Revisited: Postphenomenology and Material Engagement Theory.

Humans, more than any other species, have been altering their paths of development by creating new material forms and by opening up to new possibilities of material engagement. That is, we become constituted through making and using technologies that shape our minds and extend our bodies. We make things which in turn make us.

Sonifying science: listening to cancer.

As a long-time scholar of science and art practices, I look particularly at the role of tools and instruments which make these practices possible. I note that science, historically, has favoured visualist imaging, but art, particularly in performance modes, often uses acoustic imaging. Early modern science was dominantly optical in instrumentation, but uses of optics often preceded science use in early modern times.

Paclitaxel/ifosfamide or navelbine/ifosfamide chemotherapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer: CALGB 9532.

In order to explore non-cisplatin containing regimens for advanced non-small cell lung cancer, Cancer and Leukemia Group B conducted a randomized Phase-II study of two novel combinations, paclitaxel/ifosfamide and vinorelbine/ifosfamide. Both regimens were active with a 38% response rate (95% CI: 24%, 53%) and 31% (95% CI: 18%, 47%), respectively. Median survivals were 8.

Small-cell lung cancer: treatment progress and prospects.

Although small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) represents only 20% of all lung cancer cases in the United States, it is the most lethal subtype. Combination chemotherapy unequivocally offers the best chance for improved survival in SCLC. Either PE (platinum plus etoposide) or CAV (cyclophosphamide, Adriamycin, and vincristine) is a reasonable first-line therapy.

Alternating MOPP and ABVD chemotherapy plus mantle-field radiation therapy in patients with massive mediastinal Hodgkin's disease.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of mechlorethamine, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone (MOPP)/doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD) chemotherapy plus mantle-field radiation therapy in the treatment of patients with massive mediastinal Hodgkin's disease of any stage.

Patients And Methods: Eighty patients presented with Hodgkin's disease and a mediastinal mass greater than one third the greatest chest diameter on chest radiograph. Patients were staged and treated with MOPP alternated with ABVD chemotherapy for a total of six cycles.

Outcome of patients with small-cell lung cancer during 20 years of clinical research at the US National Cancer Institute.

Objective: To determine the outcome of all patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) treated at the US National Cancer Institute between April 1973 and April 1993.

Design: We retrospectively analyzed a series of 594 consecutive patients with SCLC treated at a single institution during a 20-year period to assess changes in duration of survival and toxicity related to various treatment regimens.

Material And Methods: For analysis, patients were grouped by decade, and the duration of survival of patients with limited- and extensive-stage SCLC was examined to assess whether patients treated during the first decade of the study (1973 through 1983), when cyclophosphamide-based regimens were used, had different outcomes than those treated during the second decade (1983 through 1993), when cisplatin-based regimens were used.

Survival of patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer treated with individualized chemotherapy selected by in vitro drug sensitivity testing.

Our purpose was to study the feasibility of determining individualized chemotherapy regimens by in vitro drug sensitivity testing (DST) for patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and to evaluate patient response and survival. Fifty-four previously untreated patients with limited-stage small cell cancer were studied. Fresh tumor specimens for DST were collected, when possible, from patients' biopsies before the start of treatment.

Practical issues in the management of the patient with small cell lung cancer.

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for 20% of all lung cancers. More than two thirds of patients with SCLC present with clinically evident distant metastases. Patients with limited stage disease are treated with a combination of chemotherapy and chest radiation.

Patients with limited-stage small-cell lung cancer treated with concurrent twice-daily chest radiotherapy and etoposide/cisplatin followed by cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and vincristine.

Purpose: A phase II trial in patients with limited-stage small-cell lung cancer treated with induction etoposide/cisplatin plus twice-daily chest radiotherapy was conducted in an attempt to increase response rates and prolong survival.

Patients And Methods: Fifty-four previously untreated patients with limited-stage small-cell cancer were treated with etoposide/cisplatin and concurrent radiotherapy at 1.5 Gy twice daily for 3 weeks to a total dose of 45 Gy.

MYC family DNA amplification in 126 tumor cell lines from patients with small cell lung cancer.

