Adjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer: prognostic factors and final outcome.

Purpose: epithelial ovarian cancer (OVCA) prognosis depends on the clinical stage, histological grade and surgical cytoreduction. Our goal was to retrospectively analyze several prognostic factors in relation with the final outcome in patients with OVCA subjected to adjuvant platinum (PL)- based chemotherapy (CT).

Methods: three hundred OVCA patients were treated at the Department of Medical Oncology A', "Metaxa" Cancer Hospital, between 11/1989-3/2010.

A multicenter phase II study of docetaxel in combination with gefitinib in gemcitabine-pretreated patients with advanced/metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and tolerance of the docetaxel/gefitinib combination as second-line treatment in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

Patients And Methods: Twenty-six patients pretreated with gemcitabine-based chemotherapy were enrolled in the study. Docetaxel (75 mg/m(2), i.

Sequential administration of docetaxel followed by maintenance gefitinib, as salvage treatment in patients with advanced NSCLC: a multicenter phase II trial.

Purpose: To evaluate the activity and toxicity of the sequential administration of docetaxel followed by gefitinib in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Patients And Treatment: Forty-one patients pre-treated with at least one prior chemotherapy regimen (platinum- or taxane-based) for advanced/metastatic NSCLC received three cycles of docetaxel 30 mg/m2, administered as a 1-h IV infusion, on days 1, 8 and 15 of each 4-week cycle followed by gefitinib 250 mg daily po. Gefitinib treatment was continued until disease progression, development of unacceptable toxicity, or withdrawal of patients consent.

Oxaliplatin as first-line treatment in inoperable biliary tract carcinoma: a multicenter phase II study.

Background: A multicenter phase II study was conducted in order to evaluate the efficacy and safety of oxaliplatin as first-line treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic carcinoma of the biliary tract.

Patients And Methods: Twenty-nine chemo-naïve patients with locally advanced or metastatic biliary tract carcinoma received oxaliplatin 130 mg/m(2) i.v.

Salvage chemotherapy with gemcitabine and oxaliplatin in heavily pretreated patients with metastatic breast cancer: a multicenter phase II study.

Purpose: It was the aim of this study to evaluate the activity and tolerance of gemcitabine and oxaliplatin in pretreated metastatic breast cancer patients.

Methods: Thirty-one patients who had disease relapse or progression after completion of an anthracycline- and/or taxane-based front-line regimen were treated with gemcitabine 1,500 mg/m(2) on days 1 and 8 as a 30-min intravenous infusion and oxaliplatin 130 mg/m(2) on day 8 as a 4-hour intravenous infusion, in cycles of 21 days.

Results: Complete response occurred in 1 patient (3%) and partial response in 4 patients (13%) (overall response rate 16%; 95% confidence interval 3.

Multicenter phase II study of gemcitabine and oxaliplatin (GEMOX) as second-line chemotherapy in colorectal cancer patients pretreated with 5-fluorouracil plus irinotecan.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and tolerance of the gemcitabine/oxaliplatin (GEMOX) combination as second-line chemotherapy for patients with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) pretreated with an irinotecan (CPT-11)/5-fluorouracil (5-FU)/leucovorin (LV) regimen.

Patients And Methods: Patients with documented disease progression during or after first-line treatment with CPT-11 and 5-FU/LV were enrolled. Gemcitabine (1,000 mg/m(2) days 1 and 8) and oxaliplatin (100 mg/m(2) day 1) were administered every 3 weeks.

Sequential versus alternating administration of cisplatin/etoposide and topotecan as first-line treatment in extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer: preliminary results of a Phase III Trial of the Hellenic Oncology Research Group.

Background: This trial was designed to compare the efficacy and toxicity of sequential versus alternating administration of cisplatin/etoposide and topotecan in patients with previously untreated extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (SCLC).

Patients And Methods: Two hundred eighty-four chemotherapy-naive patients were randomized between the sequential therapy arm (n=142; 4 cycles of cisplatin 75 mg/m2 intravenously [I.V.

Second-line treatment with irinotecan plus cisplatin vs cisplatin of patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer pretreated with taxanes and gemcitabine: a multicenter randomised phase II study.

The aim of this study was to compare the irinotecan/cisplatin regimen with cisplatin as second-line chemotherapy in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) pretreated with a taxane/gemcitabine regimen. Patients (n = 147) with stage IV NSCLC pretreated with a taxane/gemcitabine regimen were randomly assigned to receive either irinotecan (110 mg m(-2), day 1 and 100 mg m(-2), day 8) and cisplatin (80 mg m(-2), day 8) (IC; n = 74) or CDDP (80 mg m(-2), day 1) (C; n = 73) every 3 weeks. Patients treated with IC and C had a median survival of 7.

Irinotecan plus gemcitabine vs irinotecan for the second-line treatment of patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer pretreated with docetaxel and cisplatin: a multicentre, randomised, phase II study.

To compare irinotecan (CPT-11)+gemcitabine vs CPT-11 alone as second-line treatment for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) progressing after docetaxel-cisplatinum-based therapy. A total of 147 evaluable, pretreated patients, with NSCLC, received either gemcitabine (1000 mg m(-2), days 1 and 8)+CPT-11 (300 mg m(-2), day 8) (Group A, n=76) or CPT-11 (300 mg m(-2), day 1) (Group B, n=71), every 3 weeks. All patients were evaluable for response and toxicity.

A case of Opisthorchis felineus infestation in a pilot from Greece.

We describe the case of a 28-year-old man from Greece with Opistorchis felineus infestation. The patient presented with intense abdominal pain, bilious emesis and eosinophilia. He probably acquired the infection overseas, since he was a commercial airline pilot who used to fly to endemic areas and to consume raw or undercooked fish.

Cisplatin-etoposide alternating with topotecan in patients with extensive stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC). A multicenter phase II study.

Purpose: In order to investigate the feasibility of a potentially non-cross resistant drug regimen, we alternated cycles of cisplatin-etoposide with topotecan as front-line treatment in patients with extensive stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

Patients And Methods: Thirty-six previously untreated patients with extensive stage SCLC received cisplatin 75 mg/m(2) IV on day 1 and etoposide 100 mg/m(2) IV on days 1-3 on cycles one, three, five and seven and topotecan 1.5 mg/m(2) IV on days 1-5 on cycles two, four, six and eight.

Atrial pressure and experimental atrial fibrillation.

A possible profibrillatory effect on the atria of an elevated atrial pressure and the site of atrial stimulation was examined. In 15 anesthetized dogs, right or left atrial or biatrial pacing was applied at a high rate (300-600/min) for 5 seconds at double threshold intensity under a wide range of atrial pressures achieved by venous or arterial transfusion or bleeding. Induction of atrial fibrillation in 236 of 1,971 pacing runs was associated with a significantly higher (P < 0.

Some observations on the mechanism of pressure related atrial fibrillation.

In order to investigate the effect of atrial pressure on the propensity of the atria to fibrillate and the mechanism of this association, the right atrial pressure was changed acutely by transfusion-bleeding in 12 anaesthetized open-chest dogs. Under various atrial pressures the conduction time was measured between two pairs of hook electrodes positioned on the two atrial appendages respectively. The effective refractory period was measured by continuous pacing of the right atrium at a 250 ms cycle length at double threshold intensity and interpolating a progressively earlier stimulus after each eighth paced beat.