Combination chemotherapy (CMFVP) versus L-phenylalanine mustard (L-PAM) for operable breast cancer with positive axillary nodes: a Southwest Oncology Group Study.

The Southwest Oncology Group in a prospective randomized study compared one year of adjuvant combination chemotherapy with continuous CMFVP to two years of intermittent L-PAM in women with operable breast cancer with histologically positive axillary lymph nodes. In fully evaluable patients with a 42-month median and 30-month minimum follow-up, treatment failures have occurred in 26% of 145 receiving CMFVP and 47% of 167 women given L-PAM (P = 0.002).

The effect of dithiothreitol on the estrogen receptor.

The effects of Dithiothreitol (DTT) on the estrogen receptor molecule were studied. DTT was evaluated for its potential abilities to preserve the integrity of the estrogen receptor. Storage at various extremes of pH was also considered for its possible adverse or positive effect.

Rhinologic surgery with the carbon dioxide laser.

Microscopic nasal surgery with the CO2 laser is easily performed. It offers the advantages of excellent hemostasis (even with coagulopathies), excellent healing, minimal discomfort and minimal complications. A wide variety of lesions may be excised, obliterated, or corrected in any age group.

Phase II study of anguidine in gastrointestinal malignancies: a Southwest Oncology Group study.

The Southwest Oncology Group conducted a phase II study of anguidine in 134 patients with gastrointestinal malignancies. Anguidine was administered as a 4-hour infusion at doses of 3.0 and 4.

Family factors in schizophrenic relapse: a replication.

Family factors have been reported to influence the course of schizophrenia. In a replication of British studies, schizophrenic patients from the Los Angeles area were evaluated for symptomatic relapse 9 months after hospital discharge as a function of the level of "expressed emotion" in their relatives. In striking confirmation of the British findings, patients who came from families that were excessively critical, emotionally overinvolved, or both were much more likely to relapse than their counterparts who came from more tolerant and accepting families.

The role of maintenance therapy and relatives' expressed emotion in relapse of schizophrenia: a two-year follow-up.

A two-year follow-up study was conducted, mainly from case notes, of patients who had originally taken part in a study of the influence of relatives expressed emotion on schizophrenic relapse. It was found that in the two years following discharge from hospital patients from high expressed emotion homes had a significantly greater relapse rate than those from low expressed emotion homes. The prophylactic effect of maintenance drugs was no longer evident for patients from high expressed emotion homes at the two-year follow-up.

Family therapy of schizophrenics with high risk of relapse.

Three families that demonstrated factors associated with relapse of florid symptoms ina schizophrenic family member underwent a course of 25 sessions of behavioral therapy in a multi-family group. Details of the treatment and assessment procedures are presented along with evidence of significant beneficial change in two families. The problem of providing continuing care for schizophrenic patients and their families is discussed.

The practicality of chronic hepatic artery infusion therapy of primary and metastatic hepatic malignancies: ten-year results of 124 patients in a prospective protocol.

Ten-year results are presented of 124 patients with malignancy apparently limited to the distribution of the hepatic artery, treated to prospective protocol with continuous infusion of 5-FUdR through an hepatic artery catheter. Nearly all patients had moderate to massive hepatic replacement. Of 88 patients with colorectal carcinoma, 64 (73%) had clinically objective and subjective remission.

Patterns of emotional response in relatives of schizophrenic patients.

In an attempt to understand better the ways in which relatives' expressed emotion (EE) interacts with the patient's behavior to influence patterns of relapse, the correlates of EE have been examined. Four characteristics that tend to distinguish relatives who show high criticism and/or marked emotional overinvolvement from those who do not have been identified. These concern the relative's emotional reaction to the illness, views as to its legitimacy, level of tolerance/expectations, and level of intrusiveness with regard to the patient.

The efficacy of 5-fluorouracil, mitomycin C, and methyl CCNU in advanced gastrointestinal malignancy.

50 patients with advanced gastrointestinal malignancies were treated with 5-fluorouracil (5FU), 1-(2-chloroethyl)3-(4-methylcyclohexyl)-1-nitrosourea (MeCCNU) and mitomycin C (Mito C). 43 patients, with diagnoses of colorectal, pancreatic or gastric cancer, were evaluable. 13 patients (30%) achieved complete remissions, and 4 achieved partial remissions.

Prognostic indicators in induction cis-platinum bleomycin chemotherapy for advanced head and neck cancer.

A complete response to induction cis-platinum bleomycin chemotherapy significantly increases the probability of local tumor control and overall disease-free survival. Factors that favor a good response to chemotherapy are tumor histology (well differentiated), location of the primary site (oral cavity and oropharynx), nodal status (N0) and size of the primary lesion (t3 better than T4). Increased cellular maturation after chemotherapy correlates with an improved clinical response.

Minimal single-agent activity of maytansine in refractory breast cancer: a Southwest Oncology Group study.

Maytansine is an experimental antitumor agent that has shown minimal efficacy against breast cancer with minimal myelosuppression in phase I trials. Forty-one patients with advanced drug-resistant breast cancer were treated with a 5-day intermittent iv infusion of maytansine repeated every 21 days. All patients had been heavily pretreated with cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil, or doxorubicin, and 12 had received vinblastine, mitomycin C, or investigational drugs.

The interaction of life events and relatives' expressed emotion in schizophrenia and depressive neurosis.

A history of life events in the three months before onset of illness was taken in a group of schizophrenic and a group of depressed neurotic in-patients. The Expressed Emotion (EE) of the patients' key relatives was measured. There was no difference between the schizophrenic and depressed patients in the rate of events in the three month period before onset or in the proportion of undesirable events.

Combination chemotherapy in advanced gastrointestinal malignancy.

This study compares two combinations of drugs with proven activity in gastrointestinal malignancy. The drugs utilized are 5-fluorouracil (5FU), mitomycin C (Mito C), and 1-(2-chloroethyl)-3-(4-methylcyclohexyl)-1-nitrosourea (MeCCNU). All 57 patients received 5FU 25 mg/kg as a 24-hour infusion for 5 days every 4 weeks.

Bodily reactions to people and events in schizophrenics.

Schizophrenic patients were tested on psychophysiologic measures within their homes and in the laboratory. Sweat gland activity and heart rate changes when patients encounter novel situations such as life events, together with the home atmosphere generated by a critical or overinvolved relative, confirmed objectively the importance of previous social measures of these factors in determining relapse. Drug effects were also found to be modified by these social factors.

The treatment of ACTH Paraneoplastic syndrome with aminoglutethimide.

A 60-year-old white female with oat-cell carcinoma of the lung presents with a recurrent pulmonary nodule and Cushing syndrome. The tumor is uncontrollable with MeCCNU and cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan), consequently the symptoms of Cushing disease become severe. Cushing syndrome is documented by laboratory examinations.

Adriamycin in combination for the treatment of breast cancer: a Southwest Oncology Group study.

Patients with advanced breast cancer who had not previously received chemotherapy were treated on a three-arm prospective study: adriamycin day 1 plus 5-FU on day 1 and 8 (AF), adriamycin day 1, plus 5-FU day 1 and 8, and cyclophosphamide day 1 (AFC), and adriamycin day 1 plus 5-FU day 1 and 8, cyclophosphamide day 1 and methotrexate day 1 (AFCM). These courses were repeated every 21 days. The response rate was 44/105 (42%) AF, 44/103 (43%) AFC and 52/105 (49%) AFCM.