Evaluation of clinical use and effectiveness of darbepoetin alfa in cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced anemia.

Purpose: To investigate the patterns of use of darbepoetin alfa in Spanish centers, and to evaluate its effectiveness in the treatment of chemotherapy-induced anemia under clinical practice conditions.

Methods: This was an observational, retrospective, multicenter study in adult patients with non-myeloid malignancies who initiated chemotherapy and darbepoetin alfa. Data was collected for up to 16 weeks or until treatment discontinuation.

Non-bacterial thrombotic endocarditis in cancer patients.

A total of 10 cases of non-bacterial thrombotic endocarditis (NBTE) were found among 1640 adult patients, autopsied in a 24-year period. Eight out of 10 patients had an underlying malignant tumor, NBTE was more common in cancer patients than in patients without malignancy (1.25% vs 0.

Testicular germ cell tumor seven years after a retroperitoneal germ cell tumor.

A 44-year-old male was diagnosed in August 1980 as having a retroperitoneal germ cell tumor (classic seminoma with anaplastic areas). After treatment with cisplatin-based chemotherapy, he reached complete clinical and pathological remission. Eighty-eight months later, in December 1987, he was diagnosed as having a testicular mixed germ cell tumor (embryonal carcinoma with anaplastic seminoma areas) after right orchiectomy.

Subcutaneous metastasis following laparoscopy in gastric adenocarcinoma.

An 80-year-old male developed ascites as the first indication of an adenocarcinoma of the gastroesophageal junction. Laparoscopy was performed during the diagnostic study of the ascites and, 7 days later at the point of introduction of the laparoscope, a metastasis developed in skin and subcutaneous cellular tissue. This is the third case of subcutaneous neoplastic implantation following laparoscopy to appear in the literature.

Intracranial tumors with risk of dissemination in neuroaxis.

The experience of the Radiotherapy Service, Clínica Puerta de Hierro, Madrid (Spain), in the treatment of intracranial tumors with risk of neural axis dissemination is analyzed. In 15 years (1964-1979) 415 primary central nervous system tumors were studied and treated; 67 corresponded to tumors with risk of meningeal dissemination. Clinical dissemination in cerebrospinal fluid was proven in 14 patients.