Oncological resource allocation in Germany.

Background: Oncology is a resource-intensive medical discipline where, so far, effectiveness rather than efficiency of a treatment has stood in the foreground. The aim of our study was, therefore, to determine the resource allocation and to assess the efficiency of oncology in Germany for the period of 2002-2004.

Materials And Methods: With the aid of the official German Health Report, the expenditures for health in 2004 and the gain in years of life according to ICD 10 disease categories were analyzed.

Double high-dose chemotherapy with adriamycin, paclitaxel, cyclophosphamide, and thiotepa followed by autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation in women with metastatic breast cancer.

To determine the feasibility, time to progression, and event-free survival, twenty-two women with metastatic breast cancer received two cycles of high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) followed by peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) early after first-line induction chemotherapy. The median age of the ten (45.5%) pre- and 12 (54.

Premenopausal breast cancer: chemotherapy and endocrine therapy.

Modern treatment of premenopausal breast cancer is based on well-established prognostic and predictive factors for disease outcome such as nodal status, hormone receptor expression, tumour size, tumour grading and patient age. The development of strategies according to such individual risk profiles has resulted in significant improvements both in overall and disease-free survival. An abundant number of new prognostic and predictive factors in addition to those already mentioned may help to increase our understanding of the biology of breast cancer and to individualize therapy in premenopausal patients.

[Brain metastases of colorectal carcinomas].

Background: Patients with brain metastases from colorectal cancer are supposed to have the lowest median survival compared to other locations of metastases from this cancer. Patients with brain metastases usually receive highly palliative treatment and are excluded from studied investigating new therapeutic concepts. However, there appears to be a subgroup of patients with brain metastases originating from colorectal cancer who have a median survival comparable to that of other metastatic sites.

Oral naloxone reverses opioid-associated constipation.

Opioid-related constipation is one of the most frequent side effects of chronic pain treatment. Enteral administration of naloxone blocks opioid action at the intestinal receptor level but has low systemic bioavailability due to marked hepatic first-pass metabolism. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of oral naloxone on opioid-associated constipation in an intraindividually controlled manner.