Sorafenib use in elderly patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: caution about use of platelet aggregation inhibitors.

Purpose: Sorafenib is the standard of care for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The peak incidence of HCC is around 70 years. We aimed to evaluate safety and efficacy of sorafenib in the elderly population.

[Retrospective analysis of 24 recurrent glioblastoma after chemoradiation and treated with nitrosoureas or irinotecan and bevacizumab].

Despite progress in the initial management of glioblastoma (GB), the vast majority of patients will experience recurrence within 2-3 years. The medical treatment of these recurrences is being modified by the use of antiangiogenic therapies. Twenty-four patients, who relapsed from GB after chemoradiation followed by adjuvant temozolomide in Rennes, were treated by conventional chemotherapy (nitrosourea) or by the combination of irinotecan and bevacizumab.

Usefulness of chemotherapy beyond the second line for metastatic breast cancer: a therapeutic challenge.

Purpose: Several lines of chemotherapy can be proposed for patients with metastatic breast cancer, but beyond the second line, agreement is lacking concerning the most appropriate therapeutic strategy.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of the files of 162 patients, who had received at least 3 lines of chemotherapy (CT3) for metastatic breast cancer during a 5-year period (2000-2004), in order to analyze management practices and search for factors affecting survival from CT3 and predictive factors of non-progressive disease (NPD) after CT3.

Results: Multivariate analysis identified seven factors which had a positive influence on survival from CT3 (SBR grade I, absence of adjuvant hormone therapy, free interval >or=2 years, absence of cerebromeningeal metastasis before CT, unique focus at initiation of CT3, use of polychemotherapy for CT2, and complete response to CT1 or CT2) and two predictive factors of NPD (histology and drug group used for CT3).

Topotecan in combination with radiotherapy in unresectable glioblastoma: a phase 2 study.

Improving glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) treatment with radio-chemotherapy remains a challenge. Topotecan is an attractive option as it exhibits growth inhibition of human glioma as well as brain penetration. The present study assessed the combination of radiotherapy (60 Gy/30 fractions/40 days) and topotecan (0.

Oligodendroglioma: clinical study and survival analysis correlated with chromosomal anomalies.

Object: Demonstration of the loss of chromosomes 1p and 19q in the presence of a brain neoplasm marks the emergence of genotype as a prognostic indicator. The authors report gene expression data for oligodendroglioma and correlate genotype with response to therapy. Gene expression subgroups may represent distinct types of disease.

Malignant transformation of intra-cranial epithelial cysts: systematic article review.

Introduction: Epidermoid and dermoid cysts are among the most benign intra cranial tumors. Their malignant transformation into squamous cell carcinoma is rare. The authors reviewed the literature.

Phase I study of topotecan in combination with concurrent radiotherapy in adults with glioblastoma.

A phase I study was performed to determine the maximum tolerated dose and the recommended dose of continuous intravenous infusion of topotecan in combination with radiotherapy (RT) in patients with previously untreated glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Twenty patients with histologically proven GBM and 1 with rhabdoid tumor were enrolled. After surgery or stereotactic biopsy, patients received cranial RT (60 Gy/30 fractions/40 days) and 3 cycles of topotecan as continuous infusion (CIV) from day 1 to 5 on weeks 1, 3, and 5 during RT.

Results of randomised phase II studies comparing S16020 with methotrexate in patients with recurrent head and neck cancer.

Background: The purpose of this study was to carry out two randomised phase II trials of S16020, a new olivacine derivative, tested as a single agent in patients with recurrent head and neck cancer, using methotrexate as the control arm to validate the results.

Patients And Methods: S16020 at either 80 or 100 mg/m2 was administered as a 3-h infusion every 3 weeks. Methotrexate, 40 or 50 mg/m2, was given by bolus injection, weekly for a minimum of 6 weeks.

Phase II study of oral vinorelbine in first-line advanced breast cancer chemotherapy.

Purpose: A phase II trial was performed to evaluate the efficacy, tolerance, and pharmacokinetic profiles of oral vinorelbine (Navelbine). Oral Navelbine (NVB; Pierre Fabre Médicament, Boulogne, France) was given as first-line chemotherapy for locally advanced or metastatic breast carcinoma (ABC).

Patients And Methods: Sixty-four patients were entered to receive oral NVB on a weekly basis for a total of 8 weeks unless progression or toxicity occurred.

Pemetrexed disodium in recurrent locally advanced or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

This phase II study determined response rate of patients with locally advanced or metastatic head and neck cancer treated with pemetrexed disodium, a new multitargeted antifolate that inhibits thymidylate synthase, dihydrofolate reductase and glycinamide ribonucleotide formyl transferase. 35 patients with local or metastatic relapse of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (31 male, 4 female; median age 53 years) were treated with pemetrexed 500 mg m(2)administered as a 10-minute infusion on day 1 of a 21-day cycle. Patients received 1 to 8 cycles of therapy.

