Neuropathic pain in cancer survivors.

The occurrence of pain in cancer survivors may be debilitating. These pain syndromes may be of different types, including neuropathic pain. The research related to cancer management has been done extensively in certain areas, but such research in cancer survivors is still lacking.

Compliance to therapy-elderly head and neck carcinoma patients.

Background: Treatment compliance of elderly patients to intensive multi-modality cancer therapy can be challenging and has not been adequately addressed in developing countries. The present study evaluated compliance of elderly head and neck carcinomas patients to cancer-directed therapy.

Methods: Forty-seven elderly HNSCC patients were evaluated in the present study.

Management of total cancer pain: a case of young adult.

Pain due to cancer is one of the most distressing symptoms experienced by the patients at some or the other time during the course of treatment or disease progression. The multidimensional nature of cancer pain is characterized by various dimensions including physical, social, psychological, and spiritual; which together constitute the term "total pain". Young cancer patients illustrate their unique psychological and developmental needs.

Role of computed tomography (CT) scan in staging of cervical carcinoma.

Background & Objectives: Staging of cervical carcinoma is done clinically using International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FIGO) guidelines. It is based on physical examination findings and also includes results of biopsy, endoscopy and conventional radiological tests like chest radiograph, intravenous urography and barium enema. These conventional radiological investigations have largely been replaced by computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at present.

Comparative evaluation of two-dimensional radiography and three dimensional computed tomography based dose-volume parameters for high-dose-rate intracavitary brachytherapy of cervical cancer: a prospective study.

Background: Dosimetric comparison of two dimensional (2D) radiography and three-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT) based dose distributions with high-dose-rate (HDR) intracavitry radiotherapy (ICRT) for carcinoma cervix, in terms of target coverage and doses to bladder and rectum.

Materials And Methods: Sixty four sessions of HDR ICRT were performed in 22 patients. External beam radiotherapy to pelvis at a dose of 50 Gray in 27 fractions followed by HDR ICRT, 21 Grays to point A in 3 sessions, one week apart was planned .

Hypoalbuminaemia is an independent predictor of poor outcome in metastatic Ewing's sarcoma family of tumours: a single institutional experience of 150 cases treated with uniform chemotherapy protocol.

Aims: Data on metastatic Ewing's sarcoma family of tumours (ESFT) with uniform chemotherapy protocol are minimal.

Materials And Methods: This was a single institutional patient review of patients treated between June 2003 and November 2011 and evaluated on an intent-to-treat analysis. All patients received uniform chemotherapy: neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT), surgery and/or radiotherapy as local treatment followed by adjuvant chemotherapy.

Outcomes and prognostic factors for Ewing-family tumors of the extremities.

Background: There are few published studies describing the clinical results of patients uniformly treated for a Ewing-family tumor of an extremity.

Methods: We performed a review of patients who had received uniform treatment consisting of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, surgery and/or radiation therapy as local treatment, and then adjuvant chemotherapy from June 2003 to November 2011 at a single institution.

Results: There were 158 patients included in the study.

Tissue biomarkers in prognostication of serous ovarian cancer following neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Serous ovarian cancer (SOC) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in females with poor prognosis because of advanced stage at presentation. Recently, neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is being used for management of advanced SOC, but role of tissue biomarkers in prognostication following NACT is not well established. The study was conducted on advanced stage SOC patients (n = 100) that were treated either conventionally (n = 50) or with NACT (n = 50), followed by surgery.

Evidence based practice of chronic pain.

The patients with chronic pain are increasingly reporting to the physicians for its management. Chronic pain are associated with head, neck and shoulder pain, spinal pain, pain in the joints and extremities, complex regional pain syndrome and phantom pain. The chronic pain is being managed worldwide.

Basal cell adenocarcinoma of lacrimal gland.

Basal cell adenocarcinoma (BCAC) is a recently described rare salivary gland tumor. They are locally invasive and destructive tumors with rare incidence of metastasis. BCAC most commonly occur in the parotid gland followed by the submandibular and other minor salivary glands.

Multimodality Staging of Lung Cancer.

