Breath actuated device improves delivery to target sites beyond the nasal valve.

Objectives: The objective was to compare nasal deposition patterns achieved with a conventional hand actuated spray pump and a novel breath actuated bidirectional prototype device housing the same spray pump (OptiMist, OptiNose AS, Oslo, Norway).

Study Design And Methods: The bidirectional delivery device exploits the posterior connection between the nasal passages persisting when the velum automatically closes during oral exhalation. The deposition and clearance patterns achieved with the two devices were compared in nine healthy subjects by scintigraphy after administration of Tc-aerosols.

Management of high-grade bone sarcomas over two decades: the Norwegian Radium Hospital experience.

All cases of high-grade osteosarcoma (OS) (n = 196) and Ewing's sarcoma of bone (ES) (n = 56) treated at the Norwegian Radium Hospital in the period 1980-1999 were analyzed retrospectively. They were allocated to consecutive ten-year periods by their time of diagnosis. Patient and tumour characteristics have been relatively stable.

Bi-directional nasal delivery of aerosols can prevent lung deposition.

Nasal delivery of drugs and vaccines has important advantages compared to injection and oral administration, and is being considered for a widening range of vaccines and substances with topical and systemic action. Traditional nasal delivery technologies are, however, trapped in the dilemma between achieving improved nasal distribution and limiting deposition in the lower airways. The novel bi-directional nasal delivery concept takes advantage of the posterior connection between the nasal passages persisting when the soft palate automatically closes during oral exhalation.

[Bone and soft tissue sarcomas treated at the Norwegian Radium Hospital 1980-99].

Background: The Norwegian Radium Hospital's sarcoma group is a multidisciplinary group with a leading role in the diagnosis and treatment of bone and soft tissue sarcomas in Norway.

Material And Methods: From 1980 through 1999, 1,355 patients with soft tissue sarcoma and 458 patients with bone sarcoma were treated. In a retrospective analysis of trends over time, patients were allocated to consecutive five-year periods.

Long-term renal function after treatment for malignant germ-cell tumours.

Objective: To evaluate prospectively renal function in patients with malignant germ-cell tumours (MGCTs) >10 years after retroperitoneal lymph node dissection alone (RPLND), radiotherapy alone (RAD) or different schedules of cisplatin-based chemotherapy with or without surgery/radiotherapy (CHEM).

Patients And Methods: In 85 patients, three groups were identified: RPLND, 14; RAD, 18; CHEM, 53, with subdivision of the latter group according to the cumulative cisplatin dose or the additional use of radiotherapy. Renal function was determined by 131Iodine Hippuran clearance or 99m DTPA glomerular filtration rate, and was assessed before treatment and four times during 14 years of follow-up.

Hormone-resistant prostate cancer with symptomatic pelvic tumours: patient survival and prognostic factors.

Objectives: To determine the survival and investigate the prognostic significance of immunohistochemical variables and clinical factors in patients with hormone-resistant prostate cancer (HRPC) and symptomatic pelvic tumours, in whom preliminary observations indicated that survival exceeded the median 8-10 months of patients with HRPC and painful bone metastases.

Patients And Methods: Seventy-five patients with HRPC referred for palliative pelvic radiotherapy between 1980 and 1996 were identified. For all patients at least two prostate biopsies had been obtained, one before primary hormone treatment and at least one after clinical progression despite androgen deprivation (HRPC biopsy).

[Measurement of glomerular filtration rate in connection with 99Tc-DTPA renography].

Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was measured in two groups of cancer patients. In 20 patients, glomerular filtration rate was measured simultaneously with 51Cr-EDTA, 99mTc-DTPA and the X-ray contrast agent iohexol as markers, and with a complete set of eight blood samples during 24 hours. In a second group of 120 patients, we used 99mTc-DTPA only and tested various simplified methods, based on one or two blood samples.

Incidence of radiation-induced insufficiency fractures of the female pelvis: evaluation with MR imaging.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the incidence, time of appearance, and evolution of radiation-induced insufficiency fractures of the female pelvis with MR imaging.

Subjects And Methods: Eighteen women (nine premenopausal and nine postmenopausal) with advanced cervical carcinoma were studied prospectively with MR imaging. The examinations totaled 216 and were scheduled before radiation therapy, three times during radiation therapy, and eight times after radiation therapy.

Clinical significance of routine pre-cystectomy bone scans in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical significance of bone scans taken routinely before total cystectomy in patients with bladder cancer of clinical stage > or = T2.

