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Biomedical subjects

M S Aapro

Publications and source records attributed to M S Aapro.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Primary pulmonary Hodgkin's disease and the dilemma of E stage.

Primary pulmonary Hodgkin's disease is rare. We report the case of a previously healthy 23-year-old woman who presented with isolated involvement of the right upper pulmonary lobe. Nodular sclerosing Hodgkin's disease was diagnosed after curative surgery. The clinical stage is felt to be IEBL+. The reasons for this staging, as opposed to a stage IV, are discussed. Adjuvant radiotherapy was given, delivering 39.6 grays in 22 courses of 1.8 grays. Three years after diagnosis, the patient is well and free of disease. A review of the literature indicates that the majority of primary pulmonary Hodgkin's disease present as a single mass amenable to curative surgery and radiation therapy. Chemotherapy can be reserved for the rare diffuse presentation.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Growth of solid tumor cells in clonogenic assays: a prognostic factor?

Clonogenic assays can be used to study several characteristics of hemopoietic and solid tumor cells. Treatment of ovarian cancer patients, anticancer drug development and studies of tumor cell biology (self-renewal and cytogenetics) seem to be facilitated by these techniques, in spite of their limitations. This paper reviews data showing that good in vitro clonal growth might be a poor prognostic factor. These results are remarkable but only few patients have been studied and detailed analyses looking at other prognostic factors are lacking. However, studies of in vitro growth characteristics of hemopoietic malignancies have shown similar results. Further follow-up should substantiate these initial findings in solid tumors.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1985

Non-linearity of colony formation by human tumour cells from biopsy samples.

The relationship between colony numbers and concentration of cells plated is an important parameter of clonogenic assay systems. The cloning efficiency for an ideal sample should be independent of cell concentration, thus giving a straight line through the origin when colony numbers are plotted against cell concentration. A simple statistical method has been developed to test if this is the case for individual tumour samples. Colony data from 51 freshly obtained tumour samples, which had sufficient cells to plate 3 or more dilutions and gave at least 20 colonies per plate at one or more of the dilutions, were tested. The results indicated that colony formation was linear for 27 (53%) of the samples. The remaining 24 samples could be classified into 2 groups: type I, in which cloning efficiencies increased with increasing cell concentration and type II, which had reduced cloning efficiencies at high cell concentrations. Fifteen (29%) of the samples had type I non-linearity and 9 (18%) exhibited non-linearity of type II. These findings indicate that the relationship between colonies and cells plated should be examined for each biopsy sample particularly in each experiment where the effects of cytotoxic drugs are tested.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1984

Phase II trial of mitoxantrone in head and neck cancer.

Mitoxantrone (1,4-dihydroxy-5,8-bis[2-[(2-hydroxyethyl)amino]ethyl)amino)-9, 10 anthracenedione dihydrochloride, NSC 301,739) is a new aminoanthraquinone derivative with clinical activity in the treatment of advanced breast cancer (1, 2), lymphoma (3), and acute leukemia (4). We have carried out a phase II trial of mitoxantrone using an every three weeks dosing schedule in patients with advanced head and neck cancers.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Double-blind crossover study of the antiemetic efficacy of high-dose dexamethasone versus high-dose metoclopramide.

Nausea and vomiting remain common and debilitating side effects of therapy with many anticancer drugs. Recent reports have shown that both metoclopramide and dexamethasone are effective drugs for the treatment of severe nausea and vomiting caused by cis-platinum. A double-blind crossover study comparing the antiemetic properties of high-dose oral and intravenous regimens of metoclopramide and dexamethasone in outpatients was carried out. Standardized patient questionnaires and interviews were used to evaluate response. Dexamethasone and metoclopramide protected against more than five episodes of emesis in 48% and 40% of patients, respectively. Nausea persisted for less than six hours in 45% of patients on dexamethasone and in 37% on metoclopramide. The antiemetic efficacy of both regimens was retained through repeated courses of chemotherapy. Side effects were minimal with dexamethasone; however, 33% of patients experienced unacceptable extrapyramidal side effects to metoclopramide. Patient preference was significantly in favor of dexamethasone: 70% of patients chose to continue dexamethasone compared to 22% who preferred metoclopramide and 8% who chose other antiemetics. Dexamethasone was the preferred antiemetic in this patient population due to minimal side effects.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Immediate termination of intractable vomiting induced by cisplatin combination chemotherapy using an intensive five-drug antiemetic regimen.

A five-drug parenteral antiemetic regimen was administered to 17 patients experiencing intractable vomiting following treatment with cisplatin-containing combination chemotherapy. The five-drug treatment consisted of metoclopramide (1 mg/kg iv), diphenhydramine (50 mg im), dexamethasone (20 mg iv), diazepam (5 mg iv), and thiethylperazine (10 mg im), given together at the initiation of the regimen and repeated on a predefined schedule. The number of emetic episodes, duration of nausea and vomiting, and adverse effects were recorded by trained observers. In addition, all patients completed standardized evaluation forms on the day after treatment. Thirteen patients (76%) remained free of vomiting and three (18%) had only one emesis after beginning the study treatment. No serious toxicity was encountered. We conclude that intractable vomiting induced by cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy can be successfully terminated with an aggressive parenteral antiemetic regimen.

Antiemetics↗
PubMed1983

Prospective study of left ventricular function using radionuclide scans in patients receiving mitoxantrone.

