First-line treatment of pancreatic cancer patients with the combination of 5-fluorouracil/folinic acid plus gemcitabine: a multicenter phase II trial by the CONKO-study group.

Purpose: This open-label, multi-center phase II study investigated the efficacy and safety of the combination of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)/folinic acid (FA) plus gemcitabine (GFF) in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. The study is based on our completed dose finding phase I trial.

Methods: A total of 90 patients (pts) were recruited between 02/2000 and 04/2002 to receive 5-FU 750 mg/m(2) (24 h, i.

[Long iliac artery occlusions: Feasibility, short- and mid-term outcome].

Purpose: It was the aim of the following study to determine the feasibility of the recanalization of long occlusions in iliac arteries and to establish its patency rate.

Material And Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the data of 23 patients (15 male and 8 female) with occlusions of the iliac arteries with a mean length of 12 cm (range: 9-15 cm). The occlusions were situated either in the common iliac artery (CIA) (n = 3), in the external iliac artery (EIA) (n = 12) or in both CIA and EIA (n = 7).

Right atrial silicone catheters as angioaccess for hemodialysis with special emphasis to their complications.

Right atrial silicone catheters (RASCs) serve as temporary angioaccess in hemodialysis (HD) patients. In a retrospective study of the years 1989 to 1996 we analyzed catheter-related complications, and tried to define patients at special risk for complications. We compared our results with published data on RASCs and percutaneous catheters.

Sequential methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil (FU) vs. FU alone in metastatic colorectal cancer. Results of a randomized multicenter trial. The Association of Medical Oncology (AIO) of the German Cancer Society.

Methotrexate (MTX) modulates 5-fluorouracil (FU) in several in vitro and in vivo experimental systems. Results of phase II studies have suggested improved response rates for the sequential application of MTX and FU in colorectal cancer. In a prospective randomized multicenter study we compared sequential MTX (300 mg/m2) and FU (900 mg/m2) using a seven-hour time interval and leucovorin rescue with FU (450 mg/m2/d for five days) in patients with previously untreated metastatic colorectal cancer.