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Biomedical subjects

C Deckers

Publications and source records attributed to C Deckers.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

What about odor in terminal cancer?

Daily care involving proximity with a malodorous patient in the terminal stage of cancer has often proved difficult for the caregiver. Whatever the cause of the primary cancer, three sources of noxious odor can exist or coexist: necrosis, superinfection, and perspiration and/or discharge. The proposed treatment calls for a twofold approach: internal or general and external or local. The internal treatment consists mainly of antibiotics and often involves the combined use of two drugs. Local treatment is applied "à la carte" according to the origin of the odors. Wounds, vomiting, diarrhea, and so on can be treated with specific treatments which will be discussed further.

Adult

Predictive value of serum alkaline DNase activity variations in treatment of head and neck cancer.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the variation in serum alkaline DNase activity (SADA) as a means of therapeutic monitoring in patients with head and neck cancer. Blood samples from 40 patients were collected before, during, and some weeks up to months after therapy. A decrease in SADA during treatment was usually associated with a primary clinical response, while no decrease indicated non-response to therapy. In patients with complete tumor regression the initial decrease of SADA was usually followed by an increase exceeding the initial level. A similar increase was not observed in patients with tumor progression.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols

Correlation between size and external temperature in four rat tumours after treatment with cytostatic agents.

The reduction in size of four experimental tumours (ISIS 130 and ISIS 208 immunocytomas, S 437 mammary adenocarcinoma, S 447 colon adenocarcinoma) was investigated in LOU rats under the influence of cytostatic agents belonging to different classes (5-fluorouracil, methotrexate, vinblastine, cisplatin, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide). External tumour and rectal temperatures were measured at the same time, twice daily, during the whole experiment. With the rectal temperature of the rats kept constant, the reduction in tumour dimensions following chemotherapy correlated via a linear relationship with the duration and degree of tumour hypothermia for the three tumours S 437, ISIS 208, ISIS 130. However, for the same reduction in tumour volume following chemotherapy, the duration and degree of transient tumour hypothermia varied according to the type of tumour and cytostatic agent studied. There was not correlation between the decrease in size of S 447 and external tumour hypothermia. Even when the reduction in tumour size was statistically significant, the hypothermic tumour phase after drug administration was not sufficient to be significant, except for vinblastine. However, the temperature of this slowly growing tumour before chemotherapy was particularly low. The measurement of the degree and duration of external tumour hypothermia of tumours following chemotherapy would represent a new physiological technique for measuring the efficacy and duration of action of cytostatic agents.

Animals

Effect of chemotherapy on tumor temperature in rats.

Two transplanted rat immunocytomas with different degrees of sensitivity to single injection of cyclophosphamide (CY) were used to assess the reliability of recording of the tumoral and rectal temperatures may be useful to evaluate the efficacy of cytostatic drugs against experimental rat tumors. With the highly sensitive tumor (ISIS 130), 25 mg/m2 of CY resulted in a pronounced tumor inhibition (Treated/Control tumors = 28%); with the less sensitive (ISIS 208), a CY dose of 320 mg/m2 was necessary to inhibit tumor growth to the same extent. The more important the decrease in tumor size was, after the administration of the drug, the larger the decrease was in tumoral temperature. Since the rectal temperature remained fairly stable, there was an increase of the difference between the tumoral and rectal temperatures. From the comparison between the results obtained for the two tumors with a wide range of CY doses, it appeared that the decrease in tumoral temperature did not correlate with the drug dose itself, but with the actual antitumor efficacy of the drug in each particular case.

Animals

Correlation between size and external temperature of the ISIS 130 tumour after treatment with cytostatic agents.

The reduction in size of the experimental ISIS 130 tumour has been investigated in LOU rats under the influence of increasing doses of cytostatic agents belonging to different classes. External temperatures of tumours as well as rectal temperatures have been measured at the same time, twice daily, during the whole experiment. The greater the decrease in the tumour size after drug administration, the larger was the decrease in external temperature of tumour. The rectal temperatures remained fairly stable, thus differences between the tumour and rectal temperatures increased. A possible correlation between the reduction of tumour size and the decrease of external temperature of tumour has been traced for every cytostatic agent, and the same linear relationship has been found to link these two parameters. The decrease in external temperature of tumour may, moreover, predict the decrease in tumour size within a term of 1-2 days. Measurement of the magnitude of the transient tumour hypothermia of ISIS 130, following chemotherapy, would represent a new method for measuring the efficiency and duration of action of cytostatic agents.

Animals

Radioimmunodetection of primary and metastatic germ cell tumors containing alpha-fetoprotein.

