Bronchial responsiveness in patients on regular hemodialysis treatment of very long duration.

Several mechanisms (trapping of neutrophils, increased extravascular lung water, left ventricular hypertrophy, metastatic lung calcification, and iron deposition) may impair pulmonary function and alter bronchial responsiveness in patients on long-term regular dialysis treatment (RDT), but no studies have been published concerning patients on RDT for a very long time. To assess bronchial reactivity, a methacholine inhalation test was performed 2 to 24 hours after a dialysis session in 19 patients with RDT duration of almost 20 years (221 +/- 26 months) (group 1) and in 14 patients on RDT for a shorter time (24 +/- 22 months) (group 2); all patients had normal standard pulmonary function test results (group 1: forced vital capacity, 95% +/- 13% and forced expiratory volume in one second [FEV1]: 97% +/- 17%; group 2: forced vital capacity, 108% +/- 11% and FEV1, 108% +/- 9% of expected values). The methacholine provocation dose causing a 20% decrease in FEV1 was significantly lower than normal in seven (37%) group 1 patients and only in one (7%) group 2 patient; this difference was statistically significant (P = 0.

Patterns of care and survival in non small cell lung cancer: 15 years' experience in a general hospital.

Background: Transferring results derived from clinical research into practice is particularly difficult in lung cancer where clear indications for treatment are defined only for selected subgroups of patients. Studies on hospital-based lung cancer population could provide data for quantifying this issue.

Patients And Methods: This was a follow-up study of consecutive, first-diagnosis cases referred to the in-and outpatient cancer clinics of a large italian general hospital between January 1975 and December 1990.

Stages I and II non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the gastrointestinal tract. Retrospective analysis of 79 patients and review of the literature.

We reviewed the medical records of 79 patients with primary gastrointestinal lymphoma (GI-NHL), defined according to the criteria of Dawson et al. (without involvement of liver, spleen, peripheral or mediastinal lymph nodes, or bone marrow), observed and treated in our institution between 1973-90. The most common disease site was the stomach (70 patients), followed by the small bowel (five patients) and the large bowel (four patients).

Need to expand microvascular investigation of patients with Raynaud's phenomenon of different etiology: clinical patterns of 106 consecutive patients.

The differential diagnosis of Raynaud's Phenomenon (RP) is still problematic because of the wide variety of underlying etiological possibilities. Therefore, the diagnostic screening of patients requires easily reproducible, rapid and reliable tests to find those cases of RP secondary to a connective tissue disorder. The present study of 106 consecutive RP patients was carried out by using a combination of clinical examination, biomicroscopy of fingernail folds and bulbar conjunctiva (with scoring of vascular damage), plus the assessment of antinuclear antibodies on HEP2 cells.

Critical re-evaluation of 41 cases of "idiopathic" crescentic glomerulonephritis.

Despite the availability of different classifications for rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN), patients with "idiopathic crescentic GN" have not been yet inserted as a precisely defined subgroup, pointing to their probable heterogenicity. Trying to better define their characteristic, we retrospectively analyzed the clinical, histological and immunopathological features of 41 patients diagnostically labelled "idiopathic RPGN" because they had no evidence of systemic disease (including systemic vasculitis), no anti-GBM mediated glomerulonephritis and no clearly defined primary glomerulopathy. Starting by a thorough morphological review, 2 subgroups were defined: group I (25 patients) with variable degrees of intraglomerular necrosis, and group II (16 patients) with no intracapillary necrotizing lesions.

Cisplatinum based chemotherapy: role of the antiserotoninergic ondansetron in prevention of emesis.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter involved in chemotherapy-induced emesis and ondansetron is a new drug endowed with selective antagonism against the 5HT3 receptors. Phase I-II studies have demonstrated its activity against acute emesis after single-dose cisplatin, reporting particularly low toxicity; in comparative studies with high-dose metoclopramide, it has been proved to be more effective and completely devoid of extrapyramidal side effects. Ondansetron has shown its activity and safety also in multiple-day cisplatin regimens.

A cisplatinum-cyclophosphamide regimen in advanced ovarian cancer: reporting 5-year results.

The following paper reports the evaluation of 53 consecutive patients with advanced ovarian epithelial carcinoma (FIGO stage III-IV), treated between October 1984 and December 1987 with immediate or delayed cytoreduction surgery and chemotherapy. Combination chemotherapy consisted of cisplatinum 45 mg/m2 i.v.

Folinic acid + 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) versus equidose 5-FU in advanced colorectal cancer. Phase III study of 'GISCAD' (Italian Group for the Study of Digestive Tract Cancer).

In a multicentre Phase III trial, 182 patients were randomized to either folinic acid (FA) (200 mg/sqm i.v. x 5 days) + 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) (400 mg/sqm i.

Cytogenetic analysis in 28 radically operated non-small-cell lung cancer: preliminary considerations.

Twenty-eight radically operated non-small-cell lung cancer patients were analyzed with regard to chromosomal assessment and DNA content: in 13 cases, different quantitative/qualitative chromosome alterations were found. In particular, in 12 cases marker chromosomes and cytogenetic abnormalities in euploid cells were demonstrated. The prognostic value of these findings will be aim of further studies.

Cisplatin + 5-fluorouracil versus 5-fluorouracil alone in advanced colorectal cancer: a randomized study.

Sixty patients with advanced colorectal cancer were randomized between cisplatin (60 mg/mq i.v. every 3 weeks) + 5-fluorouracil (600 mg/mq i.