Do low vancomycine serum levels predict failures of vancomycine therapy in neutropenic cancer patients?

Vancomycine serum levels were measured in 198 cancer patients with documented grampositive bacteremia and twenty two failed. Failures were analyzed for risk factors of therapy failure. Only 8 of 22 showed low serum peak or through vancomycin levels.

Determination of suramin in clinical samples using HPLC.

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was applied for the determination of suramin levels in serum samples from cancer patients treated with this drug. Ion-pair chromatography in combination with the deproteination procedure extraction and hydrolysis of complex serum proteins-suramin were recommended. Extraction recoveries and linearity for wide concentration range were evaluated.

Treatment of adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia: results of two trials.

Thirty eight patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia were treated protocol 0171 (VCR, PRED, MTX, cyclophosphamide +/- +/- 6-MP) and protocol 0276/A (VRC, PRED, L-ASP, MTX, 6-MP, cyclophosphamide). Overall complete remission rate in both studies was 84--85%, and additional treatment in protocol 0171 resulted in complete remission rate of 92%. Median duration of complete remission in protocol 0171 was 23 months and median survival of all patients was 33 months.