Computed tomography (CT) is the primary noninvasive imaging modality for staging of non-small cell lung cancer. Magnetic resonance imaging compliments CT in tumor staging in specific situations. [(18)F]Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/CT is useful in detecting additional regional nodal and distant metastatic sites of disease, thereby reducing the number of unnecessary surgeries.

Recent advances in the management of multiple myeloma.

Multiple myeloma is a disease of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow. Interaction of malignant plasma cells with the bone marrow microenvironment plays a key role in the pathogenesis of the disease. The Introduction of two new classes of molecules, namely immunomodulators (e.

Significantly reduced regulatory T cell population in patients with untreated multiple myeloma.

Increases in regulatory T-cells have been demonstrated in hematological malignancies but conflicting results have been reported in multiple myeloma (MM). In this study, we report a decrease in frequency of regulatory T-cells as well as reduced expression of FoxP3 in untreated MM patients which increased significantly after treatment. Regulatory T-cells of MM patients exhibited immunosuppressive activity in an in vitro assay.

Childhood chronic myeloid leukemia with monocytosis.

We report two cases of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in childhood presenting with monocytosis. History, physical examination and laboratory findings were in favor of juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia in both the cases, but reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) detected b2a2 and b3a2 transcript of p210 bcr-abl protein characteristic of major BCR breakpoint. Presence of monocytosis in early childhood suggests a viral infection or JMML but a possibility of CML with monocytosis needs to be considered.

Best supportive care compared with chemotherapy for unresectable gall bladder cancer: a randomized controlled study.

Purpose: We designed this study to evaluate efficacy of modified gemcitabine and oxaliplatin (mGEMOX) over best supportive care (BSC) or fluorouracil (FU) and folinic acid (FA) in unresectable gall bladder cancer (GBC).

Patients And Methods: Patients with unresectable GBC were enrolled for single center randomized study. Arm A, BSC; arm B, FU 425 mg/m(2) and FA 20 mg/m(2) intravenous (IV) bolus weekly for 30 weeks (FUFA); arm C, gemcitabine 900 mg/m(2) and oxaliplatin 80 mg/m(2) IV infusion on days 1 and 8 every 3 weeks for maximum of six cycles.

Systemic therapy for melanoma.

Advanced melanoma is a disease with a poor prognosis. Most of the currently available chemotherapy agents are ineffective. In contrast to other cancers, immune-based and novel, targeted therapies appear to have some effect in melanoma.

Prognostic significance of nuclear pSTAT3 in oral cancer.

Background: Aberrant nuclear accumulation of proteins influences tumor development and may predict biologic aggressiveness and disease prognosis. This study determined the prognostic significance of pSTAT3 (phosphorylayed signal transducer and activator of transcription 3) in oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs).

Methods And Results: Using immunohistochemistry, a significant increase in nuclear accumulation of pSTAT3 was observed in 49 of 90 leukoplakias (54.

Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia presenting with coexistent cytomegalovirus infection--a case report.

We report a case of juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) with coexistent cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in a 10-month-old child that caused initial diagnostic dilemma. The patient presented with fever, anemia, lymphadenopathy, and hepatosplenomegaly. The peripheral blood smear and bone marrow aspirate examination showed monocytosis, leukoerythroblastosis, myeloid hyperplasia, and increased blasts.

Use of sustained release oral morphine as a bridge in withdrawal of morphine in patients on high doses of oral immediate release morphine for cancer pain.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), cancer pain can be controlled effectively with oral morphine in up to 90% of patients. Due to advancement in anticancer therapy and early presentation of cancer patients, the likelihood of cure is on an increasing trend. Awareness and education in the use of oral morphine, and easier regulations in procurement of oral morphine for use in cancer pain has lead to prescription of oral morphine to more patients earlier in pain therapy.

Detection and clinical relevance of BCR-ABL fusion gene in childhood T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a report on 4 cases.

The bcr-abl rearrangement has rarely been reported in T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia and the clinical significance of this translocation is currently unknown. We screened 28 children with T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia at diagnosis by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction for major and minor break point regions of bcr-abl fusion gene. Four out of 28 patients (14.