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Biomedical subjects

A Wallgren

Publications and source records attributed to A Wallgren.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

Serum lipoproteins and proteins after breast cancer surgery and effects of tamoxifen.

Serum proteins and lipoproteins were determined in 23 menopausal females after surgery for early forms of breast cancer and the results compared with data from a matched group of randomly selected healthy females. The patients were randomly divided into 2 groups, one serving as a control group, the other receiving 40 mg tamoxifen daily for 2 months. Breast cancer patients were found to have significantly higher concentrations of serum cholesterol than controls (7.90 +/- 1.15 vs. 6.87 +/- 1.18 mmol/l, P less than 0.001), which was the result of a 16% higher concentration in LDL cholesterol (P less than 0.05) and a 13% higher concentration in HDL cholesterol (P less than 0.05). During tamoxifen therapy total TG tended to increase, whereas total cholesterol fell. Significant lipoprotein changes were found in the LDL fraction where LDL-TG increased from 0.46 to 0.56 (P less than 0.01) and LDL cholesterol fell from 5.11 to 4.10 mmol/l (P less than 0.001). During tamoxifen therapy haptoglobin and orosomucoid concentrations fell significantly (P less than 0.01), whereas those of alpha-antitrypsin and ceruloplasmin increased (P less than 0.001). Factors such as diet and weight may explain the differences between breast cancer patients and controls. The tamoxifen-induced changes indicate that this anti-oestrogen exerted a mild oestrogen-like effect with regard to protein and lipoprotein metabolism.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

Completeness of the Swedish Cancer Register. Non-notified cancer cases recorded on death certificates in 1978.

Of the death certificates issued in Sweden in 1978 and stating cancer as the underlying or contributory cause of death, 1634 cases were unrecorded in the national cancer register. In 62 per cent of the cases the criteria for cancer registration were fulfilled. The non-reported cases represented a total deficit of 4.5 per cent calculated on cancer deaths in 1978. The factors responsible for the deficit were investigated. When the diagnosis had been histologically/cytologically confirmed the deficit was less than 2 per cent but was about 30 per cent when the diagnostic basis was only clinical. More than half of the non-notified cancer patients were older than 75 years. Exclusion of this age group and of myeloma and leukaemia cases gave a cancer-register deficit of 2.3 per cent. Non-notification to the Swedish cancer registry can be diminished by supplementation with data from death certificates, as practised in other Nordic countries. On regional basis these death certificates will now be collected and used as a supplement to the cancer notification in Sweden.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Prognostic significance of nuclear DNA content in mammary adenocarcinomas in humans.

The value of the determination of the DNA content of tumor cells for the assessment of the prognosis of mammary adenocarcinoma was studied in 36 patients, who survived for at least 15 years after the cancer had been found and in another 42 patients who died within a 2-year period of diagnosis. The results show a distinct correlation between the type of the DNA histograms of the carcinoma and the grade of cancer. This correlation was particularly apparent among patients surviving for at least 15 years despite the occurrence of metastases or relapses after primary treatment, i.e., in patients not cured by their first treatment.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1983

Influence of age on outcome in breast carcinoma.

The effect of age on outcome was analysed in an unselected series of 1730 breast carcinoma patients reported from Stockholm county to the Swedish Cancer Registry during 1961-1963. The follow-up time was 18 to 21 years. Patients aged less than 50 years at diagnosis fared better than those who were older (p less than 0.05) but the difference was only significant during the period 0-9 years (p less than 0.001). No significant differences in survival were observed between separate age groups when patients in a random sample consisting of 389 cases were divided by histopathologic axillary node status. The main cause of the demonstrated age effect thus seems to have been a more favourable tumour stage distribution among the young patients. It is concluded, however, that a comprehensive analysis of the effect of age on the outcome of breast carcinoma would require a more detailed stage grouping than, in practice, is available in an unselected series of patients from a whole country or region.

Actuarial Analysis↗
PubMed1983

Inconsistencies in breast carcinoma registration. An investigation of 855 cases reported to the Swedish Cancer Registry.

The consistency of the data recorded in the Swedish Cancer Registry was analysed in 855 cases of breast carcinoma reported from Stockholm county during 1961-1963 and 1971-1973. The clinical records revealed errors in the recorded data in 56 cases (7%). Forty-one of these should be excluded from the registry. The most frequent cause of this over-registration was that local recurrences or distant metastases from previously diagnosed breast carcinoma were recorded as new primary tumours. Eight cases were found to be incorrectly recorded in situ carcinomas and should be deducted from the incidence of invasive carcinomas. The registry data were found to be unreliable with regard to patients with bilateral breast carcinoma. Nearly half of the cases recorded as such in the registry were found to be patients with secondary manifestations from a previous breast carcinoma. The frequency of erroneous registration was approximately equal during the two periods encompassed by the investigation.

Aged↗
PubMed1982

Influence of adjuvant chemotherapy on the blood lymphocyte population in operable breast carcinoma. Comparison between two types of treatments.

The influence on the blood lymphocyte population of two types of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy regimes given to patients with large breast tumors or involved axillary lymph nodes have been examined. Cyclic treatment with a combination of chlorambucil, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil was more myelotoxic and required more extensive dose reductions than treatment with cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil with the dosage used. Both treatments reduced the size of the blood lymphocyte population and changed its cellular composition, as defined by rosette tests, to approximately the same extent. Response of the lymphocytes to specific and non-specific mitogens were also affected to approximately the same extent. A comparison of the clinical value between the two treatments has not yet been performed.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Effects of tamoxifen on the serum levels of oestrogens and adrenocortical steroids in postmenopausal breast cancer patients.

