Radiochemotherapy with Vinblastine, Methotrexate, and Bleomycin in the treatment of verrucous carcinoma of the head and neck.

Objective: To explore whether the combined radiochemotherapy with Vinblastine, Methotrexate, and Bleomycin could be an effective alternative treatment to surgery in verrucous carcinoma (VC) of the head and neck.

Methods: Combined radiochemotherapy was used in 12 patients with previously untreated VC. They were irradiated to equivalent tumor dose of 44-70 Gy (median, 56 Gy) and had > or = 2 courses of concomitant chemotherapy.

The role of radiotherapy in the treatment of childhood intracranial germinoma: long-term survival and late effects.

Background: The aim of the present report was to evaluate the role of radiotherapy in the treatment of childhood intracranial germinoma in view of long-term survival and functional outcome.

Procedure: Nine children with histologically verified intracranial germinomas treated in Slovenia between 1983 and 1995 were reviewed. The four boys and five girls were 8.

Inoperable oropharyngeal carcinoma treated with concomitant irradiation, mitomycin C and bleomycin - long term results.

Patients with inoperable head and neck tumors were treated concomitantly with radiochemotherapy with mitomycin C and bleomycin in our prospective randomized clinical trial (1991- 1993). For the subgroup of patients with oropharyngeal carcinoma the results with radiochemotherapy were significantly superior to irradiation alone. Such scheme of treatment was then adopted as standard method.

Choroid plexus tumors: a review of 28-year experience.

The aims of the study were to review the patients with choroid plexus tumor (CPT) treated in Slovenia between 1972-1999, to calculate the incidence of CPTs, and to evaluate treatment results in respect to tumor histology and mode of therapy. Cancer Registry of Slovenia database was used for patientś identification. Histological specimens and medical records were reviewed.

Serum cystatin C in patients with head and neck carcinoma.

Background: The balance between proteinases of various classes and their inhibitors was found to be of critical importance for local invasion and metastasizing of tumor cells. The aim of the present study was to determine the changes in the serum cystatin C concentration in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Methods: In the sera of 34 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, the concentration of cysteine proteinase inhibitor cystatin C was determined using ELISA.

Cysteine proteinase inhibitor cystatin C in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: relation to prognosis.

To determine the role of the cysteine proteinase inhibitor cystatin C in the invasive behavior of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN), Cystatin C protein level was measured in 82 pairs of primary tumour tissue and adjacent noncancerous mucosa, using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The median level of cystatin C in tumour tissue was 1.18 times lower than that in corresponding mucosa (P=0.

Hemoglobin as a factor influencing the outcome in inoperable oropharyngeal carcinoma treated by concomitant radiochemotherapy.

The aim of the study was to analyze the prognostic significance of hemoglobin (Hb) concentration for loco-regional control and survival of patients with inoperable carcinoma of the oropharynx. Seventy patients with inoperable squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx were prospectively treated by concomitant regimen of conventional radiotherapy and chemotherapy with Mitomycin C and Bleomycin. The prognostic value of Hb concentration before the therapy (Hb-S) and at the end of the therapy (Hb-E), the difference between both (DHb), and the average Hb concentration (Hb-Av) were analyzed.

Postoperative concomitant irradiation and chemotherapy with mitomycin C and bleomycin for advanced head-and-neck carcinoma.

Purpose: In a prospective randomized clinical study, simultaneous postoperative application of irradiation (RT), mitomycin C, and bleomycin was tested in a group of patients with operable advanced head-and-neck carcinoma. It was expected that the planned combined postoperative therapy would reduce the number of locoregional recurrences and prolong survival.

Methods And Materials: A total of 114 eligible patients with Stage III or IV squamous cell head-and-neck carcinoma were randomized to receive postoperative RT alone (Group 1) or RT combined with simultaneous mitomycin C and bleomycin (Group 2).

Extramedullary plasmacytoma: clinical and histopathologic study.

Purpose: To review the histories of extramedullary plasmacytoma patients diagnosed in Slovenia between 1969 and 1999, to determine the relationship between radiotherapy (XRT) dose and local tumor control, and to clarify the role of elective nodal XRT and the prognostic value of Bartl's histologic grading criteria (originally devised for multiple myeloma [MM]).

Methods And Materials: The database of the Cancer Registry of Slovenia was used for the identification of patients. The inclusion criteria were as follows: bone marrow biopsy showing less than 10% plasma cells, normal skeletal survey, and immunohistochemically determined tumor monoclonality.

Cathepsin B and L and stefin A and B levels as serum tumor markers in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Cysteine proteinases cathepsin (Cath) B and L and their endogenous inhibitors stefin (Stef) A and B concentrations were measured using a quantitative immunosorbent assay (ELISA; KRKA d.d., Novo mesto, Slovenia) in serum samples from 35 patients with primary and 7 patients with recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN), obtained at diagnosis (Serum no.

Urokinase-type plasminogen activator, plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 and cathepsin D: analysis of their prognostic significance in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Background: The aim of the study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of tumour and serum concentrations of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA), its type 1 inhibitor (PAI-1) and cathepsin D (Cath D) in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN).

Patients And Methods: Determinations of uPA and PAI-1 were made using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays in tumour and serum samples of 47 and 32/47 patients, respectively. For the determination of tumour (94 patients) and serum (34/94 patients) Cath D concentrations, an immunoradiometric assay was used.

Secondary intracranial meningiomas after high-dose cranial irradiation: report of five cases and review of the literature.

