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Biomedical subjects

K Brunner

Publications and source records attributed to K Brunner.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

A comparative study of dibromomannitol and busulfan in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia. A study of cancer and leukemia group B.

In a prospective, randomized trial the effectiveness of dibromomannitol (DBM), a brominated sugar alcohol derivative, was compared to busulfan in previously untreated patients. One hundred thirty-one patients were evaluated for response and survival. The effective dose of DBM was 4 mg/kg. The persistence of sensitivity to either DBM or busulfan was shown in a quantified fashion. Despite initial reports of the alleged unique effectiveness of DBM in treating chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), this study did not disclose any advantage of DBM over busulfan. Multivariate analysis investigating the importance of prognostic factors in CML indicated that age, sex, splenomegaly, and initial platelet count were important for predicting survival. Determination of such factors in CML are valuable in deciding those patients who could benefit from alternative forms of therapy. It also insures that study results are related to treatment rather than selection of patients with favorable or unfavorable prognostic factors.

Adolescent↗

[Mefenamic acid (Ponstan)-induced acute interstitial nephritis with reversible, severe, non-oliguric renal failure].

Acute interstitial nephritis is a rare complication of treatment with non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs. A case is reported with severe, reversible, non-oliguric renal failure caused by biopsy-proven acute interstitial nephritis after therapy with mefenamic acid (Ponstan). Prednisone treatment resulted in normalization of renal function within 4 weeks.

Acute Kidney Injury↗

Whole-abdomen radiation in patients with advanced ovarian carcinoma after surgery, chemotherapy, and second-look laparotomy.

Forty-three patients with ovarian carcinoma were treated with whole-abdomen radiation (moving strip +/- pelvic radiation), 15 patients had not received prior chemotherapy, and 28 patients were irradiated following chemotherapy and second-look laparotomy. Ten of these had been treated with a variety of chemotherapy regimens (L-PAM, CHAD, Hexa-CAF). Eighteen patients were treated in an ongoing prospective trial with combination chemotherapy consisting of melphalan, cis-platinum, and hexamethylmelamine++ (HexaPAMP). Thrombocytopenia was the limiting toxicity. A temporary pause in the radiation schedule allowing platelets to recover made it possible to complete treatment in 80% of the patients. The acute toxic effects, which included the expected side effects of radiation therapy on intestine, liver and lung, were not more frequent or more severe in the patients who had received prior chemotherapy than in those who had radiation therapy alone. Thirty-four of 43 patients (stage I, seven patients; stage II, seven patients; stage III, 27 patients; stage IV, two patients) are alive and without evidence of disease 26 + months (range 7 to 64 months) after entering the postsurgical treatment program.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗

Acute cerebrovascular accident after treatment with cis-platinum and methylprednisolone.

A 53-year-old woman with recurrent ovarian cancer sustained an intracerebral hemorrhage after the 4th course of a chemotherapy regimen which included cis-platinum (DDP). She received high-dose methylprednisolone as an antiemetic along with the DDP. No metastases or abnormal vascularity were found on histological examination of the right frontal lobe which had been removed surgically. Causes of cerebrovascular accidents during and following chemotherapy are discussed.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗

Comparison of oral melphalan, CCNU, and BCNU with and without vincristine and prednisone in the treatment of multiple myeloma. Cancer and Leukemia Group B experience.

A total of 361 evaluable patients with previously untreated multiple myeloma were randomized to receive oral melphalan (0.15 mg/kg/day for seven days, followed by 0.05 mg/kg/day after recovery from the nadir of the leukocytes), BCNU (150 mg/m2 intravenously every six weeks) or CCNU (100 mg/m2 orally every six weeks). All patients received a tapering six-weeks) or CCNU (100 mg/m2 orally every six weeks). All patients received a tapering six-week course of prednisone starting at 0.8 mg/kg for the first two weeks. At week 22, one-half of the patients were randomized to receive vincristine (1 mg/m2) and prednisone (0.6 mg/kg for seven days) every two months in addition to previous therapy. The melphalan treated patients showed a significantly higher overall objective response frequency (59%), according to Myeloma Task Force criteria, when compared to those treated with BCNU (40%) or CCNU (42%). The survivals for all patients were not statistically different for the three treatment programs. However, the good-risk patients treated with melphalan had significantly longer survival (P = 0.02) than the equivalent patients who received BCNU or CCNU. The addition of vincristine and prednisone at week 2 did not significantly increase the percentage of subsequent objective responses or prolong the subsequent survival of any treatment group. It is concluded that oral melphalan is superior to BCNU and CCNU in producing objective responses and in prolonging survival in good risk patients.

Antineoplastic Agents↗

Effect of methanol extraction residue of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin in advanced Hodgkin's disease.

One-hundred-ninety-six patients with Stage III and IV Hodgkin's disease were prospectively randomized to receive either treatment with the methanol extraction residue of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (MER/BCG) or no immunotherapy. Prior to the MER/BCG randomization, patients received six courses of induction and two years of maintenance chemotherapy so that a group with a presumptively low tumor burden could be established. Only patients achieving a complete remission were evaluated. During the first two years of immunotherapy, the MER/BCG group had a relapse frequency twice that of controls. The overall crude relapse frequency and disease-free survival were similar between the two treatment groups. The MER/BCG dose schedule used in this study was associated with a high frequency of unacceptable toxicity. Ulcerations of greater than 1 cm occurred in one-third of the patients with associated pain, fever, and occasional lymphadenopathy. A high degree of patient noncompliance (36%) was observed. Age (P = 0.002), prior radiotherapy (P = 0.032), and chemotherapy (P = 0.044) were prognostic factors found to significantly influence remission duration. These factors were balanced between patients treated with immunotherapy and those who were not. MER/BCG therapy did not significantly delay or prevent relapse.

