Cancers patients with

Prosta.te Ca.ncer, Estrogen has an inhibitory effect on the prostate in addition to its suppression of gonadotropin secretion by the pituitary. The three- and five-year survival rates in prostate cancer patients with metastatic disease improved when treated with DES (7) alone or along with castration. However, DES does not improve the survival rates in patients whose carcinoma is confined to the prostate. Small doses of DES (1 mg/d) appear to retard prostate cancer growth and could reduce the cardiovascular complications associated with larger doses (5 mg/d) (135) (see... 

The immunorestorative potential of inosiplex has been evaluated in several clinical conditions, including post-surgical trauma, cancer patients with concurrent viral infections, and cancer patients receiving radiotherapy or chemotherapy. For example, most (84%) of the surgery patients remained immunologicaHy depressed, but 56% of the inosiplex-treated surgery patients had complete restoration of normal skin test reactivity (probability level < 0.0005). The use of inosiplex as an adjuvant to chemotherapy or radiotherapy appears to be valuable in the prophylaxis against opportunistic infections. 

The measurement of ER has become a standard assay in the clinical management of breast cancer. The presence of ERa identifies those breast cancer patients with a lower risk of relapse and better clinical outcome. Receptor status also provides a guideline for those tumors that may be responsive to hormonal intervention. But only about half of ER-positive patients respond to hormonal therapies. Of those who respond initially, most will eventually develop an estrogen unresponsive disease following a period of treatment even though ERa is often still present. Mutant receptors and constitutively active r eceptors as well as hormone-independent activation of the ERa are discussed. The involvement of ER 3 isoforms is under investigation. 

Pilot study of amphotericin B entrapped in sonicated liposomes in cancer patients with fungal infections, Eur. J. Cancer cun. Oncol., 24, 527-538. 

Surgical intervention is a potential treatment option in patients with complications such as fistulae or abscesses, or in patients with medically refractory disease. Ulcerative colitis is curable with performance of a total colectomy. Patients with UC may opt to have a colectomy to reduce the chance of developing colorectal cancer. Patients with CD may have affected areas of intestine resected. Unfortunately, CD may recur following surgical resection. Repeated surgeries may lead to significant malabsorption of nutrients and drugs consistent with development of short-bowel syndrome. 

Cytotoxic chemotherapy is eventually required in most patients with metastatic breast cancer. Patients with hormone-receptor-negative tumors require chemotherapy as initial therapy of symptomatic metastases. Patients who respond initially to hormonal manipulations eventually cease to respond and go on to require chemotherapy. The median duration of response is 5 to 12 months, but some patients will have an excellent response to an initial course of chemotherapy and may live 5 to 10 years or longer without evidence of disease. In general, median survival of patients after treatment with commonly used drug combinations for metastatic breast cancer is 14 to 33 months. The median time to response has ranged from 2 to 3 months in most studies, but this period depends in large part on the site of measurable disease. The median time to appearance of response is between 3 and 6 weeks in patients whose disease is primarily in the skin and lymph nodes, 6 to 9 weeks in patients with metastatic lung involvement, 15 weeks in patients with hepatic involvement, and nearly 18 weeks in patients with bone involvement. Thus it is often the case that an immediate response to therapy is not... 

Chemotherapy, with docetaxel and prednisone or docetaxel and estramustine, improves survival in patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer. Patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer should be considered for entry into clinical trials investigating new therapies for prostate cancer. 

Hardell L, Carlberg M, Hardell K, Bjomfoth H, Wickbom G, Ionescu M, van-Bavel B, Lindstrom G (2007) Decreased survival in pancreatic cancer patients with high concentrations of organochlorines in adipose tissue. Biomed Pharmacother 61 (10) 659-664. doi 10.1016/j.biopha.2007.04.006... 

Cui H, Horon IL, Ohlsson R, Hamilton SR, Feinberg AP. Loss of imprinting in normal tissue of colorectal cancer patients with microsatellite instability. Nature Med 1998 4[11] 1276 1280. 

In cancer patients with normal liver/kidney function who receive single agent chemotherapy, the possible presence of genetic determinants of toxicity/response could be argued by the following observations ... 

Increased Risk of Toxicity in Cancer Patients with Gilbert s Syndrome... 

Figure 5. Gamma camera image of a prostate cancer patient with widespread bone metastases, showing uptake of Re-188-DMSA in bone metas-tases. Left to right anterior, 3 h posterior, 3 h anterior, 24 h posterior, 24 h. 

Fotiou S, Tserkezoglou A, Hadjieleftheriou G, Apostolikas N, Karydas I, Stravolemos K (1998) Tamoxifen associated uterine pathology in breast cancer patients with abnormal bleeding. Anticancer Res 18 625-629... 

Approximately 11000 cancer patients with various kinds of tumors have been treated with electrochemical therapy (ECT). This immense task was accomplished by training 2300 medical doctors through more than 150 ECT training courses between 1987-2001. There have been more than 1300 hospital and clinics in China offering ECT treatment over the past fifteen years. Although most of the treated patients were Chinese, a number of them also came from Europe, Australia, U.S.A., and Japan. 

Schelman WR, Sandhu SK, Moreno GV et al (2011) First-in-human trial of a poly(ADP)-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor MK-4827 in advanced cancer patients with antitumor activity in BRCA-deficient tumors and sporadic ovarian cancers (soc). J Clin Oncol 29 abstr 3102... 

In phase II studies with topotecan alone, there is cytotoxic activity in lung cancer with intermittent dose schedules (33), as well as in lung cancer patients with topoisomerase II refractory disease (34). In advanced head and neck cancer topotecan is well-tolerated and has single-agent activity similar to that of cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil, and methotrexate... 

Gy of radiation to the pancreas was tolerable in pancreatic cancer patients with a 20% response rate in 15 evaluable patients. Three out of eight patients with a minimum of 12 mo follow up were alive (65). Based on these data, Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) conducted a phase II trial to examine the efficacy of concurrent twice-weekly Gemcitabine (40 mg/m2) and radiation (50.4 Gy) treatment regimen in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer. The preliminary result showed 55% of the... 

Kuerer HM, Newman LA, Smith TL, et al. Clinical course of breast cancer patients with complete pathologic primary tumor and axillary lymph node response to doxorubicin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy. J Clin Oncol 1999 17 460 -69. 

Ohsaki Y, Tanno S, Fujita Y, et al. Epidermal growth factor receptor expression correlates with poor prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer patients with p53 overexpression. Oncol Rep 2000 7 603-607. 

G. Other applications Leukine has been effective in producing increases in normally functioning neutrophils, eosinophils, and monocytes in AIDS patients and patients with leukopenia. Leukine may prolong survival when used as adjuvant therapy in patients with stage III or IV malignant melanoma. Leukine has also been effective in abrogating chemotherapy-related neutropenia in cancer patients, with a reduction in the severity and duration of chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression. 

Often, toxic organic states that may be complicated by psychotic symptoms develop in terminally ill patients. Acute confusion has been reported in up to 85% of terminal cancer patients, with restlessness and agitation occurring in up to 42%. Unfortunately, the cause of delirium is determined in only 21% of these patients ( 373, 374). Common sources can include the following ... 

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