[Cancers of the base of the tongue and hypopharynx: results of a multicenter randomized trial of chemotherapy prior to locoregional treatment].

The authors report the results of a multicentric randomised trial assessing the effects on survival of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with cisplatin (100 mg/m2, D1) and fluorouracil (1 g/m2, D2-4) delivered before regional treatment in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of hypopharynx and base of tongue. 133 patients were enrolled in the study, and 121 were included in the analysis, 64 in group A (regional treatment alone) and 27 in group B (chemotherapy followed by regional treatment). Despite a high objective response rate to chemotherapy (primary tumour: 85%, 24% complete; nodes: 63%), overall survival was not significantly higher in group B than in group A.

[Diabetes insipidus caused by metastasis to the hypothalamo-hypophyseal axis. Apropos of 4 cases].

This study concerns the cases of 4 patients with polyuria and polydipsia syndrome as part of a known evolutive neoplasia. MRI demonstrated an intra- and supersellar tumoral process developed from the pituitary stalk and the posterior pituitary lobe suggesting metastasis.

Sequential chemotherapy and radiotherapy for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus.

Background: Despite surgical improvements the prognosis of patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the esophagus remains poor, with a 5-year survival rate of less than 20%. Most patients do not undergo surgery with curative intent. The aim of this study was to assess the toxicity and efficacy of sequential chemoradiotherapy.

A randomized study of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery versus surgery for localized squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus.

Background: Despite well-established surgical approaches, the prognosis for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus remains dismal. To assess the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy (CRT), a randomized trial with and without sequential preoperative CRT was undertaken; CRT combined 20 Gy and two courses of 5-FU and cisplatin.

Methods: Patients were included on the basis of the following criteria: squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus, younger than 70 years of age, World Health Organization status below 2, estimated survival time greater than 3 months, and no previous treatment for the cancer.

[Primary seropapillary peritoneal carcinoma. 16 case reports. Review of the literature].

Objective: Review of primary seropapillary carcinoma of the peritoneum.

Type Of Study: Retrospective.

Place: Department of Gynaecology and Oncology, University Hospital, Rennes.

Postmenopausal patients with node-positive resectable breast cancer. Tamoxifen vs FEC 50 (6 cycles) vs FEC 50 (6 cycles) plus tamoxifen vs control--preliminary results of a 4-arm randomised trial. The French Adjuvant Study Group.

In 1986 the true benefit of adjuvant medical treatment in postmenopausal patients with pathological node-positive breast adenocarcinoma was still controversial. The French Adjuvant Study Group (FASG) initiated a randomised trial to elucidate the respective roles of adjuvant chemo-and/or hormonotherapy in this group of patients. Of the 776 patients who have been included between 1986 and 1990, 741 were fully eligible for evaluation.

Unusual combination of Cis platinum and radiotherapy followed by a three fractions per day irradiation in splitcourse: a phase I-II study in brain glioma patients.

An unusual protocol based on a preliminary clinical study on cylindromas metastasized to the lung was proposed to brain glioma patients: Day 2 100 mg/m2 i.v. Cis platinum (Cis PII) followed at days 3 and 5 by 6 Gy irradiation (RT) in two fractions and three days.

[Excision of an intracardiac metastasis under chemotherapy].

An intracardiac malignant lesion was found in a 28-year old male patient following orchidectomy for an advanced germinal tumour of the testicle. Although the patient is under chemotherapy, the neoplastic thrombus will be removed by surgery. Heart metastases are uncommon.

Effect of HECNU in malignant supratentorial gliomas--a phase II study.

Forty adults with recurring brain gliomas were treated with HECNU 130 mg/m2, given i.v. every 5 to 6 weeks (mean 5.

[Immunoscintigraphy, an aid to the oncologist--the Rennes experience in using anti-CEA, anti-CA 19.9 monoclonal antibodies and radiolabelled OC-125].

Immunoscintigraphy is steadily asserting itself as a valuable method in the localization of malignant tumours, alongside other imaging techniques. A monoclonal antibody specific to one or several tumour cell lines is used. The antibody is labelled with a gamma emitter radioisotope and so that it can be detected in vivo.

[Similar evolution, with cerebral metastases, of testicular cancers in 2 non-twin brothers].

The authors describe two cases of germinal carcinoma of the testis. The two patients were brothers, but not twins. The evolution of the disease was the same in both cases, with cerebral metastases.