Quality of life and length of survival in advanced cancer patients on home parenteral nutrition.

Background: The use of home parenteral nutrition (HPN) in patients with advanced cancer is controversial because survival is usually short and there are no data regarding the quality of life (QoL).

Methods: Sixty-nine advanced cancer patients enrolled in a program of HPN in six different Italian centers were prospectively studied as regards nutritional status (body weight, serum albumin, serum transferrin and total lymphocyte count), length of survival and QoL through the Rotterdam Symptom Checklist questionnaire. These variables were collected at the start of HPN and then at monthly intervals.

High-dose intravenous desferrioxamine (DFO) delivery in four thalassemic patients allergic to subcutaneous DFO administration.

To test the hypothesis that allergy to desferrioxamine is not an immunologic mechanism, but arises from a local effect on the dermal mast cell, we have treated four patients who were not receiving chelation therapy because of hypersensitivity to standard subcutaneous (SC) therapy, with high-dose desferrioxamine (DFO) by the intravenous (IV) route. Three patients had central venous access ports implanted on the anterior chest wall. The fourth patient had the therapy delivered by the peripheral vein route.

[Alizapride versus placebo in premedication for esophagogastroduodenoscopy. Double-blind clinical study. Experimental research in vitro].

The pronounced antiemetic properties of Alizapride, one of the new azimidobenzamides suggested the assessment of its efficacy on 40 patients due for oesophagogastroduodenoscopy. The drug proved highly satisfactory as premedication for the examination, significantly inhibiting vomiting and stomach wall tone during the examination as was indicated by in vitro studies.

[Holter's ECG monitoring in esophagogastroduodenoscopy. Premedication with tiropramide. Preliminary notes].

Endoscopy of the upper digestive tract with flexible instruments is presently a safe, widely used technique in gastrointestinal pathology. Some cases of changes in cardiac rhythm, ventricular fibrillation, ischaemia and cardiac arrest, have, however, been observed during EGDS. The incidence of arrhythmias during EGDS in 41 patients, monitored during the examination with Holter's ECG, has been observed.