[Pain treatment in patients on chronic opioid therapy and in drug abusers].

Background: Substance abuse in pain management can undermine treatment compliance, the effectiveness of therapies, and social support and functioning.

Material: An overview is given regarding pain management for patients on chronic use of opioids and for patients with drug dependence and substance abuse.

Results: Clinical experience as well as relevant documentation demonstrates that management of these patients remains one of the most challenging problems in clinical medicine.

[Actinic keratosis and development of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma].

Background: Actinic keratosis is a common sun-induced skin disease. For many years there has been a great deal of discussion of the term used for the disease and of its classification. Recent molecular studies indicate an association between actinic keratosis and squamous cell carcinoma.

[Cancer pain in hospitalized patients].

Background: In spite of increased knowledge in palliative care, there are still cancer patients who do not receive adequate pain relief. There is limited information on cancer pain experience in Norwegian hospitals. More data is needed in order to understand why barriers still exist to adequate pain management.

[Long-term effects after mantle field radiotherapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma].

Background: Cancer survivors have an increased risk of life-long health problems that may be associated with their treatment.

Methods: 78 women who 10 years or more ago at an age of below 40 had received mantle field radiotherapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma were examined for breast cancer and general health problems. Women in a population-based survey served as a control group.

[Palliative cytostatic treatment].

When chemotherapy is given with palliative intent, one should avoid treatment that is more troublesome to the patients than the disease itself. Palliative chemotherapy should be evidence-based in the same way as other treatment regimens. It is given in order to extend life, to prevent development of symptoms, and/or to relieve symptoms.

[Cell cycle-targeted therapy].

Background: The cell cycle defines sequential molecular processes that ensure orderly cell division. The progression throughout the cell cycle is governed by cyclin-dependent kinases, each of which is enzymatically active solely upon binding to its specific cyclin. The cell cycle harbours two checkpoints, or surveillance posts, which are activated when DNA is damaged.

[Neurolytic blocks for cancer pain--still a useful therapeutic strategy].

Background: Patients with advanced cancer may present complex sets of symptoms, of which pain is the most prevalent. In addition to systemic pharmacological therapy for pain management, neurolytic blocks are also effective in controlling cancer pain in selected patients.

Method: Various neurolytic blocks used in the treatment of cancer pain are reviewed.

[Chemoprevention of oral cancer].

Background: Morbidity and mortality from oral cancer is still considerable, and has not improved significantly over the last four or five decades. Early preventive intervention in persons at high risk may improve treatment results.

Material And Methods: This review is based on our previously published data and by searches in the Medline and PubMed databases, using the following terms as key words: "oral premalignancies", "oral leukoplakia", "tumour progression", "genomic instability", "aneuploidy", "prognosis", "head and neck cancer", and "chemoprevention".

[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.

[Deep vein thrombosis and localized rhabdomyolysis in a patient with bladder cancer].

Background: Rhabdomyolysis is caused by skeletal muscle injury that results in the release of intracellular contents into the circulatory system. In certain cases, potentially fatal conditions may develop. Multiple conditions followed by muscular necrosis may lead to rhabdomyolysis.

[Lymphedema after surgical treatment of cervical and vulvar cancer].

Background: Lack of information after surgery for cervical cancer to women who are at risk of developing lymphoedema can lead to delay in diagnosis and treatment of this side effect.

Material And Methods: Former patients with cervical cancer and vulvar cancer were asked whether they remembered having been counselled about lymphoedema post-operatively and whether they were satisfied with the information received. 83 out of 92 returned a mailed questionnaire assessing the standard of the information given before discharge.

[Intensive chemotherapy in Burkitt's lymphoma and aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma].

Background: Clinical studies over the last 20 years using more intensive cytostatic regimens show improved results in children and adolescents with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and in adult patients specifically with Burkitt's lymphoma.

Material And Methods: We present a retrospective analysis of the use of the Berlin-Frankfurt-Munster (BFM) regimen for patients older than 15 years from three Norwegian university hospitals during the 1992-99 period.

Results: Survival data for 24 patients 15-69 years old with Burkitt's lymphoma/B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (B-ALL) show an estimated overall five year survival of 70% (75% for Burkitt's lymphoma only).

[Microarray technology--potential in cancer research].

Background: Researchers have worked for decades to solve the enigma of cancer. We know that essential checkpoints in the life cycle of cells have to be disrupted in order to create a tumour cell, and some of the genes and proteins involved have been identified. Most of the previous work on identifying these genes have been based on "educated guesswork", as the methods and technologies used have been limited to the examination of genes one by one, or a few at a time.

[Tyrosine kinase receptor-ras-ERK signal transduction pathway as therapeutic tarfet in cancer].

Background: Experimental evidence indicates that various intracellular signalling cascades are altered in tumour cells. Among these, the receptor tyrosine kinase ras-ERK signalling pathway was found to be constitutively active in a significant percentage of human tumours; hence, considerable effort has been directed at finding compounds that inhibit its activation.

Material And Methods: We review the recent progress in establishing novel approaches to interference with the constitutive activation of the receptor tyrosine kinase ras-ERK signalling pathway in cancer.

[Information to families with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer].

Background: Under Norwegian legislation, persons at risk should make the initial contact with the proper health personnel, and not vice versa. It may be argued that the physician should be allowed to make contact with persons at risk of preventable or curable disorders.

Material And Methods: We identified all first-degree relatives of all 75 BRCA1 mutation carriers diagnosed within a given period of time and asked them whether or not they had been informed by their relatives.

[Diagnosis and treatment of oral precancerous lesions].

Background: Risk factors for oral carcinomas have been identified, but there are no reliable markers for assessing the clinical outcome in individual patients with oral precancerous lesions. DNA aneuploidy is now recognized as an early and significant event in carcinogenesis.

Methods: We identified 242 patients with oral red or white patches histologically verified as epithelial dysplasias and measured the nuclear DNA content (DNA ploidy) of the lesions to determine whether DNA ploidy could be used to predict the clinical outcome.

[Can human papillomavirus testing and vaccination prevent cervical cancer?].

Background: Cervical cancer is the third most frequent cancer among women worldwide. Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a necessary risk factor and the first step in cervical carcinogenesis.

Material And Methods: This article reviews the current literature concerning the possibility of preventing cervical cancer by HPV testing and vaccination.

[Surgery and sentinel node examination in early vulvar cancer].

Background: Less than radical vulvectomy for primary vulvar cancer has been controversial. Less mutilating surgery without sacrificing benefits in prognosis is warranted.

Material And Methods: Based on relevant literature and our own experience, we give a review of surgery and sentinel node examination in early vulvar cancer.

[Examination, treatment and follow-up of ovarian cancer in Norway].

Background: In order to improve our knowledge about the medical examination, treatment and follow of cancer patients, suggestions have been put forward for a system for quality assurance of clinical data on cancer in Norway (Government White Paper 20: 1997).

Material And Methods: In spring 2000, a questionnaire was sent to 41 gynaecological departments with focus on ovarian cancer patients. Four of the departments were regional cancer centres.