Increase of survival benefit in advanced resectable colon cancer by extent of adjuvant treatment: results of a randomized trial comparing modulation of 5-FU + levamisole with folinic acid or with interferon-alpha.

Background: The benefit of adjuvant therapy in curatively resected lymph node-positive colon cancer was established using 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and levamisole (LEV) for 12 months. 5-FU cytotoxicity can be modulated by folinic acid (FA) or interferon-alpha (INF-alpha). The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of modulating 5-FU+ LEV by either FA or IFN-alpha in the adjuvant treatment of high-risk colon cancer.

Pseudoreticulocytosis in a patient with myelodysplasia.

A patient with a myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and reticulocytosis of > 50% in the absence of a correspondingly increased erythrocyte turnover is reported. Evaluation of the kinetics of erythrocyte turnover revealed a decreased erythrocyte life span of 44 days. From these data a prolongation of the reticulocyte maturation time to > 20 days can be concluded.

High-intensity therapy versus low-intensity therapy in advanced breast cancer patients.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the significance of response to the first two cycles of FEC (5-fluorouracil, 4-epirubicin, cyclophosphamide) in patients with advanced breast cancer. A total of 99 patients entered the study. They showed either high risk criteria and were previously untreated or showed low risk criteria and were pretreated by hormonal therapies.

Compliance of physicians and patients with a consensus protocol for treatment of advanced breast cancer.

In a multicenter study we used a consensus protocol including more than five subsequent therapeutic steps for treatment of patients with advanced breast cancer. A total of 335 evaluable patients from 27 participating hospitals were allocated to a low- or high-risk group, receiving different therapies during the initial phase of treatment. About half of these patients were treated without protocol violations (compliers).

[Concept of treatment of metastatic breast cancer outside university clinics: description of the method and evaluation of efficacy].

It has been recognized during the past decade that it may be advantageous to develop complex strategies for treatment of metastatic breast cancer (MBC). In these strategies the type and efficacy of preceding therapies and the compliance of the patients have to be considered. Since about 80% of all patients with MBC are treated outside university hospitals it should be tested if a complex strategy for treatment of MBC can be realized in these institutions.