Routine 4D Cardiac CT to Identify Concomitant Transthyretin Amyloid Cardiomyopathy in Older Adults with Severe Aortic Stenosis.

Background Transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) often coexists with severe aortic stenosis (AS). Although strain analysis from cardiac MRI and echocardiography was demonstrated to predict coexisting ATTR-CM, comparable data from four-dimensional (4D) cardiac CT are lacking despite wide availability. Purpose To evaluate the diagnostic performance of 4D cardiac CT-derived parameters in identifying ATTR-CM in older adults considered for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI).

Long-term outcomes of a randomized controlled trial comparing thermochemotherapy with mitomycin-C alone as adjuvant treatment for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).

Objective: • To present long-term efficacy data of intravesical thermochemotherapy vs chemotherapy alone with mitomycin-C (MMC) randomly administered to patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) as an adjuvant treatment after complete transurethral resection.

Patients And Methods: • In all, 83 patients with intermediate-/high-risk NMIBC, following complete transurethral resection, were randomly assigned to receive either intravesical thermochemotherapy by means of Synergo® (Medical Enterprises, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) or intravesical chemotherapy alone, for prophylaxis of tumour recurrence. • Two doses of MMC (20 mg dissolved in 50 mL distilled water administered throughout two consecutive sessions) was used as the chemotherapeutic agent in both arms.

Quantitative microscopy of human DNA topoisomerase II-alpha expression in transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder.

Objective: To compare the nuclear size of various grades of transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) stained immunohistochemically with the nuclear enzyme topoisomerase II-alpha (topo II-alpha) in bladder urothelial neoplasms.

Study Design: Histologic sections from 53 consecutive papillary bladder neoplasms were stained immunohistochemically for topo II-alpha expression. There were 18 (33.

Preliminary European results of local microwave hyperthermia and chemotherapy treatment in intermediate or high risk superficial transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder.

Introduction: Superficial bladder cancer can be treated by transurethral resection (TUR) and adjuvant intravesical therapy. Intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) has been proven to be more efficacious with respect to recurrence prevention than intravesical chemotherapy, although at the cost of more severe side effects. There is a need for a new treatment modality with higher efficacy and less toxicity.

Combined local bladder hyperthermia and intravesical chemotherapy for the treatment of high-grade superficial bladder cancer.

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of combined local bladder hyperthermia and intravesical chemotherapy for the treatment of patients with high-grade (G3) superficial bladder cancer.

Methods: Patients with G3 bladder tumors (Stage Ta or T1) were treated with combined intravesical chemotherapy with mitomycin-C and local radiofrequency hyperthermia of the bladder wall. The patients were treated with either a prophylactic protocol (40 mg mitomycin-C) after complete transurethral resection of all tumors or with an ablative protocol (80 mg mitomycin-C) when visible tumor was seen on video-cystoscopy or bladder biopsies were positive for carcinoma in situ.

Multicentric study comparing intravesical chemotherapy alone and with local microwave hyperthermia for prophylaxis of recurrence of superficial transitional cell carcinoma.

Purpose: To compare the efficacy and local toxicity of the intravesical instillation of a cytostatic drug versus the same cytostatic agent in combination with local hyperthermia as an adjuvant treatment, after complete transurethral resection (TURB) of superficial transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder.

Patients And Methods: The study was designed as a prospective, multicentric, randomized trial. Eighty-three patients suffering from primary or recurrent superficial (Ta-T1) TCC of the bladder, after a complete TURB, were randomly assigned to receive intravesical instillations of mitomycin C (MMC) alone, for 41 patients, and MMC in combination with local microwave-induced hyperthermia, for 42 patients.

Local microwave hyperthermia and intravesical chemotherapy as bladder sparing treatment for select multifocal and unresectable superficial bladder tumors.

Purpose: The role of a combined regimen of local hyperthermia and topical chemotherapy in patients with multifocal and recurrent superficial bladder tumors not curable by transurethral resection was evaluated in a neoadjuvant organ sparing clinical study.

Materials And Methods: A total of 19 patients with multifocal, superficial grades 1 to 3 bladder tumors that recurred after intravesical chemoprophylaxis or immunoprophylaxis underwent local combined administration of microwave induced hyperthermia and intravesical chemotherapy as a debulking approach. Due to extensive superficial involvement of the bladder walls complete transurethral resection of all tumors seemed technically unfeasible in all cases and radical cystectomy was considered the treatment of choice.

Reduced semen quality caused by chronic abacterial prostatitis: an enigma or reality?

Objective: To investigate whether there is an inter-relationship between chronic abacterial prostatitis and potential infertility.

Design: As part of the eligibility studies for hyperthermia treatment for chronic abacterial prostatitis patients, a large number of chronic prostatitis patients were referred to us from peripheral outpatient clinics. Sperm analysis was a routine portion of the eligibility studies.

Local hyperthermia for prostate cancer.

Hyperthermia for treatment of cancer is known to be beneficial both in itself and in conjunction with other forms of treatment, particularly radiotherapy. We have developed a new machine for local hyperthermia (41-44 degrees C) to the prostate, by transmission of microwaves (915 MHz) via a rectal probe. Patients were treated on an outpatient basis and did not require any anesthesia or sedation.

