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Biomedical subjects

L Pavesi

Publications and source records attributed to L Pavesi.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

Combination chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, fluorouracil, and either epirubicin or mitoxantrone: a comparative randomized multicenter study in metastatic breast carcinoma.

From February 1987 to January 1989, 60 patients with advanced breast cancer and no prior chemotherapy for advanced disease were randomized and studied, with 31 treated with fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FEC) and 29 patients with fluorouracil, mitoxantrone, and cyclophosphamide (FNC). Doses were 500 mg/m2 fluorouracil, 500 mg/m2 cyclophosphamide, and 50 mg/m2 epirubicin2 or 10 mg/m mitoxantrone, i.v. Day 1 every 3 weeks. There were no statistically significant differences in pretreatment patient characteristics between the groups. Fifty-six patients were evaluable for response (29 in the FEC arm and 27 in the FNC arm). The response rates were 48.2% for the FEC group (complete response (CR) 10.3% and partial response (PR) 37.9%) and 40.7% for the FNC group (CR 3.7% and PR 37%) (not significantly different, NS). The median response duration was 247 and 267 days, respectively (NS), the median time to progression and time to treatment failure was 244 and 155.5 days for the FEC group and 86 and 98 days for the FNC group, respectively (NS). The incidence of nausea/vomiting was 87.1% in the FEC group and 79.3% in the FNC group, with comparable severity. Alopecia occurred in 80.6% of FEC patients and 44.8% of FNC patients (p less than 0.05). The incidences and degrees of severity of leukopenia, anemia, and cardiotoxicity were comparable in the two treatment groups. Efficacy and toxicity of the two regimens were quite similar. FNC can improve the quality of life of patients by providing significantly less alopecia.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗
PubMed1990

Evaluation of atherosclerotic lesions using NMR microimaging.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been proposed as a potential tool in the evaluation of atherosclerotic lesions. However, two basic difficulties have to date prevented the full exploitation of the potentials of this technique: the poor spatial resolution of the conventional tomographs and the wide variety of the lesions as well as their intrinsic dishomogeneity. In this study the in vitro morphology of normal and atherosclerotic vascular tissue specimens has been evaluated using a high resolution spectometer equipped with a microimaging device. Morphological features of the vessel walls as small as 10(-1) mm have been detected and the distribution of lipids and of calcified or necrotic regions has been evidenced in atherosclerotic plaques. Different techniques, such as local spectroscopy performed on volumes of 1 mm3 and localized magnetization recovery measurements, have been employed to characterize specific regions of the vessel walls from the chemical and the physical point of view. The good agreement of NMR findings with histological data allows us to conclude that NMR microimaging represents a suitable technique for the in vitro detection and characterization of atheromatous lesions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

An overview of clinical trials with high-dose medroxyprogesterone acetate (HD-MPA) in endocrine-related tumors other than breast cancer.

High-dose medroxyprogesterone acetate (HD-MPA) has been successfully employed in the treatment of hormone-related tumors, especially advanced breast cancer. However, progestins in general and MPA in particular are considered a useful treatment also in other types of tumors such as endometrial, prostatic and renal cancer. Furthermore, MPA has been evaluated in tumors which are not classically considered hormone-related, such as ovarian cancer. Therapy with one of a number of progestational agents has been the conventional approach to the management of endometrial carcinoma not amenable to surgery or radiation therapy. Among the various synthetic progestins, MPA has been the most widely employed both by i.m. and oral routes, according to a variety of doses and schedules. Objective responses have been obtained in a percentage of women varying between 30 and 50% in the different series. While the role of MPA in the palliative treatment of advanced disease is well accepted, opinion is divided on the role of progestins in the adjuvant setting. On the basis of available data, it should be concluded that the usefulness of adjuvant therapy with progestins in high risk, early-stage endometrial cancer has not yet been clearly demonstrated. As far as prostatic cancer is concerned, data coming from comparative trials show that MPA is less effective than diethylstilbestrol (DES), and therefore should not be considered the first choice for previously untreated patients. However, it can achieve responses in patients who no longer respond or who are refractory to DES, and represents the treatment of choice for those patients who, due to their cardiovascular conditions, cannot be given estrogens.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1984

[Chemotherapy of malignant brain tumors in childhood].

The best conventional care for medulloblastoma and malignant ependymoma in children consists of surgery and radiotherapy. The preliminary observations of some authors suggested that chemotherapy could be useful in treating these tumors. The two major experiences in this field are those from SIOP and CCSG -RTOG trials which used chemotherapy as adjuvant to surgery and radiotherapy. In such studies chemotherapy appears to be effective mostly in high-risk patients. A study performed by Italian Child's Neurooncology Group ( ICNG ) confirms the preceding results.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

[Chemotherapy, immunotherapy and supportive therapy in cerebral metastases].

