Epoetin alfa corrects anemia and improves quality of life in patients with hematologic malignancies receiving non-platinum chemotherapy.

Anemia, a commonly occurring morbidity in patients with cancer, often leads to diminished quality of life (QOL). Numerous clinical trials have shown that epoetin alfa treatment improves hematologic and QOL variables in cancer patients. The clinical trial analysis reported here was performed to assess response to epoetin alfa in patients with hematologic malignancies.

Adjuvant high-dose medroxyprogesterone acetate for early breast cancer: 13 years update in a multicentre randomized trial.

The authors updated their report on a randomized trial initiated in 1982 comparing, in early breast cancer, high-dose IM Medroxyprogesterone acetate (HD-MPA) adjuvant hormonotherapy during 6 months with no hormonotherapy; node-positive patients also received 6 courses of IV CMF (day 1, day 8; q.4 weeks). 246 node-negative (NN) and 270 node-positive (NP) patients had been followed for a median duration of 13 years.

Compassionate use of tropisetron in patients at high risk of severe emesis.

Tropisetron is a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist which suppresses nausea and vomiting induced by cancer chemotherapeutic agents. In this study, tropisetron was evaluated on a compassionate-need basis in 545 cancer patients who had either proved refractory to antiemetic treatment during previous chemotherapy or who were at high risk of emesis as a result of current therapy. Tropisetron (5 mg or 10 mg) was administered as a 15-minute infusion prior to chemotherapy, with the further possibility of an additional dose, either orally or parenterally, on one or more subsequent days.

Compassionate use of a 5-HT3-receptor antagonist, tropisetron, in patients refractory to standard antiemetic treatment.

The efficacy of tropisetron in the prevention of nausea and vomiting induced by chemotherapy of varying emetogenic potential was evaluated in 545 patients with a variety of malignancies who had either proved refractory to antiemetic treatment during previous chemotherapy courses or who were considered to be at high risk of nausea and vomiting. Tropisetron 5 or 10mg was administered intravenously just before chemotherapy, with the possibility of additional oral or intravenous doses on the day before chemotherapy and on 1 or more subsequent days. On day 1 of the first course of chemotherapy, a complete response (no nausea and no vomiting) was achieved in 62% of patients and a partial response (1 to 4 vomits and/or episodes of nausea) in 29%.

Is adjuvant treatment with vinblastine effective in reducing the occurrence of distant metastasis in limited squamous cell lung cancer? A randomized study.

In order to study the usefulness of treatment with vinblastine (VLB) in the prevention of cancer metastasis in squamous cell lung cancer, 50 patients with locoregional disease were randomized to receive either locoregional RT alone (group A) or a weekly intravenous bolus injection of VLB (6 mg/m2) concurrently with and after locoregional radiotherapy (RT) (55 Gy in 6 weeks) until the appearance of metastases (group B). Neither the incidence of death with metastases, metastasis-free survival (MFS) nor overall survival (S) were significantly affected by treatment with the drug. However, due to the limited number of patients in each group, the power of the statistical test was such to allow only the detection of differences in MFS and S to or more than 80 per cent at the P = 0.