Prognostic Role of Multiple Lymphatic Basin Drainage in Sentinel Lymph Node-Negative Trunk Melanoma Patients: A Multicenter Study from the Italian Melanoma Intergroup.

Background: Multiple lymphatic basin drainage (MLBD) is frequently observed in patients with trunk melanoma undergoing sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy. Conflicting data regarding the prognostic association of MLBD in SLN-negative patients have been reported. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic role of MLBD in patients with negative SLN biopsy.

Report from the OECI Oncology Days 2014.

The 2014 OECI Oncology Days was held at the 'Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuta' Oncology Institute in Cluj, Romania, from 12 to 13 June.

Number of excised lymph nodes as a quality assurance measure for lymphadenectomy in melanoma.

Importance: Although the number of excised lymph nodes (LNs) represents a quality assurance measure in lymphadenectomy for many solid tumors, the minimum number of LNs to be dissected has not been established for melanoma.

Objective: To investigate the distribution of the number of excised LNs in a large patient series (N = 2526) to identify values that may serve as benchmarks for monitoring the quality of lymphadenectomy in patients with melanoma.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A retrospective multicenter study was conducted (1992-2010) in tertiary referral centers for treatment of cutaneous melanoma.

Tolerability of Raltitrexed ('Tomudex') in elderly patients with colorectal cancer.

Purpose: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the major health problems of the Western world and the proportion of elderly patients with CRC is growing. Raltitrexed ('Tomudex'), a specific thymidylate synthase inhibitor, has shown efficacy and manageable toxicity in elderly CRC patients. In this retrospective study, the tolerability of raltitrexed in patients with CRC was examined in relation to age.

Laser scanning analysis of cell-cell communication in cultured human prostate tumor cells.

Objective: To investigate gap-junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) in LNCaP and DU145 human prostate cancer cells.

Study Design: Normal rat liver F344 (WB1) cells were used as positive controls. Functional GJIC was inspected using either the scrape-loading/dye transfer (SL/DT) method or fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) analysis.

Home care in the older person.

Life expectancy has progressively increased in Western countries over the last few decades. The number of individuals over age 65 also has increased. Home health care, as an alternative to hospital and ambulatory care, is currently one of the fastest growing sectors of the health care market and has met the favor of most patients and families.

Product of aromatase activity in intact LNCaP and MCF-7 human cancer cells.

We investigated conversion rates of androgens to estrogens in cultured, hormone-responsive prostate (LNCaP) and breast (MCF-7) human cancer cells. For this purpose, we adopted an intact cell analysis, whereby cells were incubated for different incubation times in the presence of close-to-physiological (1 nM) or supraphysiological (1 microM) concentrations of labelled androgen precursors, i.e.

17 beta-hydroxysteroid oxidoreductase activity in intact cells significantly differs from classical enzymology analysis.

This paper summarizes our most recent results of steroid enzyme studies on cultured breast and endometrial cancer cells. It deals mainly with estrogen 17 beta-hydroxysteroid oxidoreductase (17 beta HSOR) activity, which presides over estradiol (E2) and estrone (E1) interconversion, a major metabolic pathway of estrogens. Assessment of either the oxidative or reductive component of 17 beta HSOR was carried out on intact cells by means of an original approach based on reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography and radioactive detection on line.

Radio-hyperthermia in post-surgical recurrence of melanoma.

Aims And Background: Malignant melanoma is one of the most radioresistant tumors. It can be treated with combinated hyperthermia and radiation therapy.

Methods: From January 1991 through June 1992, 7 patients, 1 male and 6 female, aged 40-88 years (mean 75), with skin and nodal post-surgical recurrences of melanoma, were treated with a combination of radiation therapy and hyperthermia.

Neuroblastoma: the result of multistep transformation?

Genetic and molecular abnormalities, in association with malignant phenotypes, have been previously demonstrated in a variety of human tumors. Although the multistep theory fits well for some cancers such as retinoblastoma and colon carcinoma, for many others it still remains to be proven. Neuroblastoma, a tumor found in pediatric patients, seems to fall into the multistep model.