Tumor size

The therapeutic success is measured by its effect on tumor size and can be described as tumor remission (complete or partial), stable disease, or progression of the tumor. Also, the impact of a therapy is related to time and can be measured as disease free interval, time to progress, or overall survival time. 

Intraarterial infusion of microspheres containing adriamycin was used for the local treatment of breast cancer and recurrent breast cancer with liver metastases (123). A reduction in tumor size was noted when the microspheres were injected into the internal and lateral thoracic arteries for treatment of the primary tumor. However, hepatic artery injection for liver metastases resulted in improvement in only one of three patients treated. 

In reviewing intraarterial infusion of microencapsulated anticancer agents and its clinical applications, Nemoto (124) concluded that this mode of treatment can be used for a wide variety of tumors, providing remarkable therapeutic effects with minimal systemic toxicity. However, 25% of the treated tumors failed to respond, which was thought to be attributable to either inadequate catheterization, inadequate dose relative to tumor size, insufficient tumor vascularity, low drug sensitivity, or a combination of these factors. More carefully designed studies will be necessary before this technique is likely to meet with widespread acceptance. 

The influence of parameter a on tumor size, as judged from classic sensitivity analysis, seems to increase monotonically to a plateau, reaching about 50% of its effect no sooner than day 13 conversely, MCCC indicates a fast increase of effect of parameter a up to a peak at about day 3 or 4, with a subsequent decrease and attainment of the plateau from above. 

LU Y p, LOU Y R, xiE J G, YEN p, HUANG M T and coNNEY A H (1997) Inhibitory effect of black tea on the growth of established skin tumors in mice effects on tumor size, apoptosis, mitosis and hromodeoxyuridine incorporation into DNA , Carcinogenesis, 18 (11), 2163-9. 

Loss of other hormonal functions (i.e., LH, FSH, TSH, and ACTH) caused by massive tumor size compressing the anterior pituitary lobe. 

Ablate or reduce tumor size to relieve tumor mass effect... 

Prevent tumor recurrence and control tumor size... 

Review the available diagnostic data to determine pituitary tumor size and location. Determine if the patient has a coexisting prolactin-secreting tumor. Determine if the tumor extends toward the optic chiasm or if it is continuous on the optic tracts. 

Bromocriptine directly binds to the D2 receptors on the lac-totroph cells to exert its effect. Bromocriptine normalizes prolactin level, restores menstrual cycles, and reduces tumor size in approximately 90% of patients.49 Adverse effects such as nausea, dizziness, and orthostatic hypotension often limit 5% to 10% of patients from continuing treatment. Thus, start bromocriptine at a low dose (e.g., 0.625-1.25 mg) at bedtime... 

Staging [determination of the primary tumor size, extent of lymph node involvement, and the presence or absence of metastases, or sometimes referred to theTNM system (Table 85-2)]. Many tumors are staged according to the TNM system. Metastases are cancer cells that have spread to sites distant from the primary tumor site and have started to grow. The most frequently occurring sites of metastasis are the brain, bone, liver and lungs. 

Tumor size. In general, patients with a larger tumor have a worse prognosis. 

An NIH Consensus Development Conference Statement22 advises that adjuvant hormonal therapy should be recommended to women whose tumors contain hormone-receptor protein regardless of age, menopausal status, involvement of axillary lymph nodes, or tumor size. They also support a benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy for most women with lymph node metastases or with primary breast cancers larger than 1 cm in diameter (both node-negative and node-positive).22... 

Low risk Node-negative and all the following pathologic tumor size of 2 cm or less, or grade 1, absence of peritu-moral vascular invasion, HER2/neu gene neither overexpressed nor amplified, and age 35 years or older... 

The prognosis for prostate cancer patients depends on the histologic grade, the tumor size, and the disease stage. More than 85% of patients with stage Aj disease but less than 1% of those with stage D2 can be cured. 

Tumor size and the presence and number of involved axillary lymph nodes are primary factors in assessing the risk for breast cancer recurrence and subsequent metastatic disease. Other disease characteristics that provide prognostic information include histologic subtype, nuclear or histologic grade, lymphatic and vascular invasion, and proliferation indices. 

The World Health Organization has established a TNM staging classification for lung cancer based on the primary tumor size and extent (T), regional lymph node involvement (N), and the presence or absence of distant metastases (M). 

For definitive, curative therapy, objective parameters to monitor include primary tumor size, involved lymph nodes, and tumor markers such as PSA. PSA level is checked every 6 months for the first 5 years, and then annually. With metastatic disease, clinical benefit can be documented by evaluating performance status, weight, quality of life, analgesic requirements, and PSA or DRE at 3-month intervals. 

Progestins No Possible increase in tumor size Os Long term Low... 

The first data on the effects of tamoxifen on uterine leiomyomas were obtained in a rat model. They showed that tamoxifen increased tumor latency and decreased tumor size (Howe et al. 1995). These findings were confirmed more recently by Walker et al. (2000). In the same period, moreover, several case reports were published showing an increase in uterine leiomyoma dimensions following tamoxifen administration (Dilts et al. 1992 Leo et al. 1994 Ugwumadu et al. 1994). 

Raloxifene is actually used for the treatment and prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis. Also, if raloxifene has been shown to have any effect on uterine leiomyomas in vitro and in animal models, to date no concrete efficacy has been demonstrated in normally cycled premenopausal women. Moreover, the addition of raloxifene to GnRH-a administration can be useful for limiting GnRH-a-related side effects and increasing the rate of reduction in tumor size. 

Traditional markers of prognosis in cancer have relied on histological features such as tumor size and grade and whether or not local lymph nodes have metastasis. While these histological variables have been widely used over the years in assessing patient outcome, none is ideal. 

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