Biomedical subjects

K Westbrook

Publications and source records attributed to K Westbrook.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1994

Risk factors for requiring cataract surgery following total body irradiation.

In order to determine the incidence of cataract surgery following total body irradiation (TBI), questionnaires were mailed to 173 surviving patients who had received single fraction TBI for haematological malignancies. All patients had undergone bone marrow transplantation at the Royal Marsden Hospital, Surrey, between 1977 and 1991. Replies were received from 135 patients (78%). Fifty-four patients had required cataract surgery. The probability of requiring surgery for cataract at 2, 5 and 10 years post TBI was 5%, 39% and 58%, respectively. No cataract surgery was performed at less than 2 years after the time of TBI, and 12 years is the longest interval, prior to surgery, recorded so far. From a number of potential risk factors, those found to predict independently for cataract surgery, and their relative risk (RR) factors, were: cranial radiotherapy preceding TBI (RR 4.2 for patients irradiated in year prior to TBI, 3.3 for others irradiated); skull dose (RR 2.3 for patients over 25 years at time of TBI); TBI dose rate (RR 2.1 for dose rate > 3.5 cGy/min). An additional 31 patients (22%) reported the presence of cataracts which had not yet required surgery.

Adult↗

PubMed1988

Management of airway problems in lung cancer patients using the neodymium-yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd-YAG) laser and endobronchial radiotherapy.

This study summarizes our experience in the evolution of a management technique for unresectable or recurrent lung cancer using the neodymium-yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd-YAG) laser with high-dose endobronchial brachytherapy. The laser gave good palliation for hemoptysis and obstruction with a low complication rate, and the addition of endobronchial radiotherapy was a useful adjunct for maintaining airway patency. High-dose brachytherapy delivered by the Gammamed IIi remote afterloader proved to be the best method of delivering this treatment.

Adult↗

PubMed1984

Informed consent and treatment of primary breast cancer.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Breast Neoplasms↗

PubMed1983

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy for advanced testicular non-seminoma. I. The influence of sequence and timing of drugs and radiation on the appearance of normal tissue damage.

Acute and delayed normal tissue damage has been investigated in 63 advanced stage testicular non-seminoma patients receiving elective involved-field irradiation after chemotherapy and in 53 patients who had chemotherapy given for relapse after prior irradiation. The risk of death from complications due to chemotherapy was 0% and 9.4% (p less than 0.025) in the two groups respectively. Gastro-intestinal damage and/or subcutaneous fibrosis was present in 12.6% and 24.5% of patients respectively, although only three patients have serious persisting disability. In patients receiving 35-45 Gy to the retroperitoneum the incidence of normal tissue damage was 0% and 25% (p less than 0.001), respectively. In addition to the sequence in which chemotherapy and radiotherapy was delivered, the time interval between completion of radiotherapy and start of chemotherapy was important with 6/6 patients receiving drugs within 2 months of irradiation developing fibrosis. Abdominal surgery appeared not to influence the risk of damage. Of nine patients receiving drugs after infradiaphragmatic and supra-diaphragmatic irradiation two died of neutropenic sepsis.

Antineoplastic Agents↗

PubMed1981

Leiomyosarcoma of the inferior vena cava: angiographic and computed tomography findings. Report of two cases and review of imaging criteria.

Leiomyosarcoma, a highly malignant tumor of the inferior vena cava, is rare. Only 55 cases have been reported in the world literature, and of these only 18 were evaluated with a special vascular procedure, either arteriography or inferior vena cavography. In two cases of leiomyosarcoma of the inferior vena cava, we performed arteriography and inferior vena cavography. In one, computed tomographic studies were also carried out. Cavography showed a lobulated filling defect in one case and complete caval occlusion with collateral circulation in the other. In the one case in which it was performed, computed tomography clearly demonstrated the tumor's size and its relationship to surrounding organs. Arteriographic studies, however, allowed only an indistinct delineation of the extent of tumor growth in one case. Venography followed by computed tomography should permit adequate assessment of most leiomyosarcomas of the inferior vena cava, with arteriography reserved for tumors involving the upper cava in which hepatic involvement must be evaluated.

Adult↗

PubMed1979