diagnosis of hypertension was determined by means of three complementary criteria: a history of treatment with antihypertensive drugs; systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure levels > or = 160 and 95 mmHg, respectively, measured by the general practitioners of the patients before the onset of the subarachnoid haemorrhage; and the presence of left ventricular hypertrophy determined by echocardiography and/or necropsy.