Postoperative Care Pathways Following Lumbar Total Disc Replacement: Results of a Modified Delphi Approach.

Study Design: A modified Delphi method was used to establish consensus. Subject matter experts were invited to participate as the expert panel. Best practice statements were distributed to the panel.

Brachytherapy versus cystectomy in solitary bladder cancer: a case control, multicentre, East-Netherlands study.

Purpose: Comparing the outcome of surgery and brachytherapy-based radiotherapy in patients with solitary T1G3/T2 bladder tumour in, a retrospective case-control study, because efforts for a randomised clinical trial comparing these modalities have failed.

Materials And Methods: Cystectomy group. Patients were selected using the pathological registration system (PALGA).

Comparison of three schedules of intravesical epirubicin in patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Objectives: To study the additive effect of either an early instillation or maintenance instillations of adjuvant intravesical epirubicin, as compared to the epirubicin "standard" treatment schedule only, in patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Methods: Patients with intermediate- and high-risk urothelial cell carcinoma of the bladder, except carcinoma in situ, were randomised for adjuvant intravesical instillations with 50mg epirubicin/50 ml NaCl for 1h. Group 1 received 4 weekly and 5 monthly instillations (standard schedule), group 2 received the same schedule as group 1, but with an additional instillation <48 h after transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT), and group 3 received the same scheme as group 1, but with additional instillations at 9 and 12 mo (maintenance schedule).

Virosomes in vaccine development: induction of cytotoxic T lymphocyte activity with virosome-encapsulated protein antigens.

Virosomes are reconstituted viral envelopes which lack the genetic material but retain the cell entry and membrane fusion characteristics of the virus they are derived from. Thus, influenza virosomes are taken up by cells via receptor-mediated endocytosis, which directs the particles to the endosomal cell compartment. Subsequently, the virosomal membrane fuses with the endosomal membrane induced by the mildly acidic pH within the endosomes.

Saving bladders with brachytherapy: implantation technique and results.

Purpose: To analyze and report the treatment results of brachytherapy for solitary bladder cancer in the Arnhem Radiotherapy Institute.

Methods And Materials: Between January 1983 and October 1998, 63 patients with a solitary bladder tumor were treated with a combination of transurethral resection, external beam radiotherapy (EBRT), and interstitial radiotherapy. The indications for bladder-conserving treatment were tumor < or =5 cm, T1G3 (n = 14), T2G2 (n = 8), T2G3 (n = 37), and T3a (n = 4).

Rapid identification of bacteria in blood cultures by using fluorescently labeled oligonucleotide probes.

The applicability of whole-cell hybridization for the identification of pathogenic bacteria in blood from septic patients was examined. Oligonucleotide probes, fluorescently labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate, directed against the variable regions of the 16S rRNAs of the following bacterial species and/or genera were used: Streptococcus spp., Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and the Enterobacteriaceae family.

A new long acting formulation of the luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone analogue goserelin: results of studies in prostate cancer.

Purpose: To assess the pharmacodynamic equivalence of the new 10.8 mg. goserelin depot with the current 3.

A randomised trial comparing the safety and efficacy of the Zoladex 10.8-mg depot, administered every 12 weeks, to that of the Zoladex 3.6-mg depot, administered every 4 weeks, in patients with advanced prostate cancer. The Dutch South East Cooperative Urological Group.

A new longer-acting depot formulation containing 10.8 mg Zoladex administered every 12 weeks was compared to the 3.6-mg Zoladex depot administered every 28 days, in a randomised trial in patients with advanced prostatic carcinoma in which pharmacodynamic efficacy and safety were assessed.