Adult↗

Pharmacokinetic approach to the selection of dose schedules for medroxyprogesterone acetate in clinical oncology.

The pharmacokinetic and bioavailability properties of medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) after single PO and IM doses in man were used as a basis to predict, on a theoretical pharmacokinetic basis, the blood level profile of the drug during repeated dose administration with various dosage schedules. Because of the unusually long-lasting depot effect of IM MPA, a different build-up process of blood levels is expected during repeated IM or PO administration, and this should be taken into account when dose schedules for use in clinical oncology are selected. As regards the IM route, dose schedules based on 4 weeks' treatment with daily injections of 500-1,000 mg followed by a maintenance therapy with 1,000 mg/week are suggested, since they permit rapid achievement and maintenance of relatively high plasma levels. A similar plasma level profile can be obtained with oral MPA provided that daily doses twice as large as the IM doses are given during the first month of treatment and continued during the maintenance period. The serum levels observed in 25 patients with advanced breast cancer treated with MPA given IM or PO according to various dose schedules and recent literature data are very close to the serum level profiles predicted on a theoretical pharmacokinetic basis.

Biological Availability↗

Multiple myeloma resistant to melphalan: treatment with doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, carmustine (BCNU), and prednisone.

Sixty-five patients with multiple myeloma resistant to melphalan were randomized to receive cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin (Adriamycin), and prednisone (CAP) (30 patients) or carmustine (BCNU), doxorubicin, and prednisone (BAP) (35 patients). Objective responses occurred in two patients in the CAP group and in seven in the BAP group. Indirect responses were noted in seven additional patients in the CAP group and in six additional patients in the BAP group. Toxic effects consisted mainly of leukopenia and thrombocytopenia. Median survival did not differ between the two treatment groups (CAP, 8.4 months; BAP, 7.7). Objective responders had a longer survival than nonresponders (14.5 vs 7.7 months).

Aged↗

[Treatment and prognosis of superior vena caval syndrome in small-cell anaplastic carcinoma of the lung (author's transl)].

One hundred and forty nine consecutive patients with small-cell anaplastic carcinoma of the lung were studied retrospectively. 19 patients (13%) presented with superior vena caval obstruction, 11 further patients (7%) developed this complication during the course of their disease. 16 patients presenting with superior vena caval syndrome were treated with chemotherapy alone and 13 patients responded. Due to suboptimal chemotherapy for current standards 7 of the 13 successfully treated patients (54%) relapsed after a median of 4.5 months. 3 patients were effectively retreated with another chemotherapy combination, 4 patients with radiation therapy. Superior vena caval obstruction is a frequent complication of small-cell anaplastic carcinoma of the lung. It can be treated effectively with combination chemotherapy.

Antineoplastic Agents↗

[Central nervous system metastases in small cell lung cancer].

Forty of 156 patients (26%) with small cell lung cancer developed central nervous system metastases (CNS metastases) in the course of the disease. CNS metastases were found in 8 patients at the time of the initial diagnosis and 32 patients had subsequent CNS involvement. CNS metastases were usually concurrent with disease progression at other sites and became more frequent as survival increased. With a median survival of 6 months in 1973 19% of patients developed CNS metastases as compared to 35% in 1978, when median survival had increased to 9.5 months. The value of prophylactic cranial irradiation is discussed.

Brain Neoplasms↗

The superiority of CCNU in the treatment of advanced Hodgkin's disease: Cancer and Leukemia Group B Study.

In a randomized study, the effect of single agent therapy, with CCNU was compared with that of BCNU in previously treated patients with advanced Hodgkin's disease. The dosage of CCNU was 100 mg/m2 p.o. q. 6 weeks and of BCNU, 200 mg/m2, p. 6 weeks with dose modification adjusted to individual tolerance. For 60 evaluable patients the response rate (complete and partial was 60 for CCNU and 28% for BCNU (p = 0.025); median duration of response was 4.5 months and 2.0 months, respectively (P = 0.26). Median survival for responders was 11.0 months and for non-responders 5.0 months. No major difference was observed in hematologic toxicity between the two compounds. Used as single agents in equitoxic dosages, CCNU is superior to BCNU for the treatment of previously treated advanced Hodgkin's disease, and CCNU has the additional advantage of oral administration.

Adult↗

MER immunotherapy and combination chemotherapy for advanced, recurrent Hodgkin's disease. Cancer and Leukemia Group B study.

The effects of chemotherapy and chemoimmunotherapy in previously treated advanced Hodgkin's disease were evaluated in a randomized study of 167 patients by CALGB. Combination chemotherapy consisted of treatment with one of three regimens with further randomization of MER (methanol extraction residue BCG) immunotherapy or no MER during chemotherapy. CVPP (CCNU, vinblastine, procarbazine, prednisone) was compared to a new combination, BAVS (bleomycin, Adriamycin, vincristine, streptozotocin), and to a third regimen consisting of alternating cycles of CVPP and BAVS. At the current analysis there is no significant difference in complete responses among the chemotherapy regimens. MER did not improve complete response frequency and was associated with significantly poorer survival for patients previously treated with chemotherapy. There was also no benefit with MER for patients with at least one pretreatment positive skin test. Because of the documented lack of therapeutic benefit and the morbidity of painful ulcers, MER treatment has been discontinued.

Adult↗