Economic evaluation of different hormonal therapies for prostate cancer. Final results from the Quality of Life Antiandrogen Blockade Italian Observational Study (QuABIOS).

Objective: The paper compares costs and Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) of different hormonal therapies (HTs) administered to 275 out of 471 patients with prostate cancer (PC) enrolled in the Quality of Life Antiandrogen Blockade Italian Observational Study (QuABIOS), who did not change HT during the study period.

Methods: QALYs and costs related to monoHT witk cyproterone acetate (CYP) (42 patients); bicalutamide (BIC) (41 patients); LHRH-a (96 patients) and complete androgenic blockade (CAB) with: CYP (CYP CAB) (50 patients); BIC (BIC CAB) (46 patients) were compared via a cost-utility analysis (CUA) adopting the Italian National Healthcare Service (INHS) viewpoint.

Results: As no statistical significant difference among the mean QALYs gained with the different HTs was detected (p = 0.

Quality of life evaluation by the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire in patients treated with hormonal treatment in Italy. A QuABIOS group study.

Objectives: An observational study was planned by the QuABIOS group, to survey the hormonal treatment administered to prostate cancer patients in Italy within a time window of 12 months. We report here a prospective quality of life (QOL) evaluation over time and by hormonal treatment modalities.

Methods: Patients with diagnosis of prostate cancer and treated with hormonal therapy were eligible for this study.

Hormonal treatment for prostate cancer in Italy. Preliminary data from a survey of the QUABIOS Group.

Objective: An observational study was planned by the QUABIOS group, to survey the hormonal modalities administered to prostate cancer patients in Italy within a time window of 12 months. We report here a summary of treatment schedules and related adverse effects, as recorded at the first visit.

Material And Methods: Patients with diagnosis of prostate cancer and under hormonal therapy (LHRH-a and/or antiandrogen, previous orchidectomy) were eligible for this study.

Incidence of prostate cancer in Sicily: results of a multicenter case-findings protocol.

Objective: To establish the incidence of prostate cancer (PCa) in Sicily in patients who entered an early detection protocol.

Methods: From February 2002 to February 2004, 16,298 subjects aged 40-75 entered the protocol. Patients with suspicious DRE, PSA>10 ng/ml, PSA View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Management of symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia in southern Italy: a retrospective analysis of the Sicilian-Calabrian Society of Urology (SSCU) of 32,000 patients.

Introduction: The availability of new pharmacological and surgical options is responsible for important changes in the management of symptomatic benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). The Sicilian-Calabrian Society of Urology performed a retrospective survey to assess the management of BPH in southern Italy in 1997 and 1998.

Patients And Methods: A 3-page questionnaire was sent to the 36 urological units of these two regions.

Open prostatectomy for benign prostatic enlargement in southern Europe in the late 1990s: a contemporary series of 1800 interventions.

Objectives: Contemporary series of open prostatectomies from Western countries are rare. Frequently, the analysis of the outcome of open prostatectomy refers to old experiences or to series from developing countries. Any comparison with transurethral resection of the prostate can be invalidated by complications of open surgery because of the lack of an adequate healthcare system and technology.

p53 expression in human renal cell carcinoma: an immunohistochemical study and a literature outline of the cytogenetic characterization.

In this study both the incidence and pattern of p53 over-expression in various histological subtypes of a series of 36 cases of renal cell Grawitz carcinoma, partially studied in a previous paper, were analyzed. This series consisted of these histologic subtypes: clear cell non papillary (18 cases), clear cell papillary (2 cases), granular cell (5 cases), mixed (clear and granular cell) (9 cases) and spindle cell (2 cases). At present, our aim was, firstly, to see which were the best technical conditions for detection of p53 in the available paraffin-embedded tumor specimens, using several antibodies, specific for various epitopes; secondly, to investigate if some relation might exist between this expression and the histological features of these tumors.

Renal cell (Grawitz) carcinoma: an immunohistochemical study in correlation with nuclear grade, histological pattern and proliferative activity of tumor cells.

Since morphological features of renal cell carcinomas may not always predict their clinical behaviour, other biological parameters are more and more searched for, as prognostic indicators. Among those, the Authors evaluate the cytokeratin-vimentin intermediate-sized filaments co-expression in a series of 32 renal carcinomas and analyze this feature in correlation with both traditional criteria and proliferative activity of tumor cells, studied by means of the proliferation cellular nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression as well as of the nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) count, within tumor cells. From this study, nuclear grade stands out as the best parameter which, furthermore, shows a significant relationship with the cytokeratin-vimentin co-expression and the mean NORs count in tumor cell populations.

Histological and histochemical changes in the colon mucosa after ureterosigmoidostomy or colonic conduit.

A study was made of 22 patients previously subjected to urinary diversion, 12 with ureterosigmoidostomy and 10 with colon conduit. The histological and histochemical examination of biopsies of intestinal mucosa near to and far from the ureteral orifices showed transformations with considerable inflammatory infiltration, variations in the composition of the acid mucins with a prevalence of sialomucins, lengthening and branching of the glandular crypts, and sometimes dysplasias of the epithelium. These structural modifications are typical of transitional mucosa.

Testosterone metabolism in benign prostatic hypertrophy: in vivo studies of gestonorone caproate and cyproterone acetate.

18 patients with obstructive benign prostatic hypertrophy were studied. A 5-day treatment with gestonorone caproate (200 mg daily and 200 mg on alternate days) and cyproterone acetate (300 mg daily) suppressed the plasma LH and serum LH levels. Subsequently, H3-testosterone was injected intravenously and its elimination from plasma and uptake and metabolism in the BPH tissue studied.

The influence of the progestogen gestonorone caproate on testosterone turnover in renal cell carcinoma. An in vitro study.

To investigate the effect of gestagens on renal cell carcinoma 300-mg slices of normal, human kidney, renal cell carcinoma (RCC), and preoperatively irradiated RCC were subjected to a short term incubation with 200 pmoles of 3H-testosterone and 1 and 2 mug of gestonorone caproate. In the normal kidney 61.4 per cent of the testosterone added was metabolized, the oxidation products androstenedione and epitestosterone outweighing by 6:1 the reduction products 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone and androstanediol.

[Retrograde renal phlebography with balloon occlusion of the renal artery. Technique and scope of a new method (author's transl)].

A new method of retrograde phlebography of the kidney is described; it is carried out by using a balloon catheter in the renal artery for occluding the circulation. The procedure has been carried out in 13 patients without complication. Early experience has provided very good results in the diagnosis of malignant renal tumours; invasion into the venous system can be demonstrated radiologically.

[Short time in-situ preservation of the ischemic kidney by a simple initial hypothermic perfusion with various cold solutions. An animal experimental study].

In unilateral nephrectomized beagle dogs the remaining kidney was subjected to 2 hrs of ischemia in situ. The ischemic organ was cooled to 22--23 degrees C by initial hypothermic perfusion over a 5-F catheter introduced into the renal artery via the carotid artery. It was then left in the open abdominal wound without any further attempts of cooling.

A systematic study of testosterone metabolism in benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH): in vitro results.

An in vitro system for testing steroids which might be effective in treating benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) has been developed based upon the transformation of H-3-testosterone into the 5-alpha-reduction products dihydrotestosterone and 3-alpha-androstanediol. In scrutinizing the influence of the amount of BPH-tissue, time, and pH, 300 mg of tissue incubated for 2 h at the physiological pH of 7.4 were used in the standard experiment.