Treatment of Metastatic, Refractory Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma: Case Reports and Literature Review of Treatment Options in the Era of Targeted Therapy.

Background: Alveolar soft part sarcoma is a rare soft tissue sarcoma that is characterized by a pattern of slow growth with metastases to the lung, bone, and brain that is not responsive to conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy.

Observations: We describe 2 patients, with a combined 19 years of treatment experience including multiple different chemotherapeutic and targeted therapy regimens, surgery, and radiotherapy. We also present a review of the literature regarding treatment options to highlight recent findings.

Isolated renal relapse in acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Current therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia have resulted in cure rates over 80%. Relapses occur most frequently in the bone marrow. We report the unusual case of a young man who presented with an isolated kidney relapse after maintaining remission from acute lymphoblastic leukemia for over 6 years.

Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) in children with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP): study of 40 cases.

Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) is a rare but devastating complication of childhood immune thrombocytopenia purpura (ITP). A survey of ICH from 1987 to 2000 identified cases of ICH in childhood ITP in the United States. Forty patients with ICH and 80 matched ITP control subjects were accrued.

Phase II study of temozolomide plus pegylated interferon-alpha-2b for metastatic melanoma.

Background: Temozolomide and interferon-alpha-2b (IFN-alpha-2b) are both active in melanoma. Therefore, the efficacy and safety of temozolomide in combination with pegylated IFN-alpha-2b in patients with metastatic melanoma without brain metastases was investigated.

Methods: Patients with histologically confirmed, unresectable, American Joint Committee on Cancer Stage IV melanoma were enrolled in an open-label, Phase II study.

Determination of the presence and extent of pure ductal carcinoma in situ by mammography and magnetic resonance imaging.

The purpose of this study was to compare the ability of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and mammography to determine the presence and extent of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Retrospective review of medical records of women who underwent MRI and mammographic examination during a 23-month period revealed 39 sites of pure DCIS in 33 breasts of 32 women. No invasive or microinvasive tumor was found.