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Biomedical subjects

J Lemerle

Publications and source records attributed to J Lemerle.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

Hyponatremia and renal sodium wasting in patients receiving cisplatinum.

Three children with malignant solid tumors developed hyponatremia with renal sodium wasting associated with other signs of tubular dysfunction, such as hypokalemia or hypomagnesemia, a few days after cis-diammine dichloroplatinum (CDDP) administration. The normalization of serum electrolyte disturbances was obtained with increased parenteral intakes in fluids and electrolytes, and renal sodium wasting stopped by itself a few days later.

Adolescent↗

[Treatment of Hodgkin's disease in children with chemotherapy and low-dose radiation].

In 1982 a French cooperative study for Hodgkin's disease was designed to minimize adverse side effects of therapy in childhood. Initial staging is clinical, omitting laparotomy. Objectives are: comparing 4 ABVD to 2 MOPP alternating with 2 ABVD in CS IA et IIA, assessing the value of 3 MOPP + 3 ABVD in CS IB, IIB, III et IV in terms of remission induction and duration of remission and assessing the effectiveness of radiotherapy at dose of 20 Gy given to all good responders to chemotherapy in involved fields and lombo-splenic fields for CS IB, IIB, III and IV. We present preliminary results. Of the 120 evaluable patients 94% had a good response to initial chemotherapy and received 20 Gy. The rate of local control of these patients is very high as only 2 relapsed in previously irradiated nodes. Actuarial 3 years survival rate and relapse free survival are respectively 98% and 86%.

Adolescent↗

Treatment of advanced neuroblastoma with high-dose melphalan and autologous bone marrow transplantation.

Fifteen children with advanced neuroblastoma according to Evans' classification (1 with stage III and 14 with stage IV) were treated with high-dose melphalan (HDM) followed by autologous bone marrow transplantation. Before HDM, all patients had been extensively treated with multimodality therapy for a median duration of 9 months. At the time of HDM, seven children were in partial remission (PR) with measurable residual tumor and 8 were in complete remission (CR) or good partial remission (GPR). No reduction in measurable tumor size was observed in any of the PR patients. However, when HDM was used as consolidation therapy (CR and GPR patients) survival appeared encouraging, since five of eight patients are alive with no evidence of disease at (NED) 29+ to 54+ months after HDM. Tolerance of this high-dose chemotherapy was satisfactory; gastrointestinal toxicity appeared to be the most important limiting factor. These results suggest that chemotherapy including high-dose melphalan is promising when used as consolidation therapy in patients who have already attained CR with conventional therapies.

Adolescent↗

Optimal treatment of clinical stage I yolk sac tumor of the testis in children.

Thirty-four children with malignant germ cell tumors of the testis were seen at the Institut Gustave-Roussy from 1970 through 1980, after orchiectomy alone. The tumor was classified according the WHO classification (immature teratoma, embryonal carcinoma, choriocarcinoma, yolk sac tumor). Twenty-four of the 34 children had a stage I yolk sac tumor (YST) defined as a tumor completely removed by the inguinal approach, without clinical node involvement and/or metastases. No lymphadenectomy was performed. All the patients had an alphafetoprotein (AFP) determination before or after orchiectomy. For those (23/24) with an elevated level of AFP the clinical stage I was assigned if the AFP decreased regularly to normal values by 3 months after orchiectomy. Twelve patients received systemic chemotherapy every 3 months [methotrexate, actinomycin D, cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan)]; 12 did not receive any treatment after orchiectomy. An AFP evaluation was assayed for all of these regularly. The 3-year survival rate was 96% and the 3-year relapse-free survival rate was 84%, with no difference found between the two groups receiving or not receiving systemic chemotherapy. This series confirms the advisability of a conservative approach for clinical stage I YST, employing orchiectomy and evaluation including AFP determinations. Ten percent to 20% of patients will suffer a relapse, which can be demonstrated by an increasing level of AFP, and these children can be treated at this time. With this approach, 80% of patients having clinical stage I YST can be treated by orchiectomy alone and will not suffer any sequelae or complication of either lymphadenectomy or chemotherapy. For the few who do relapse, treatment at the time of relapse is curative for the majority. This approach requires absolute adherence to a strict follow-up program.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗

Abdominal recurrences in Wilms' tumours: a report from the SIOP Wilms' tumour trials and studies.