We identified 126 tumor cell lines established from patients with small cell cancer at the NCI-Navy Medical Oncology Branch from 1977 through 1992. Extensive clinical information was available on 96 patients from whom these cell lines were established. These patients comprised approximately one fourth of the 407 patients treated on prospective therapeutic clinical trials during the same time period.

Correlation of in vitro drug sensitivity testing results with response to chemotherapy and survival: comparison of non-small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer.

Clinical protocols for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were devised to prospectively select individualized chemotherapy based on in vitro drug sensitivity testing (DST) of cell lines derived from the patient's SCLC tumor cell lines or the patient's fresh NSCLC tumor. DST data derived from SCLC tumor cell lines were available for 33/115 (29%) patients. The DST-selected chemotherapy regimen was administered to 21 (18%) patients, or 64% of patients with DST.

NCI-Navy Medical Oncology Branch cell line data base.

The cell line data base described in this paper includes both clinical information about the patients from whom the cell lines were derived and information about the in vitro analyses performed of the cell lines. The cell line data base has evolved as a part of a systematic effort by a research group at the NCI since 1976 to generate human cell lines as biological tools to study cancer and other diseases. The cell lines were generated from clinical specimens obtained as part of a series of Institutional Review Board-approved clinical protocols.

Small cell lung cancer. State-of-the-art therapy 1994.

In the United States, small cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for about 20% of all cases of lung cancer. Without treatment, tumor progression in patients with SCLC is rapid, with a median survival of 2 to 4 months. Modern chemotherapy has yielded multifold increases in median survival, but only minimal improvements have occurred over the last decade.

Obesity and therapy-related toxicity in patients treated for small-cell lung cancer.

Background: Obese individuals have altered pharmacokinetics for many medications when compared with the non-obese. For the oncologist treating an obese cancer patient, these changes in drug disposition may potentially cause increased therapy-related toxicity. As a consequence, oncologists frequently treat obese patients with dose reductions in an effort to decrease chemotherapy toxicity.

Role of Adjuvant Therapy in Patients With Surgically Resected Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Strategies to eradicate micrometastatic disease in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with postoperative chemotherapy, radiation, or immunotherapy have been under investigation for almost three decades, yet to date, these studies have shown negative or mixed results. Recently accumulated evidence of survival benefit rendered by neoadjuvant chemotherapy added to definitive radiation and perhaps surgery, and the emergence of several new active agents have stimulated interest in reevaluation of adjuvant therapy in NSCLC. Routine use of adjuvant therapy, however, cannot be recommended until results of ongoing and planned clinical trials document its benefit.

Phase II trial of fludarabine phosphate and interferon alfa-2a in advanced mycosis fungoides/Sézary syndrome.

Purpose: This phase II study was undertaken to assess the efficacy and toxicity of the addition of continuous low-dose interferon alfa-2a (IFN) to fludarabine in patients with advanced or refractory mycosis fungoides (MF) or the Sézary syndrome (SS).

Patients And Methods: Thirty-five patients were treated with fludarabine 25 mg/m2 intravenously (IV) on days 1 to 5 every 28 days along with IFN 5 x 10(6) U/m2 subcutaneously three times per week continuously for up to eight cycles. IFN doses were escalated to 7.

Prospective randomized comparison of high-dose and standard-dose etoposide and cisplatin chemotherapy in patients with extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer.

Purpose: We performed a prospective randomized clinical trial to determine whether higher doses of etoposide and cisplatin (EP) yield more complete responses or longer survival in small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients.

Patients And Methods: Ninety patients with previously untreated extensive-stage SCLC fulfilled criteria for randomization to standard-dose versus high-dose EP. Another 25 patients at risk of excessive toxicity from high-dose treatment were given standard-dose therapy.

Effect of thoracic radiotherapy on mortality in limited small cell lung cancer. A meta-analysis of 13 randomized trials among 2,140 patients.

This meta-analysis was designed to evaluate the hypothesis that thoracic radiotherapy contributes to a moderate increase in overall survival in limited small-cell lung cancer. We collected individual data on all patients enrolled before December 1988 in randomized trials comparing chemotherapy alone with chemotherapy combined with thoracic radiotherapy. The study included 13 trials and 2140 patients with limited disease.