Incidence of anaemia in breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy.

Anaemia is frequent in breast cancer patients but often remains undiagnosed and untreated. To determine the incidence of anaemia a prospective survey of primary non-metastatic breast cancer patients who received at least four cycles of adjuvant, non-platinum multi-agent chemotherapy was conducted at 47 centres in Austria. Two hundred and forty seven patients were prospectively included between October 1999 and December 1999.

Endometrial cancer: accuracy of the finding of a well differentiated tumor at dilatation and curettage compared to the findings at subsequent hysterectomy.

The objective of this study was to examine the accuracy of the finding of a histologically well differentiated endometrial carcinoma at dilatation and curettage (D & C) prior to hysterectomy. A retrospective multicentric chart review of 137 endometrial cancer patients was conducted, including all patients in whom a well differentiated endometrial carcinoma had been diagnosed by D & C. Histopathologic grading as determined by D & C was compared with the grading established at the final histologic examination after hysterectomy.

Impact of hysteroscopy on disease-free survival in clinically stage I endometrial cancer patients.

Recent data strongly suggest tumor cell dissemination of endometrial carcinoma cells in the course of fluid hysteroscopy. In patients who had endometrial cancer which was (except for peritoneal cytology) confined to the uterus, the disease-free survival (DFS) of 135 patients who underwent hysteroscopy prior to staging laparotomy was compared with the DFS of 127 patients without hysteroscopy. After a median follow-up of 23 months, 10 patients experienced tumor recurrence.

Arterial grafts for coronary artery surgery.

Fifty specimens of left internal mammary artery, right gastroepiploic artery and right inferior epigastric artery were examined for length, diameter and frequency of atherosclerotic changes. Mean usable length was 132.4 mm for internal mammary arteries, 127.

Fatal fungal infection of an ascending aortic graft.

In a 57-year-old male with aortic valve stenosis and severe poststenotic dilation of the ascending aorta an aortic valve replacement and interposition of the dilated aortic segment with a Dacron prosthesis were carried out. Perioperative course was uneventful. Four months after dismission the patient presented with septic fever and recurrent arterial emboli.

Crystalloid versus blood cardioplegia in coronary by-pass surgery. A prospective, randomized, controlled study in 100 consecutive adults.

In a prospective randomized trial we investigated the benefit of blood versus asanguinous cardioplegia in routine coronary by-pass grafting. One hundred consecutive adult patients were randomly assigned to two groups: Group A (53 patients) received cold blood cardioplegia and group B (47 patients) had standard St. Thomas solution.