Docetaxel and gemcitabine in the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma - a single-center experience.

Introduction: Advanced stage/metastatic soft tissue sarcoma (STS) has a poor prognosis especially after failure of the established first-line treatment. In patients with relapsed leiomyosarcoma, however, the combination of gemcitabine (G) and docetaxel (D) recently has emerged as a valuable salvage therapy.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective analysis of G (900 mg/m2, days 1+8) and D (100 mg/m2, day 8) was performed in 34 patients with STS, and response rate (RR), overall survival (OS), time to progression (TTP), and toxicities were evaluated.

Accuracy of a novel approach to measuring arterial thermodilution cardiac output during intra-aortic counterpulsation.

Objective: To assess the agreement between a novel approach of arterial and the pulmonary artery bolus thermodilution for measuring cardiac output in critically ill patients during aortic counterpulsation.

Methods: Eighteen male patients aged 37-80 years, undergoing preoperative insertion of an intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) and elective coronary artery bypass grafting. A thin 1.

Serum free light chain analysis and urine immunofixation electrophoresis in patients with multiple myeloma.

Purpose: Retrospective studies have shown that immunoassays measuring free light chains (FLC) in serum are useful for diagnosis and monitoring of multiple myeloma. This study prospectively evaluates the use of FLC assays and, for the first time, investigates the relationship between serum FLC concentrations and the presence and detectability of Bence Jones (BJ) proteins in the urine.

Patients And Methods: Three hundred seventy-eight paired samples of serum and urine were tested from 82 patients during the course of their disease.

Impact of chemotherapy regimen and hematopoietic growth factor on mobilization and collection of peripheral blood stem cells in cancer patients.

Various chemotherapy regimens, combined with recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor(rhG-CSF) or recombinant granulocyte-macrophage CSF (rhGM-CSF) are used in cancer patients to mobilize and collect peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC). In this retrospective study, we evaluated and compared the efficacy of such regimens in 262 patients with different types of malignant diseases. The following chemotherapy regimens were applied: ifosfamide-etoposide-cisplatin or bleomycin (n = 96; mainly patients with testicular cancer); ifosfamide-etoposide plus or minus cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) or vincristine (VCR)(n = 52; mainly patients with lymphoma); cyclophosphamide-anthracycline (n = 53; mainly patients with breast cancer); intermediate to high dose (ID-HD) cyclophosphamide (n = 37; mainly patients with breast or ovarian cancer.