The Wilms' tumour trials and studies conducted from 1971 to 1980 registered 1042 patients. Of these, 82 patients developed an abdominal recurrence. Particulars of these were studied. Half of the recurrences occurred in stage III patients. Often several untoward prognostic factors could be identified, such as large tumour size, difficult operation, incomplete excision, peritoneal adhesions or metastases, tumour extending to renal vein or vena cava. A tumour rupture increases the chance for an abdominal recurrence, especially if appropriate radiotherapy is not given. In many of these cases, postoperative radiotherapy seems to have been insufficiently tailored to the operative findings. For stage III cases, a careful discussion between surgeon, radiotherapist, and pathologist should lead to the optimal radiotherapy field size and dose for each individual patient, so that the risk of abdominal recurrence can be reduced.

Abdominal Neoplasms↗

High-dose busulfan and cyclophosphamide with autologous bone marrow transplantation support in advanced malignancies in children: a phase II study.

Twenty children with advanced, nonleukemic malignancies entered a phase II study of high-dose busulfan-cyclophosphamide followed by bone marrow transplantation (BMT). All had disease refractory to conventional and/or high-dose chemotherapy (HDC). There were ten neuroblastoma patients, six non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, three Ewing's sarcoma, and one rhabdomyosarcoma. Eight had primarily resistant disease, ten were in second progressive relapse, and two in third progressive relapse. One patient was not evaluable for response. Among the 19 evaluable patients the responses observed were complete response (CR), seven; partial response (PR), three; objective effect, five; and failure, four. However, survival was poor: 15 patients died, two are alive with disease, and three are alive with no evidence of disease (NED) at 8+, 11+, 14+ months post-BMT. Toxicity was high but considered as acceptable, taking into account the terminal state of these patients. Seven treatment-related deaths were observed. This combination therapy proved to be highly effective, with a response rate of 50%, and its value for eradication of residual disease in less advanced patients should be investigated.

Adolescent↗

High-dose methotrexate and continuous infusion Ara-C in children's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: phase II studies and their use in further protocols.

Twenty-three children with refractory or relapsed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) received high-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX), and 9 received Ara-C by continuous intravenous infusion, as phase II studies. They all had previously received a protocol including vincristine, adriamycin, cyclophosphamide, IV push Ara-C, asparaginase, intrathecal MTX, and cranial irradiation, and had failed to respond or had relapsed. HD-MTX was given at the dose of 6 g/m2 or more with leucovorin rescue, Ara-C at the dose of 100 mg/m2/day by continuous infusion over 10 days. Among the 22 evaluable patients receiving HD-MTX, 10 responses (7 CR; 3 PR) were observed. Among the 9 patients receiving Ara-C, 4 responded (1 CR; 3 PR). Toxicity in those previously heavily treated patients was acceptable. These two drugs are now successfully included in childhood NHL treatment protocols.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗

Topography of childhood tumors: pediatric coding system.

The importance of a uniform coding system for cancer research, tumor registry, and exchange of information is recognized. However, tumors arising in children differ from those in adults, resulting in lack of precision when one coding system is used for both. Because the topographic code of the International Classification of Disease for Oncology for adult tumors does not lend itself well to pediatric tumors, the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP) developed a four-digit topographic coding system particularly adapted to childhood tumors. The four digits correspond to anatomic site, general and specific localization, and tissue of origin. An SIOP pilot study demonstrated the usefulness of this code.

Child↗

[Middle-term course of craniopharyngiomas in children as a function of initial therapeutic choice].

Despite numerous studies and publications, the treatment of craniopharyngiomas in children remains controversial. The present series of 33 cases, followed for the last 10 years, is analysed according to therapeutic protocols jointly defined, case by case, from each patient's features and in restricting the extent of surgical excisions. In agreement with other recently published series, two options give superior results: complete excision, when the risk is low; in the other cases, partial excision or rather a simple biopsy or decompression, followed by irradiation. Risks of relapse are thus quite reduced and mortality greatly reduced. The unavoidable consequence of hypopituitarism is easily treated. However, the frequency of psychic and/or neurologic sequellae as well as the risk of post-radiation complications should not be disregarded when selecting treatment.