Chronic abacterial prostatitis and hyperthermia. A possible new treatment?

A group of 45 patients with chronic abacterial prostatitis or prostatodynia underwent 6 weekly, 1-hour sessions of local deep microwave hyperthermia (42.5 +/- 0.5 degrees C) to the prostate.

Local hyperthermia to canine prostate. A pilot study.

Repeated treatments of localized deep microwave hyperthermia were given to a series of dogs by means of a 915 MHz, water-cooled skirt-type applicator. The applicator was inserted into the rectum and directed toward the prostate in order to heat it by means of the absorbed microwaves while keeping the rectal wall at a lower temperature by surface cooling of the applicator itself. Sessions were given for different lengths of time ranging between ninety minutes and five hours, during which the prostate temperature was kept at 42.

Local hyperthermia of the prostate gland for the treatment of benign prostatic hypertrophy and urinary retention.

Local hyperthermia of the prostate was used to treat 72 patients who had an indwelling catheter because of urinary retention caused by benign prostatic hypertrophy. One month after completion of treatment 50% of patients were able to dispense with the catheter and 1 year later 40% remained catheter-free. The best results were achieved in patients who underwent 6 to 10 treatment sessions in conjunction with cyproterone acetate 50 mg tid administered during the treatment period only.

Local thermotherapy of the benign prostate: a 1-year follow-up.

Local hyperthermia to the prostate has initially been found to be of considerable beneficial value in cancer of the gland and later also in benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) and in chronic prostatitis. The Prostathermer has been especially developed and used for this purpose. 124 patients with BPH, who have been treated by this method, were reevaluated after 1 year.

Diseases of prostate treated by local microwave hyperthermia.

A new method is described for the treatment of diseases of the prostate with local hyperthermia applied transrectally by microwaves. A series of 500 treatment sessions given to 74 patients with 14 controls, is reported. Thirty patients had advanced cancer of the prostate, 37 had benign hyperplasia and were unsuitable for surgery, and 21 had chronic prostatitis.

Changes in the sexual behavior of couples after prostatectomy. A prospective study.

Sexual behavior after prostatectomy was observed in 90 couples, with a follow-up of 3-6 years. Retropubic prostatectomy was performed on 53 patients (58.7%), transvesical prostatectomy on 12 patients (13.

Experience with bacillus Calmette-Guérin in patients with superficial bladder tumors. Value of monocyte activation in intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin therapy.

Twenty-four patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder, who had failed thiotepa therapy, were subjected to immunotherapy with intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) by a modification of the Morales protocol. The results show a marked decline in the number of recurrent tumors following BCG immunotherapy. From a cumulative recurrence of 1 in 8.

Histopathological observations in the canine prostate treated by local microwave hyperthermia.

A large series of repeated experiments were performed applying localized microwave hyperthermia to the prostate in dogs using a new water-cooled skirt-type antenna [1], operating at 915 MHz, as part of a new hyperthermia apparatus being developed for the treatment of the prostate in humans. The prostate gland of 20 male dogs was heated repeatedly under general anesthesia, at temperatures between 40 degrees C and 47 degrees C, and for different lengths of time up to 10 h. The prostate and other tissues were evaluated histopathologically following treatments.

Further observations on the use of local hyperthermia for the treatment of diseases of the prostate in man.

Hyperthermia - the sustained controlled heating of tissues to 42-43 degrees C - is being studied and used as a means of treatment, particularly to selectively destroy malignant cells. This may be achieved by heat alone, or in conjunction with other forms of treatment, such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy, thanks to a synergistic effect obtained. A new microwave apparatus has been designed and developed which permits precise, controlled and safe hyperthermic treatment of the human prostate.

The mechanism of human NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity. Mode of action of surface-associated proteases in the early stages of the lytic reaction.

The possible involvement of cell surface-associated proteolytic enzymes in human NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity and the mechanism by which such enzymes exert their activity have been studied. The treatment of intact cells with 3H-DFP under restricted conditions that predominantly bind surface-associated enzymes resulted in the labeling of five to six enzyme bands. Among these were a 35,000-dalton enzyme, which may be a previously identified trypsin-like proteinase engaged in cytotoxicity, and a 58,000-dalton elastase.

Hyperthermia in the treatment of prostate cancer.

Hyperthermia-the sustained heating of tissues to temperatures of 42 degrees C to 43.5 degrees C--increasingly is being studied by scientists as a new tool to destroy cancer cells, either alone or in conjunction with other well established forms of treatment, such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Many studies on tissue cultures, on animals and also on humans, have established the fact that this new nonconventional adjuvant form of treatment is actually effective.

Local hyperthermia for treatment of carcinoma of the prostate: a preliminary report.

Following extensive experiments on animals, we have concluded a study on the treatment of 15 patients with prostatic carcinoma using localized deep microwave hyperthermia (LDMWH; 2.45 GHZ), either alone or in combination with radiotherapy or hormonal therapy. The results of this pilot trial were encouraging and are herewith presented.