Peripheral serum levels of cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHA), dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHA-S), oestradiol-17 beta and total oestrone were measured in 17 postmenopausal breast cancer patients and on age-matched healthy controls. In the breast cancer patients analyses were performed before and after 1, 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks of treatment with tamoxifen. Basal DHA levels were significantly higher in breast cancer patients than in controls; otherwise no significant differences were noted. Treatment with tamoxifen resulted in significantly elevated levels of cortisol throughout the period of treatment; this effect was probably solely due to an increase in transcortin levels. A transient but significant elevation in total oestrone, probably related to liver function, was observed after one week of treatment. No significant effects of tamoxifen were noted on serum DHA, DHA-S or oestradiol-17 beta. The results indicate that tamoxifen does not affect the adrenocortical steroid biosynthesis in postmenopausal women. The oestrogenic effects of tamoxifen upon FSH, prolactin and the oestrogen induced Pregnancy Zone Protein (PZP) in postmenopausal women, described in a previous communication from this group, are probably not due to any increase in the serum oestrogens since this increase is transient and hardly impressive. The weak oestrogenic effect of the tamoxifen-receptor complex itself may thus be sufficient to produce net oestrogenic effects in subjects with low endogenous oestrogens such as postmenopausal women.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗
PubMed1981

Immunologic monitoring in breast cancer patients receiving postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy.

A group of 17 patients, having undergone modified radical mastectomy for breast cancer, received 12 cycles of chemotherapy with methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil, and chlorambucil during 17 months. The number of circulating T and non T lymphocytes, as defined by E, EAC, and ME rosette formation, were reduced during treatment. The Non-T lymphocytes, however, were reduced to the highest relative extent. Relative phytohemagglutinin and mixed lymphocyte culture responses of the cells decreased, whereas purified protein derivative responses were unchanged. Serum concentrations of IgM were reduced, but IgA and IgG concentrations were unchanged or slightly increased. Antibody titres to morbilli and herpes simplex were not changed, whereas the antibody activity against cytomegalovirus (CMV) increased in several seropositive patients. None of these patients, however, developed signs of a CMV infection.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

The effect of pre- and postmastectomy radiotherapy on the degree of edema, shoulder-joint mobility, and gripping force.

Women undergoing mastectomy for cancer were assigned at random to three groups, each with about 310 patients. In one group, radiotherapy was given before the operation, and in the second group, it was given after the operation. In the third group, no radiotherapy was given. About 160 patients from each group were examined for the degree of edema of the arm, mobility of the shoulder--represented by 5 indices--and gripping force. Except for gripping force, the findings were significantly better for the group not receiving radiotherapy than for the groups given irradiation. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups receiving radiotherapy before or after mastectomy. For all groups, there was significant edema of the arm and a decrease in the mobility of the shoulder compared with that of the control arm, except for the rotations in the group not receiving irradiation.

Body Weight↗
PubMed1981

Role of bone scans in the initial assessment of operable patients with breast carcinoma.

The yield and the prognostic significance of initially performed bone scintigraphy in 387 patients with operable mammary carcinoma are reported. The mean follow-up time was 52 months. In 12 patients (3.1%) the scintigraphy was considered to indicate bone metastases but in only 3 of these bone metastases later developed. The low information obtained has resulted in exclusion of bone scintigraphy in the initial assessment of clinically operable patients with mammary carcinoma.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Estrogen receptor level and other factors in early recurrence of breast cancer.

At the time of treatment in 1977 for primary breast cancer of all stages, the tumors of 270 women were examined for estrogen-receptor (ER) content by isoelectric focusing on polyacrylamide gel. The procedures for the initial and follow-up examinations were standardized. Postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy or chemotherapy was given to pre- and postmenopausal women aged up to 70 years with nodal involvement. Adjuvant tamoxifen treatment (20 mg twice daily for 2 years) was given to one-half of the postmenopausal patients aged 70 years or less, selected at random, and irrespective of any other adjuvant therapy. These forms of treatment appeared not to introduce bias into the results of the study. There was no correlation between the ER content and tumor spread. Symptom-free survival during the follow-up period was best for the patients with tumors with a high ER content, poorer for the patients with tumors of intermediate ER content and least favorable for patients with tumors having low ER content. (Ranges for high, intermediate and low levels: 2.18-9.08, 0.13-2.17 and 0-0.12 fmoles/microgram DNA). The differences between the survival curves were significant. For the 120 operable patients with nodal involvement there were also significant differences in recurrence-free survival. The premenopausal patients in this group likewise showed a significant difference in survival with respect to ER content. For the operable patients with nodal involvement and poorly differentiated tumors there was also a difference in the survival rate depending on the ER content. In this study the ER content of breast cancer was shown to be a quantitative rather than a qualitative entity. The study confirms the independent prognostic importance of the ER content and points to its potential value as a stratification criterion in adjuvant therapy trials.

Aged↗
PubMed1980

Estrogen receptor concentrations in 269 cases of histologically classified human breast cancer.

This report provides a histological review of 264 female primary breast cancers analyzed for estrogen receptor protein (ER). We also describe 5 cases of male breast cancer all of which bound estradiol specifically. Generally the ER concentrations were lower in the tumors of premenopausal women than in those of postmenopausal women. Three types of cancer with specific morphological features were shown to have ER concentrations that differed significantly from the other types of cancer. Medullary and comedo carcinoma had very low and papillary carcinoma very high levels of ER. No obvious trend in ER concentration was found in unspecified ductal carcinoma, colloid carcinoma, nor in lobular carcinoma. A positive correlation was demonstrated between ER content and degree of differentiation in ductal carcinoma. Cancer with lymphoid infiltration generally showed low ER levels.

Aged↗