Adolescent↗

[Chemotherapy and ovarian function. Retrospective analysis in 17 girls treated for malignant tumor or hematologic disease].

Ovarian function was investigated in 17 patients aged 13 5/12 to 30 years who had received various types of combined chemotherapy without any irradiation. Ovarian insufficiency was found in 6 cases with amenorrhea (n = 5) or irregular menstruations (n = 1). There is a high risk of sterility in these cases although as described in one case, a normal pregnancy occurred in spite of evidence of ovarian failure. Cyclophosphamide seemed to be less harmful when given before puberty. Great variations in individual susceptibility for relatively low doses were observed with this drug. The combination with other drugs in some protocols might play a role in these cases. At variance with results reported in adults, the MOPP chemotherapy used in children with Hodgkin's disease did not induce ovarian dysfunction.

Adolescent↗

The response to initial chemotherapy as a prognostic factor in localized Ewing's sarcoma.

Ninety-five children with localized Ewing's sarcoma were included in a prospective cooperative study. All patients received initial chemotherapy with the purpose of early prevention of metastases and improvement of the conditions of the subsequent local therapy, radiotherapy in all cases, surgical resection in selected cases. Clinical response to initial chemotherapy was evaluated in 67 patients who had measurable soft tissue mass or functional symptoms. This response appeared highly correlated with outcome as the disease-free survival was 57.3% for the 41 good responders and 9% for the 26 bad responders (P less than 0.00001), though 23 of these bad responders reached complete remission with radiotherapy. This study also confirms the prognostic significance for survival of the site of the primary tumor on axial skeleton or on limbs. Nevertheless, this factor had no predictive value for response to chemotherapy, which thus appears to be an independent factor.

Adolescent↗

The advantages of preoperative therapy in Wilms' tumour. A summarised report on clinical trials conducted by the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP).

During 1971-1980, three consecutive clinical studies on nephroblastoma were conducted by the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP). Besides several questions on different postoperative treatment modalities, the emphasis of these trials was to determine the role of preoperative therapy. In SIOP-1 (1971-1974) we compared preoperative radiotherapy to immediate surgery. There is no difference in survival or recurrence-free survival between both groups. Tumour ruptures, however, did occur significantly less in the pretreated group, and the recurrence-free survival is clearly lower in patients with intraoperative tumour rupture. These results were confirmed by SIOP-2, a non-randomised study conducted between 1974 and 1976. The question tackled by SIOP-5 (1977-1980) was whether preoperative chemotherapy could be a substitute for preoperative radiotherapy. The two preoperative therapies produced equally satisfactory results in terms of recurrence-free survival and 4-year survival rates, and the reduction in the number of operative ruptures. In addition, it was shown that with preoperative chemotherapy about 45% of an unselected population of patients with Wilms' tumour can be treated and cured without any irradiation and its well-known sequelae. The actual need for radiotherapy in stage II tumours with negative lymph node involvement (about 30% of the patients after pretreatment) is under investigation in SIOP-6. Cytohistological grading is equally possible after chemotherapy, and also without pretreatment. If antitumour treatment is begun before histopathological diagnosis, then the risk of overtreating patients with benign conditions, or of administering an inappropriate treatment to patients with malignant tumours of other types, is about 6%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

[Chemotherapy of osteogenic sarcoma].

Functional results and survival have been improved in osteosarcoma during the last ten years, thanks to better conservative surgical techniques and more efficient drugs to prevent metastases. Of the several possible programmes of chemotherapy, the authors considered that the T10 programme of Rosen is the most reliable, this author claiming a survival rate of 90 p. 100 with an average follow-up of twenty months. This programme was adopted by the authors in the Paediatric Department of the Gustave Roussy Institute (Villejuif). Thirty one patients were treated and assessed after an average follow-up of 19 months. The results were favourable, only three patients presenting with metastases. One died. Amongst the thirty surviving patients, twenty-three were treated by local resection and eight by amputation.

Adolescent↗