Combination of oral vinorelbine and capecitabine in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer patients previously exposed to anthracyclines: a pilot study.

Background And Objectives: Vinorelbine and capecitabine are both active in breast cancer with moderate toxicity.

Design And Setting: A pilot study conducted from December 2007 to January 2010 in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) to evaluate efficacy and safety.

Patients And Methods: The study included patients with MBC who were previously treated by anthracyclines either during the adjuvant phase or the metastatic phase.

Repair of iatrogenic large colon perforation using laparoscopic methods. Case report and review of the literature.

Iatrogenic perforation of the colon during elective colonoscopy is a serious complication. Surgical treatment remains the standard of care. We report a patient with a large colonic perforation that occurred during a screening colonoscopy, successfully repaired with laparoscopic methods.

Pyomyoma in a premenopausal woman with fever of unknown origin.

Background: Pyomyoma (suppurative leiomyoma) is a rare disease that is a serious complication. Most cases have occurred in pregnant or postmenopausal women.

Case: A perimenopausal woman presented with fever and shoulder pain.

Multimodality treatments in locally advanced stage thymomas.

Background And Objectives: Complete surgical resection is the main goal in the treatment of thymoma, but is not always achievable in stage III and IVA thymoma because of local invasion of the neighboring organs or the presence of diffuse pleural or pericardial implants. We reviewed our experience in multimodality treatment of advanced stage (III and IVA) thymic tumors to evaluate the effectiveness and safety in patients with locally advanced unresectable thymoma.

Patients And Methods: We studied patients with newly diagnosed, histologically proven, unresectable malignant thymoma who underwent a multimodality treatment regimen that consisted of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (three courses of cisplatin and etoposide), followed by surgical resection, postoperative radiation therapy, and consolidation chemotherapy (three courses of cisplatin and etposide).

Tuberculous spondylitis in adults: diagnosis and treatment.

A retrospective study of 23 patients with spinal tuberculosis (TB) was conducted, with special attention to the diagnosis and method of treatment. Computerised tomography (CT) was found to be the diagnostic radiological modality of choice. Triple therapy with the new anti-tuberculous drugs and posterior or posteriolateral decompression succeeded in decompressing the cord and eliminating the tuberculous lesion in all cases.