Purpose: To review cases of secondary intracranial meningiomas following high-dose cranial irradiation (>/= 10 Gy) identified in Slovenia between 1968 and 1998, to determine their histological profile and to review the literature on this topic.

Methods And Materials: Personal files of patients treated for secondary intracranial meningioma during a 31-year period were reviewed. In cases which met the criteria for radiation-induced tumors, steroid hormone receptor and Ki-67 status were analyzed.

Prognostic significance of cysteine proteinases cathepsins B and L and their endogenous inhibitors stefins A and B in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Cysteine proteinases cathepsins (Cats) B and L and their endogenous inhibitors stefins (Stefs) A and B are implicated in the processes of local and metastatic tumor spread. They were identified as potential prognosticators in various malignant diseases, particularly in breast cancer. The aim of the present study was to determine the concentrations of Cats B and L and Stefs A and B in the tumor and adjacent normal tissue samples collected from 49 patients (the present group) with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN), using quantitative immunosorbent assays (ELISA; KRKA d.

Prepubertal malignant melanoma: report of three cases.

Prepubertal malignant melanoma (MM) is an extremely rare tumor. In Slovenia, 13 MM cases were registered between 1968 and 1996 by the Cancer Registry of Slovenia. The diagnosis of MM was confirmed by histology in 3 children.

Concomitant chemoradiotherapy for incompletely resected supratentorial low-grade astrocytoma in children: preliminary report.

Background: In incompletely resected low-grade supratentorial astrocytoma, long-term survival is poor; the effect of any additional treatment to surgery still remains poorly defined. The aim of this study was to evaluate the response, the survival, and the benefit of concomitant chemoradiotherapy in eight children who had incompletely resected supratentorial low-grade astrocytoma.

Procedure: There were six boys and two girls, aged 4-15 years.

Combined surgery and postoperative radiotherapy for cervical lymph node metastases from an unknown primary tumour.

Purpose: During the 20-year period under study, 125 squamous cell carcinoma cases were detected among 234 patients with cervical lymph node metastases from an unknown primary tumour diagnosed in Slovenia. Fifty-eight patients were treated by surgery and postoperative radiotherapy, 56 of whom were eligible for follow-up and treatment evaluation.

Patients And Methods: There were six females and 50 males ranging in age from 33 to 81 years (median 56 years).

Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) in tissue and serum of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients.

The aim of this study was to determine urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) concentrations in tumour and adjacent normal tissue samples from 58 patients, and in serum samples from 40 of 58 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck obtained at diagnosis and after completion of therapy. uPA and PAI-1 serum concentrations were also measured in 28 healthy volunteers who served as controls. Measurements were made using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) techniques.

Cathepsin D in tissue and serum of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Aspartic proteinase cathepsin D (CD) is believed to be associated with proteolytic processes leading to local invasion and seeding of tumour cells. To estimate a potential prognostic value of cathepsin D in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, its total concentration was measured immunoradiometrically (ELSA-CATH-D kit, CIS bio international) in cytosols of tumour and adjacent normal tissue samples from 111 patients; in 42/111 patients, the CD concentration was determined in serum samples obtained at diagnosis (serum no. 1) and after the therapy (serum no.

Immunochemotherapy with recombinant interferon-alpha 2b plus dacarbazine in the treatment of advanced malignant melanoma.

In order to estimate the therapeutic activity and tolerability of immunochemotherapy with recombinant interferon-alpha 2b (rIFN-alpha 2b) plus dacarbazine (DTIC), a study was carried out in 61 patients with cytologically and/or histologically confirmed metastatic malignant melanoma. The treatment regimen was as follows: rIFN-alpha 2b 2 x 10(6) IU intramuscularly on days 1 to 4, and DTIC 800 mg/m2 intravenously on day 5, repeated at 3-week intervals until the progression of the disease or, in the case of a complete response, for up to 6 months. The overall response rate was 28%-12% complete response (CR) and 16% partial response (PR).

Superior sulcus tumor (SST): management at the Institute of Oncology in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 1981-1994.

During the 14-year period under study, 48 patients with SST were treated at the Institute of Oncology in Ljubljana, Slovenia. There were 46 males and two females, aged 29-88 years (median, 60 years). Of 37 cytologically or histologically confirmed tumors, 12 were squamous, eight large-cell, one small-cell, eight adeno, and eight unclassified carcinomas.

Combined radiation and chemotherapy for advanced undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma in children.

Five children, 11-16 years of age at diagnosis, with advanced (stage IV) undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma, are reviewed. All had radiotherapy and chemotherapy, four at first treatment, are disease free in 3 months, 6, 10, and 13 years from diagnosis. One patient who had radiotherapy only as primary treatment and chemotherapy for metastases, died 15 months from diagnosis.

Prognostic value of cathepsins B, D and steffins A and B in laryngeal carcinoma.

Concentrations of cathepsins A, D and stefins A and B were measured in primary tumor and adjacent normal tissue of 25 patients with laryngeal carcinoma. Median concentrations of both cathepsins and that of stefin B were significantly higher in tumor tissue than in their normal counterparts (cathepsins B and D, P < 0.0001; stefin B, P = 0.

Two unusual recurrences of intracranial germinoma.

Two recurrent cases of intracranial suprasellar germinoma, with relapses at 55 and 16 months, respectively, after the end of primary therapy strongly effective against pure germinoma, are presented. Human chorionic gonadotropin beta subunit was elevated in the cerebrospinal fluid and in the serum in both patients at the time of recurrence but not before. This and resulting treatment failures suggest that there were also other, more resistant elements within the primary tumor, which have not been identified in biopsy specimens.