Patients And Methods: Of 227 consecutive patients with stage > or = T2 bladder cancer diagnosed between 1980 and 1990 but with no clinical suspicion of bone metastases, 91 had a pre-cystectomy bone scan performed at the Norwegian Radium Hospital. The medical records of these patients were reviewed to examine the subsequent development of distant metastases and survival.

[Treatment of chondrosarcoma. A retrospective study at the Norwegian Radium Hospital].

The authors present a retrospective analysis of 59 chondrosarcoma patients treated at the Norwegian Radium Hospital during the period 1981 to 1993. 31 patients were admitted with untouched tumour, seven after fine needle cytology and 20 after open biopsy or partial excision. One patient had recurrent local disease.

Magnetic resonance imaging and 67gallium scan in mediastinal malignant lymphoma: a prospective pilot study.

Background: A residual mediastinal mass is common after treatment for bulky mediastinal lymphoma and represents a difficult diagnostic problem.

Patients And Methods: 19 patients with bulky mediastinal masses due to malignant lymphoma had computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and 67Gallium scan (67Ga) before treatment, after four cycles of chemotherapy, and two, six and twelve months after end of treatment.

Results: MRI and 67Ga showed active tumor in all patients before treatment.

Validity and usefulness of human tumor models established by intratibial cell inoculation in nude rats.

Intratibial injection in nude rats of 1 x 10(6) OHS, MHMX, and LOX human tumor cells resulted in each case in progressively growing bone tumors. When the diameter of the affected leg had increased by 2-3 mm, the animals were examined for uptake of 99mTc-methylenediphosphonate. The OHS osteosarcoma tumors caused sclerotic lesions with high and uniform isotope uptake, and the MHMX unclassified sarcoma showed a mixed pattern with both sclerotic and lytic areas, whereas the LOX melanoma caused lytic bone lesions with low uptake of the radionuclide.

Immunoscintigraphy of bone sarcomas--results in 5 patients.

The feasibility of using the murine monoclonal antibody, TP-1, for clinical immunoscintigraphy was examined in a pilot study involving 5 patients with bone sarcomas. 131I-labelled F(ab')2 antibody fragments were injected in doses of 0.8-1.

[Diagnostic aspects of subacute osteomyelitis in children and adolescents. Clinical and radiographic resemblance to primary malignant tumors].

During a six-year period, 17 patients younger than 20 years of age, with a final diagnosis of subacute osteomyelitis, were admitted to the Norwegian Radium Hospital because of an initial suspicion of primary malignant bone tumour. The most common localizations were the metaphyses of long bones (eight patients) and the clavicle (four patients). Pain was the dominating symptom.

Radiation-induced insufficiency fractures of the sacrum: evaluation with MR imaging.

In patients with malignant pelvic tumors, radiation-induced insufficiency fractures of the sacrum may be mistaken for metastasis. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging was performed in 18 patients with this condition, and the findings were studied retrospectively. The diagnosis was confirmed with at least one additional imaging modality in 16 patients, whereas the other two patients underwent clinical follow-up at 13 and 20 months without evidence of metastasis.

Intraperitoneal radioactive phosphorus therapy in ovarian carcinoma. Analysis of 313 patients treated primarily or at second-look laparotomy.

Background: Intraperitoneal radioactive phosphorus (phosphorus-32) has been used in ovarian cancer during the last three decades. In the current study, the survival results, the patterns of recurrence, morbidity rates, and phosphorus-32 distribution scintigrams were reviewed in 313 patients treated with phosphorus-32 colloid.

Methods: Between July 1982 and July 1988, 245 patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma were treated with phosphorus-32 as primary adjuvant treatment; 59 patients received phosphorus-32 as consolidating therapy after negative results during second-look surgery and 9, after positive findings during second-look laparotomy.

Does decreased skeletal uptake of 99mTc-methylene bisphosphonate in irradiated bone indicate the absence of bone metastases?

Reduced uptake of 99mTc-methylene bisphosphonate (99mTc-MBP) was found in irradiated bone in all of 13 tumour-free patients who had undergone radiotherapy (30-40 Gy) due to seminoma 3-8 years prior to bone scintigraphy. Decreased uptake of 99mTc phosphate compounds can not per se be interpreted as a sign of absence of metastases or reduced tumour burden.

Distribution of intraperitoneally injected microspheres labeled with the alpha-emitter astatine (211At) compared with phosphorus (32P) and yttrium (90Y) colloids in mice.

The alpha-emitter 211At was bound to polymer microspheres with a diameter of 1.8 microns. The distributions in mice of intraperitoneally injected 211At microspheres, 90Y silicate colloid, and 32P chromic phosphate colloid were compared.