When a malignant tumor spreads to the brain, its concurrent growth outside of the Central Nervous System (CNS) and the devastating effects of cerebral metastases offset often all therapeutic attempts. The disappointing results commonly achieved in the management of intracranial metastases are only partly explained by the low efficacy of available therapeutic modalities. Support therapy plays the major role in the management of patients harboring cerebral metastases. Corticosteroids and osmotic agents can rapidly improve neurological symptoms, allowing a rapid, even if frequently brief, amelioration of the quality of life. Immunotherapy cannot be considered as an effective therapeutic tool for metastatic brain tumors. For many years chemotherapy has been thought inadequate treatment for both controlling the growth of metastases and improving neurological impairment . However the new concepts of multimodality therapy of primary CNS tumors seem to be applicable even to intracranial metastases. In combination with corticosteroids and radiation therapy, nitrosourea compounds (BCNU and CCNU) proved to be effective in more than 1/3 of patients in prolonging survival. New possibilities of improving available results are expected from new antiproliferative drugs (cisplatin) and from new modalities of administering conventional cytotoxic agents (intra-arterial route).

BCG Vaccine↗
PubMed1984

[Steroid receptors in brain tumors].

Recently the presence of steroid hormone receptors (SHR) have been reported in a series of nervous system human tumors, mainly in meningiomas. The possibility of characterizing brain tumors deserves attention because of the poor knowledge of endocrine-related behaviour of such tumors. The reliability of biochemical characterization of various receptor types should allow for better understanding of biological profile of primary and metastatic brain tumor, together with new avenues for combined modality treatment. In the future the highest priority might be assigned to the definition of the cut-off value of positivity for single receptors and to the receptor-endocrine modulation complex relationship for individual patients. A clear definition of the role of SHR in human brain tumors might improve our therapeutic potentials.

Brain Neoplasms↗
PubMed1984

Radio-chemo-immunotherapy (CCNU plus levamisole) for treatment of metastatic brain tumors. A pilot study.

Thirty-one patients with metastatic brain tumors were treated with Radiotherapy (RT) and CCNU or with RT, CCNU and Levamisole (LMS) in a randomized clinical trial. Twenty-seven were evaluable. All patients were submitted to whole brain radiation (50 +/- 5 Gy) and CCNU (130 mg/m2 p.o. every 8 weeks). 15 also received Levamisole (2.5 mg/kg p.o. daily for 3 weeks in the first month, for 2 weeks in the second, and then once a week monthly until progression). Primary tumor was predominantly lung cancer (22/27) and brain lesions were generally multiple (24/27). The overall response rate was 35% in the RT plus CCNU treated group and 38% in the RT plus CCNU plus LMS treated group. The median survival time was similar and not statistically different in both groups (7 versus 6 months). No important side effects were observed either in the RT + CCNU or in the RT + CCNU + LMS treated groups. The absence of combined depression of T-cell levels and responsiveness of lymphocytes to mitogens suggests that thymus dependent immunity could be improved by LMS administration. However, such improvement had no impact on duration of survival in patients with metastatic brain tumors.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗
PubMed1983

Clinical evaluation of 4'-epi-doxorubicin in advanced solid tumors.

A Phase II clinical evaluation of 4'-epi-doxorubicin has been carried out in 100 patients with various types of solid tumors. Hematopoietic toxicity was dose-limiting but reversible and of mild to moderate degree. Other acute toxic manifestations such as vomiting and alopecia were qualitatively similar to those usually reported for doxorubicin, but lower in frequency and less severe. A number of responding patients received cumulative doses of 4'-epi-doxorubicin in excess of 500 mg/m2. One patient manifested reversible clinical congestive heart failure at cumulative dose of 1,080 mg/m2. Therapeutic activity has been observed in breast carcinoma, in rectal carcinoma and in melanoma. In chemoresistant tumors as rectal cancer and melanoma 4'-epi-doxorubicin deserves further study.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Antiinflammatory activity and bioavailability of percutaneous piroxicam.

Both the topical and the percutaneous antiinflammatory potencies of a topical formulation of piroxicam were investigated using as reference standards nonsteroid and steroid antiinflammatory drugs having the same excipient base (indometacin and hydrocortisone acetate) or as topical formulations available in commerce (ketoprofen and oxyphenbutazone). In regard to the topical activity, piroxicam antagonized significantly both the croton oil edema and the UV-erythema; against the latter experiment also ketoprofen exerted intense inhibition, whilst oxyphenbutazone proved inactive. In the case of percutaneous application (carrageenin edema), piroxicam was appreciably more effective than reference compounds. In the latter experimental model piroxicam applied to the "inflamed" hind paw exerted 64% of the potency of oral piroxicam, but 2.3-2.5 times the percutaneous potency of piroxicam applied to other regions of the skin. These findings combined with the results of the bioavailability tests suggest that the percutaneous application of piroxicam may be exploited to advantage in clinical practice.

Administration, Topical↗
PubMed1981

[Controlled study of unspecific cellular immunity in cancer patients].

Cellular immunity has been studied in 92 patients with solid tumors undergoing surgery, in order to evaluate immunocompetence at the time of diagnosis and to assess the prognostic value of parameters of cellular immunity. The results show that total lymphocyte counts, T-lymphocyte counts and lymphocyte blastogenic responses are moderately depressed at diagnosis in the cancer patients as compared to age matched controls. These parameters of cell mediated immunity "in vitro" seem to be of limited prognostic value, since no correlation was found with the clinical course during the first 6 postoperative months. Depression of delayed hypersensitivity response to cutaneous antigens appeared to be an index of poor prognosis.

Adult↗