Effect of salmeterol/fluticasone propionate combination on airway hyper-responsiveness in patients with well-controlled asthma.

Background: The hypothesis that regular treatment aimed at achieving and maintaining asthma control is accompanied by reduced airway hyper-responsiveness (AHR) was investigated.

Methods: Adult patients (PC(20) methacholine <8 mg/ml, FEV(1)% predicted >or=70%) received salmeterol/fluticasone propionate combination 50/250 microg bd (SFC250) for a 12-week run-in; those achieving well-controlled (WC) asthma were randomised to SFC250 (n = 88) or SFC50/500 microg bd (SFC500) (n = 90) for 24 weeks. AHR (PC(20) methacholine), asthma control, lung function, symptoms, exacerbations and safety were assessed.

Cost-effectiveness of FDG-PET in staging non-small cell lung cancer: the PLUS study.

Currently, up to 50% of the operations in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are futile owing to the presence of locally advanced tumour or distant metastases. More accurate pre-operative staging is required in order to reduce the number of futile operations. The cost-effectiveness of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography ((18)FDG-PET) added to the conventional diagnostic work-up was studied in the PLUS study.

Effectiveness of positron emission tomography in the preoperative assessment of patients with suspected non-small-cell lung cancer: the PLUS multicentre randomised trial.

Background: Up to 50% of curative surgery for suspected non-small-cell lung cancer is unsuccessful. Accuracy of positron emission tomography (PET) with 18-fluorodeoxyglucose (18FDG) is thought to be better than conventional staging for diagnosis of this malignancy. Up to now however, there has been no evidence that PET leads to improved management of patients in routine clinical practice.

Expression of DNA topoisomerase IIalpha and topoisomerase IIbeta genes predicts survival and response to chemotherapy in patients with small cell lung cancer.

Drug resistance is a major problem in patients with small cell lung cancer; in fact, most die of resistant disease, despite an initial response. Several markers of drug resistance have been described in preclinical models, but the mechanism of drug resistance in lung cancer patients remains unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of the expression of a number of markers of drug resistance, proliferation, and apoptosis in relation to response to chemotherapy and survival in patients with small cell lung cancer.