A prospective Phase II study to evaluate the effects of mitoxantrone on left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) has been carried out in patients treated with 12 mg/m2 every three weeks. Gated radionuclide cardiac blood pool imaging with assessment of LVEF and wall motion prior to and during graded exercise was performed before the first and every other mitoxantrone course. Ten patients had either a minor response or tumour stabilization while receiving mitoxantrone treatment and underwent serial radionuclide scans during the course of therapy. Three patients who had received adriamycin as part of prior chemotherapy regimens showed no evidence of cardiotoxicity. Seven patients, who had had no prior adriamycin exposure, underwent serial radionuclide studies while receiving up to 204 mg/m2 of mitoxantrone. None of these patients showed evidence of clinically significant myocardial damage. One had a decline in LVEF from 70% to 50% at a maximum dose of 108 mg/m2. An additional patient whose LVEF rose from 57% at baseline to 62% at a total dose of 204 mg/m2 (17 courses) underwent endomyocardial biopsy which showed grade 2.5 anthracyclin-type cardiotoxicity. Serial endomyocardial biopsy studies are indicated in patients on longterm drug therapy to determine the incidence, dose-relationship and severity of potential mitoxantrone associated endomyocardial damage.

Aged↗
PubMed1983

Interactions of human leukocyte interferon with vinca alkaloids and other chemotherapeutic agents against human tumors in clonogenic assay.

Purified human leukocyte interferon produced by recombinant techniques (IFN-alpha A) was tested in vitro with chemotherapeutic drugs, vinblastine (VLB), vincristine (VCR), vindesine (VDS), vinzolidine (VZL), cis-platinum (PLAT), doxorubicin (DOXO), etoposide (VP-16), and melphalan (MEL). The activity of these agents alone or in combination was tested against various human tumor cell lines, using a modified soft agar clonogenic assay. Three human tumor cell lines (myeloma, RPMI 8226; breast, MCF-7; and colon, WiDR) showed sensitivity to these agents at clinically achievable drug concentrations. Statistically significant synergistic activity against in vitro colony formation was observed with the combination of VLB and IFN-alpha A. An additive or sub-additive effect was usually observed with the other agents tested. Continuous exposure of the 8226 myeloma cell line to both IFN-alpha A and PLAT showed evidence of a more significant potentiation. It is hypothesized that the synergistic effect observed between VLB and IFN-alpha A is due to some of their common mechanisms of action.

Agar↗
PubMed1983

Lack of dexamethasone effect on the antitumor activity of cisplatin.

High-dose glucocorticosteroids have proven to be effective antiemetic agents when used before and after cisplatin chemotherapy. To rule out a possible decrease in cisplatin antitumor activity by a direct effect of short-term glucocorticosteroid treatment, survival was studied in mice inoculated with P388 leukemia and then treated with cisplatin preceded by a single high dose (1.5 mg/kg) of dexamethasone (Dex). The median survival of animals treated with cisplatin-Dex was 19 days, and that of animals treated with cisplatin alone was 18 days. These survival durations were significantly longer (P less than 0.01) than the survival time of the controls (median, 12 days). A double-layer soft agar clonogenic assay was used to study the possible effect of Dex on cisplatin inhibition of tumor colony-forming units from two human tumor cell lines (HEC-1A, endometrial; and WiDr, colon). In this model, the addition of Dex to cisplatin showed no statistically significant effect. These data suggest that Dex has no inhibitory effect on the antitumor activity of cisplatin.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

[The toxicity/efficacy relationship in polychemotherapy of lung neoplasms].

Although it is generally accepted that anti-cancer chemotherapy should be administered at the maximum tolerable dose, it is not clearly established that the therapeutic results at dosage levels involving maximum tolerable toxicity are really superior to those with lower, better tolerated doses. 392 patients with advanced primary lung cancer were treated with 5 chemotherapy regimens including cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, vincristine, procarbazine, hydroxyurea, adriamycin and CCNU, in combinations of 3 to 7 agents. Response rates of 50% and over were registered after 8 weeks of treatment. During the same time the intensity of leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, vomiting, other digestive toxicity, neurologic disorders and alopecia was graded according to the worst observation from 0 to 4. The results show that there is no correlation between the grade of toxicity and the rate of response either for the whole group or for subgroups of patients as defined by cell type, degree of dissemination, age, or performance status. They demonstrate that the search for maximum tolerable toxicity is not a sine qua non for the best possible response to chemotherapy in primary lung cancer.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1981

High-dose dexamethasone for prevention of cis-platin-induced vomiting.

Severe, debilitating nausea and vomiting are seen in almost 100% of patients treated with cis-platinum. These side-effects can be so severe and prolonged as to preclude therapy in a large number of patients. Commonly used antiemetics have had only limited success in controlling cis-platinum-induced nausea and vomiting. Various reports have indicated benefits from steroids in this setting. We have tested a high-dose dexamethasone regimen with or without neuroleptics, which inhibits chemotherapy-induced vomiting in 50% of patients failing with prior antiemetics and in 71% of those who had not received prior antiemetics. This treatment was administered on an out-patient basis as it involved oral administration of the antiemetic. Neuroleptic therapy was not randomly assigned, but the results of this pilot study suggest that it did not enhance dexamethasone's efficacy. There were no significant side-effects due to the steroids. The antiemetic effectiveness of dexamethasone was retained through repeated courses of chemotherapy.

Adult↗