Value of low-dose dobutamine stress echocardiography on defining true severe low gradient aortic stenosis in patients with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction.

Low-dose dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) is a valuable tool to distinguish true-severe (TS) from pseudo-severe (PS) low gradient aortic valve stenosis (LGAS) in patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). However, only scanty studies reported the clinical utility of DSE in differentiating TS-LGAS patients with preserved LVEF. We investigated the clinical utility of DSE in LGAS patients with preserved LVEF and the echocardiographic determinants suggestive of TS-LGAS.

Contribution of radiotherapy to the management of malignant melanoma. A ten year experience at the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago.

Fraction size in radiotherapy of malignant melanoma remains a point of controversy. Among 139 patients treated at the University of Illinois Hospital in 1979-1988, 36 were considered potentially curable (not counting ocular melanomas); 20 were treated by the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) hypofractionated schedule using 800 cGy per fraction and achieved a permanency of local control lasting > 6 months since the beginning of radiotherapy in 10/22 (45.5%) courses.

Short latency vestibular evoked response to angular acceleration impulse in human beings.

Vestibular evoked response (VsEP) to acceleration stimuli were recorded in experimental animals and in human beings by scalp electrodes. The stimuli are angular acceleration impulses (up to 30,000 deg/sec2) transmitted to the skull by special devices. The short latency vestibular evoked response consisted of several waves during the first 10 msec.

Effects of radiation on fixation of non-cemented porous-coated implants in a canine model.

A non-weight-bearing porous-coated rod was implanted bilaterally in the proximal part of the humerus in thirty-five adult male mongrel dogs. In all of the animals, one limb was treated with radiation and the opposite limb served as the control. In twenty-one animals, the dose was 1000 centigrays (rads) and in fourteen, it was 500 centigrays.

Postoperative radiotherapy for persistent tumor at the surgical margin in head and neck cancers.

Seventy-two patients with a carcinoma of the head and neck, who were treated with surgery and postoperative irradiation, were reviewed to determine the local recurrence rates and survival in patients with inadequate surgical margins. Tumor recurrence rate was 31% for patients with microscopic tumors at resection margins and 50% for those with macroscopic tumor. Actuarial 3-year survival for these patients was 71% and 43%, respectively.

Cancer of the glottis: prognostic factors in radiation therapy.

The authors conducted a multivariate analysis of the prognostic factors in 96 patients with early glottic cancer treated by radiation therapy. Of these, 73 had T1 and 23 had T2 tumor. The primary tumor was controlled in 82% of T1 and 74% of T2 lesions.

Carcinoma of the esophagus: sites of failure.

A clinico-pathologic study of 173 patients with esophageal cancer was done. The median survival for all patients was 6.4 months.

Brain stem gliomas: an autopsy study of 25 cases.

The study analyzed the extent of tumor at autopsy in 25 patients with a brainstem glioma. Primary tumor in the pons comprised the majority of cases, followed by medulla and midbrain. Histologically, 48% of the tumors were glioblastoma multiforme.

Radiation therapy for subclinical carcinoma in cervical lymph nodes.

Radiotherapy alone was used to treat 187 patients with a head and neck cancer and clinically uninvolved lymph nodes. Delayed lymph node metastases developed in 35 (19%) patients, and concomitant tumor at the primary site was present in 90% of them. In two (1%) of the 187 patients, delayed metastases developed in the irradiated nodes with the primary tumor controlled; both of these patients received a radiation dose of less than 5,000 rad.

An evaluation of lymphography with nodal biopsy in localized carcinoma of the prostate. URO-Oncology Research Group.

One hundred forty-nine lymphograms from patients with localized carcinomas of the prostate were interpreted by a referee radiologist without the benefit of clinical stage, grade of tumor, or the result of staging pelvic node dissection. The lymphogram was able to detect 30 of 35 (86%) positive nodal metastases and confirm 90 of 114 (79%) negative nodal biopsies. The internal iliac nodal biopsies were positive as a single finding in only 7 of 54 (13%) patients.

An analysis of factors in the successful management of cancer of tonsillar region.

A total of 117 consecutive primary cancers of the tonsillar region was irradiated at the University of Illinois Hospitals from 1955 to 1973. Results with 94 patients treated with radiotherapy alone and 23 with a combination of surgery and radiotherapy were analyzed. The modalities of radiation used were electron beam, 22 meV photons and Cobalt-60.

Evaluation of perfluoroctylbromide for lymphography in the dog: comparison with ethiodol.

The efficacy and safety of perfluoroctylbromide as a diagnostic contrast agent for direct lymphography was studied in mongrel dogs. This radiopaque perfluorocarbon has several advantages over Ethiodol. The liquid compound has injection times one-fifth of that required for Ethiodol.

Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma of head and neck in children. Correlation of stage, radiation dose, local control, and survival.

Nineteen consecutive children are analyzed according to clinical stay, radiation dose (NSD), local control, and survival. The majority received 1600 to 1750 rets and courses of actinomycin during their radiation treatments. The favorable sites were the orbit, facial soft tissue, and the larynx.