Photodynamic endometrial ablation for the treatment of dysfunctional uterine bleeding: a preliminary report.

Background And Objectives: To evaluate feasibility and functional effects of photodynamic endometrial ablation (PEA) in patients.

Study Design/patients And Methods: A total of 15 PEAs has been performed in 11 patients using topically applied 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) solutions and a balloon-light diffuser (160 J/cm(2), 635 nm). Uterine bleeding intensity has been determined on a daily basis 3 months prior to and up to 6 months after endometrial ablation using an analogous scale scoring from 1 (spotting) to 6 U (severe bleeding).

Frequency and distribution pattern of distant metastases in breast cancer patients at the time of primary presentation.

Introduction: For routine staging of patients with primary breast cancer, clinical practice guidelines of many medical societies recommend chest X-ray, liver ultrasound and bone scan. With respect to expanding health care costs and patients' psychological distress it has been supposed, that there might be a group of breast cancer patients, who do not need these imaging studies.

Methods: Four hundred and eighty-eight consecutive patients with primary breast cancer who had primary surgery at our institution and complete work-up for distant metastases including chest X-ray, liver ultrasound, and bone scan were studied.

The effect of loss of Brca1 on the sensitivity to anticancer agents in p53-deficient cells.

BRCA1 is implicated in cellular responses to DNA damage, thereby substantially contributing to maintenance of the genome integrity. Mutations in the BRCA1 gene occur in breast and ovarian cancer and mutations that disable p53 are frequently found in human cancers, often accompanied by mutations in additional genes, contributing to tumor progression or high-grade malignancy. Therefore, the role of BRCA1 in the sensitivity to anticancer agents in p53-deficient cells was investigated using p53-deficient mouse knockout cell lines either deficient or proficient in Brca1 function.