Radioimmunodetection with an 131I anti-alpha-fetoprotein (alpha FP) has been performed in 5 patients with germ cell tumors. In 3 of them, 5 of 6 recognized or suspected tumor sites could be demonstrated. In 1 of these patients, a clinically non-apparent primary tumor was detected by this method. The 2 other patients had received intensive chemotherapy and had a persistent elevation of serum alpha FP, although usual paraclinical examinations were normal. In these patients, the labelled antibody scan did not show any abnormality. These results suggest that radioimmunodetection can be useful in patients with nonseminomatous gonadal and extragonadal tumors at the time of presentation. Usefulness of radioimmunodetection in the follow-up of these patients remains to be determined. Even in our limited series, radioimmunodetection was of no help on localizing the sites of alpha FP secretion in treated patients in whom other methods had also failed to recognize the site of abnormal alpha FP synthesis.

Adult

Management to prevent high-sited recurrence of pharyngo-laryngeal cancers.

The development of reconstructional techniques in cervico-facial surgery has led to the proposal of surgical solutions, in conjunction with radiotherapy, for the extensive epidermoid carcinomas of the oropharynx and hypopharynx that were formerly rejected by the surgeon. However these stage III or IV epidermoid carcinomas carry a heavy proportion of "high" recurrences, i.e. situated in the parapharyngeal, oropharyngeal and rhinopharyngeal regions. The reasons for this are: the lymphatic continuity between the oro- and hypopharynx and the parapharyngeal regions and the base of the skull; the limitation of neck dissections higher up at the tip of the mastoid and the lower parotid border; the limitation of postoperative irradiation directed upwards. Therefore for these lesions we propose an extended therapeutic programme comprising pre-operative chemotherapy based on cisplatinum, bleomycin and methotrexate, an adequately wide surgical resection followed by reconstruction and an irradiation extending upwards by two lateral fields to the oropharynx, the rhinopharynx and the parapharynx.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols

[Delayed hypersensitivity reactions in cancer patients: influence of the clinical stage and chemo- and radiotherapy on the immune status].

A simple and standardized new technic for evaluation of delayed hypersensitivity reactions with recall antigens, the Multitest, was applied on 186 cancer patients. The present results are: 1) Cancer patients with local disease present less important hypersensitivity skin reactions than the control subjects. The hypoergie of cancer patients is associated with the presence of distant metastases but not with the presence of regional lymph node involvement. 2) The immune depression is, at equal stages, the same in the case of breast neoplasma as in lung neoplasma. 3) Chemotherapy for breast cancer as applied in our service does not provoke depression of immune reactions. 4) Radiotherapy for breast cancer increases the anamnestic reactions. We have observed a reduction of the total number of lymphocytes as described in the literature.

Adult

A transplantable immunocytoma of the rat as a model for the study of immunoglobulin secretion.

An immunoglobulin secreting tumor appeared spontaneouldy in the LOU/Dec rat strain in an incidence of about 3--5% at age 8-20 months. Attempts to increase the incidence using such things as genetic selection, carcinogens, immunosuppressants, adjuvants, cell-free fumor material, and antigenic stimulation were unsuccessful. The tumor was found to be easily transplanted. It secreted monocolonal immunoglobulins related to most of the normal rat immunoglobulins: IgG, IgA, IgM, IgE, and some light chains. Some tumor lines were found to be sensitive to chemotherapy. Tumor-bearing rats, cured by chemotherapy, were found to be resistant to subsequent challenge graft of the tumor. The resistant state could be transferred from one animal to another by parabiosis or peritoneal exudate, but not by way of serum. It was concluded that the tumor-bearing LOU/Dec rat is an excellent model for studies of immunoglobulin secretion, and the cured, resistant rat is an excellent model for studies of cell mediated immunity.

Animals

Immunosuppression and Carcinogenesis: effects of azathioprine on induction of sarcomas by 3-methylcholanthrene.

The effects of Azathioprine (AZA) on the carcinogenesis with 3-Methylcholanthrene (MC) are described. When AZA is given before MC, there is a shortened tumor latency period. When AZA treatment followed MC injection a lengthened latency period was observed. When AZA treatment is given both before and after MC injection, intermediate results were observed. It is concluded that the action of AZA treatment on tumor development depends on the time relationship between this treatment and the injection of the carcinogen. In particular, it is suggested that to obtain an enhancing effect on tumor development, probably by immunosuppression, AZA must be effective at the time or shortly after administration of the carcinogen. When AZA is administered later, an inhibition of tumor development, probably a cytostatic effect becomes prominent.

Animals