Endocrine therapy with or without whole breast irradiation in low-risk breast cancer patients after breast-conserving surgery: 10-year results of the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group 8A trial.

Purpose: To investigate long-term results of patients with hormonal receptor-positive breast cancer treated with breast-conserving surgery (BCS) and consecutive endocrine therapy (ET) with or without whole breast irradiation (WBI).

Methods And Materials: Within the 8 A trial of the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group, a total of 869 patients received ET after BCS which was randomly followed by WBI (n = 439, group 1) or observation (n = 430, group 2). WBI was applied up to a mean total dosage of 50 Gy (+/- 10 Gy boost) in conventional fractionation.

Phase II study of gemcitabine and bevacizumab as first-line treatment in taxane-pretreated, HER2-negative, locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer.

Background: In first-line treatment of metastatic breast cancer, the best use of the available therapeutic agents is unclear. This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of combined therapy with bevacizumab and gemcitabine.

Patients: Women who were to undergo first-line treatment for locoregionally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer were eligible.

Multiple myeloma and systemic lupus erythematosus in a young woman.

Although systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is associated with lymphoid malignancies, concurrent multiple myeloma and SLE are rare. We report a 28-year-old black woman with SLE who developed smoldering IgA kappa multiple myeloma. The coexistence of these conditions in this age and race has not been previously reported.

Pathophysiologic considerations for the interactions between obstructive sleep apnea and sickle hemoglobinopathies.

There are contradictory reports about the effects of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) on clinical vaso-occlusive events in sickle hemoglobinopathies. The discourse has focused on the possible effects of OSA-associated hypoxemia on hemoglobin S (HbS) polymerization. Advances in understanding the pathogenesis of sickle vaso-occlusion and the physiologic consequences of OSA suggest that the potential for interaction exceeds simple hypoxemia.

Hemolysis and hyperhomocysteinemia caused by cobalamin deficiency: three case reports and review of the literature.

Concurrent hemolysis in patients with vitamin B12 deficiency is a well-recognized phenomenon and has been attributed to intramedullary destruction of erythrocytes (ineffective erythropoiesis). Recent studies revealed that homocysteine increased the risk of hemolysis in vitamin B12 deficiency in vitro and there is a high frequency (30%) of vitamin B12 deficiency in asymptomatic patients with homozygous methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T mutation, a known cause of hyperhomocysteinemia. Here we report three patients with MTHFR mutations and vitamin B12 deficiency presenting with hemolytic anemia and severely elevated homocysteine levels.

A dose-escalation study of aerosolized sargramostim in the treatment of metastatic melanoma: an NCCTG Study.

Objectives: Early testing of aerosolized sargramostim therapy demonstrated anecdotal clinical responses in patients with metastatic melanoma associated with emergence of systemic antitumor immunity. To improve the clinical and immunologic efficacy of therapy without compromising patient safety, we performed a further dose escalation trial in patients with metastatic melanoma.

Methods: We conducted a dose-escalation clinical trial of HLA-A2 patients with metastatic melanoma to the lung treated with aerosolized granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) (500-2000 microg/dose, with increments of 250 microg/dose/cohort) twice/d on days 1 to 7 and 15 to 21 every 28 days until progression or severe toxicity to find a dose where a majority of patients develop antitumor immunity.

Oxaliplatin, fluorouracil, and leucovorin for patients with unresectable liver-only metastases from colorectal cancer: a North Central Cancer Treatment Group phase II study.

Purpose: Surgical resection of liver-only metastases from colorectal cancer has undergone extensive evaluation and review. The use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy to improve the likelihood of resection in disease that is not optimally resectable has not been as well studied.

Patients And Methods: Patients with liver-only metastases from colorectal cancer deemed not optimally resectable by a surgeon with expertise in liver surgery received fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX4).

[Primary malignant melanoma of the small intestine--a case report].

Small bowel neoplasms are very rare and can be found in 1-2% of all gastrointestinal tumors. Most of them have metastatic origin. Malignant melanoma is the most common tumor metastatic to the GI tract.

Impact of atherosclerotic risk factors on the anatomical distribution of peripheral arterial disease.

Background: The aim of the study was to determine predictors of hemodynamically relevant atherosclerosis (HRA) in different segments of lower limb arteries in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD).

Methods: In a retrospective case-control study 106 hospitalized consecutive patients with symptomatic PAD and 52 asymptomatic control subjects were studied. All patients underwent distal aortofemoral angiography.

Association between erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume and peripheral arterial disease in male subjects: a case control study.

Elevated serum total homocysteine, an established risk factor for peripheral arterial disease, is influenced by the vitamin B12 and folate status. Since these vitamins are inversely correlated with erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume, an investigation of whether mean corpuscular volume is higher in patients with symptomatic peripheral arterial disease than in healthy subjects was performed. Furthermore, a determination of predictors of increased mean corpuscular volume levels in this population free of symptomatic coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, and diabetes mellitus was carried out.

PTA versus Palmaz stent placement in femoropopliteal artery obstructions: a multicenter prospective randomized study.

