Urine prothymosin-alpha as novel tumor marker for detection and follow-up of bladder cancer.

Objectives: To establish the normal range of urine prothymosin-alpha in humans and to investigate its role as a specific tumor marker for the detection and follow-up of transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder before and after curative treatment.

Methods: Urine samples were obtained from 151 healthy volunteers, 60 patients with urinary tract infection, 238 patients with bladder transitional cell carcinoma (96 with tumor and 142 tumor free), and 22 patients with non-transitional cell carcinoma tumors. The urine prothymosin-alpha levels were quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and then appropriately analyzed and compared among the different study groups.

Clinical characteristics of and response to combination chemotherapy and subsequent application of international prognostic index in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma--an experience from a medical center in Southern Taiwan.

A retrospective analysis was performed of 117 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) patients (72 male and 45 female, mean age 55 years) treated at NCKUH between July 1988 and December 1993. Of the 115 patients who could be classified by Ann Arbor staging system, 26 patients (22.2%) were in stage 1; 23 (19.