A comparative study of two types of urinary sheath.

Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the newly developed Conveen Optima urinary sheath with the established Clear Advantage urinary sheath in terms of patient satisfaction and preference.

Method: This was a randomised, prospective, open, crossover study, in which each participant tested 10 urinary sheaths.

Results: Conveen Optima provided a higher feeling of security, was easier to handle and apply and was more comfortable to wear than Clear Advantage.

Phase II study of PEND chemotherapy in patients with refractory/relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma.

High-dose chemotherapy with autologous marrow or stem cell rescue (HDC/ASCT) is an effective strategy in patients with relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma. Various chemotherapy regimens have been used for cytoreduction prior to HDC/ASCT. In this study, our objective was to determine the response rate to PEND in a group of patients with relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma.

The effect of dose increase of imatinib mesylate in patients with chronic or accelerated phase chronic myelogenous leukemia with inadequate hematologic or cytogenetic response to initial treatment.

Purpose: Imatinib mesylate is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor with high affinity for the BCR-ABL fusion protein expressed by the hematopoietic cells in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Some patients with chronic-phase or accelerated-phase CML either relapse after an initial response or are refractory to imatinib, prompting us to evaluate the efficacy of dose increase in such patients.

Experimental Design: Twelve chronic-phase patients initially receiving 400 mg/day and 4 patients with accelerated phase initially receiving either 400 mg/day (two patients) or 600 mg/day (two patients) had their dose increased (14 to 800 mg/day and 2 to 600 mg/day) because of progressive disease (usually clonal evolution) or inadequate cytogenetic response after at least 1 year of therapy.

The effect of imatinib mesylate on patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia with secondary chromosomal aberrations.

Purpose And Experimental Design: The acquisition of secondary chromosomal aberrations in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) karyotype signifies clonal evolution associated with disease progression to accelerated/blastic phase. Therefore, these aberrations are of clinical and biological importance. We identified 58 cases with secondary abnormalities in addition to t(9;22)(q34;q11.