Purpose: To evaluate if stent placement is superior to percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) in the treatment of chronic symptoms in short femoropopliteal arterial lesions.

Materials And Methods: One hundred fifty-four limbs in 141 patients who ranged in age from 39 to 87 years (mean age, 67 years) were randomized to PTA (n = 77) versus PTA followed by implantation of Palmaz stents (n = 77). Inclusion criteria were patients with intermittent claudication (n = 108, Society of Vascular Surgery/International Society of Cardiovascular Surgery [SVS-ISCVS] categories 1-3) or chronic critical limb ischemia (n = 46 with either ischemic rest pain [category 4] or minor tissue loss [category 5]), short stenosis or occlusion (lesion length < or = 5 cm), and at least one patent run-off vessel at angiography.

Chronic administration of aluminum-fluoride or sodium-fluoride to rats in drinking water: alterations in neuronal and cerebrovascular integrity.

This study describes alterations in the nervous system resulting from chronic administration of the fluoroaluminum complex (AlF3) or equivalent levels of fluoride (F) in the form of sodium-fluoride (NaF). Twenty seven adult male Long-Evans rats were administered one of three treatments for 52 weeks: the control group was administered double distilled deionized drinking water (ddw). The aluminum-treated group received ddw with 0.

Chronic aluminum fluoride administration. I. Behavioral observations.

This study examined the behavioral effects of chronic ingestion of various monofluoroaluminum complexes (AlF3) in drinking water. Forty young adult male Long-Evans rats were divided into four groups of 10 rats each. The groups received different concentrations of AlF3 in the drinking water from three sample solutions having a total Al concentration of 0.

Screening of urinary coproporphyrin using cloud point extraction and chemiluminescence detection.

A simple screening test was developed for the sensitive and selective measurement of urinary coproporphyrin. In this screening test, efficient and selective extraction/pre-concentration of coproporphyrin from the aqueous medium(urine) into a much smaller volume phase containing a common non-ionic surfactant (Triton X-100) and ethyl acetate was accomplished by the addition of a relatively large amount of a cloud point depressing electrolyte (K(3)PO(4)) into the sample solution to effect cloud point separation. Sensitive and selective detection of coproporphyrin in the mixed Triton X-100 and ethyl acetate phase was performed via chemical excitation using the peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence reaction.

[Laser versus rotation angioplasty in the recanalization of chronic femoropopliteal arterial occlusions].

Between June 1987 and July 1989 laser angioplasty, and between July 1989 and December 1991 rotation angioplasty was used as the method of choice for the recanalisation of chronic (minimal duration 3 months) arterial occlusions in the femoro-popliteal region. The technical success rate and final results following supplementary balloon dilatation were identical and there was no significant difference between the two groups (laser 87%, rotation 87.7%).

[Automated percutaneous lumbar diskectomy (APLD): the early and late changes in the CT with a clinical correlation].

In 52 out of 162 patients treated, CT changes were measured at early and late stages and correlated with clinical findings. Reduction in height of discs was measured by digital radiography. During early stages 9.

Salting-out surfactant extraction of porphyrins and metalloporphyrin from aqueous non-ionic surfactant solutions.

A number of cloud point temperature-depressing electrolytes have been investigated for the separation of a non-ionic surfactant (Triton X-100) from aqueous solutions and the corresponding extraction of the organic solutes into the smaller volume surfactant-rich phase using the salting-out method. High extraction efficiencies and preconcentration factors were obtained at room temperature for the extraction of several hydrophilic and hydrophobic metal-free porphyrins (uroporphyrin, coproporphyrin, protoporphyrin and hematoporphyrin) and one metalloporphyrin (iron-protoporphyrin) that were dissolved in the aqueous non-ionic surfactant solutions. Possible mechanisms responsible for the efficient extraction of these important biological molecules into the surfactant-rich layer are discussed.

Laser angioplasty: results of a prospective, multicenter study at 3-year follow-up.

A prospective multicenter trial was initiated to evaluate the efficacy and safety of laser angioplasty. Laser recanalization was performed in 338 patients with arteriosclerotic femoropopliteal artery occlusions (average length, 8.5 cm).

[The peripheral macroembolism as a complication of laser angioplasty of the arteries of the extremities--therapy using interventional radiologic measures].

From 1987 to 1989 in the Barmherzige Brüder Hospital in Linz/Austria 160 arteries of extremities were treated with laser-assisted balloon dilatation. During these interventions peripheral macroembolism occurred 8 times. The mean length of the recanalised segment was 8.

Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty of crural arteries.

The authors dilated 103 stenosed crural arteries in 71 patients. Primary success was defined as traversing and reducing the lesion to a residual stenosis of less than 30%. This was achieved in 96% of cases.

[Femoropopliteal laser recanalization--a multicenter study].

Laser-assisted angioplasty was performed in four different hospital centers, following the same treatment protocol and using an Nd-YAG laser with a sapphire-probe catheter. The initial recanalization rate of 259 femoro-popliteal occlusions with a mean length of 7.5 cm was 84%.