A multicenter phase II study of gemcitabine and oxaliplatin for malignant pleural mesothelioma.

We conducted a phase II multicenter trial to evaluate the activity of combined gemcitabine and oxaliplatin in malignant pleural mesothelioma. Twenty-five patients were recruited between May 1999 and December 2001 and received gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2 intravenously over 30 minutes and oxaliplatin 80 mg/m2 intravenously over 3 hours on days 1 and 8 of a 21-day cycle for a maximum of 6 cycles. Eligibility criteria included an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0-2 and no prior chemotherapy.

[How are interstitial lung diseases diagnosed in Germany? Results of the scientific registry for the exploration of interstitial lung diseases ("Fibrosis registry") of the WATL].

From 1995 to 1999 we evaluated questionnaires sent by pulmonologists and departments of pulmonology in order to register interstitial lung diseases. On the whole 1142 patients (579 males, 563 females, mean age 51.1 +/- 15.

[CT-assisted transthoracic puncture of pulmonary lesions and mediastinal infiltrations. A retrospective study of 300 patients].

With this retrospective study we evaluated the results and the complications of our 343 CT-guided transthoracic biopsies, which we performed in 300 patients with localised and infiltrative lesions of the lung and the mediastinum during 4 years, using the VacuCut-needle in 96% of our cases. In 256 pts. bronchoscopy without final diagnosis was performed before transthoracic biopsy.

[Exogenous allergic alveolitis in a fruit refrigeration worker].

The causes for an exogenic allergic alveolitis are very multifarious. On the basis of a casuistics is referred to the development of such a disease by the contact with fruit mould in cold-storage plants.