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M Sant

Publications and source records attributed to M Sant.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

Survival rates for primary malignant brain tumours in Europe. EUROCARE Working Group.

In the framework of EUROCARE, a concerted action between 45 population-based cancer registries, in 17 European countries, survival of patients with primary malignant brain tumours was investigated. Survival analysis was carried out on 16,268 patients diagnosed between 1985 and 1989 and followed-up for at least 5 years. The mean European age-standardised 5-year relative survival was 17% in men and 20% in women, with minimal intercountry variations, except for markedly lower rates in Scotland, Estonia and Poland. The age-specific analysis showed a relatively uniform survival in patients aged more than 65 years at diagnosis, but there were more marked intercountry differences in younger patients. In the 15-44 year age group (25% of the total study population) 5-year relative survival ranged between 55% (Finland and Sweden) and 27% (Poland). Generally, survival decreased with increasing age at diagnosis. The analysis of a temporal trend in survival was carried out on a subset of registries with available data from 1978-1989. Overall, there was an increase in survival over the considered study period, mostly confined to 1-year survival, suggesting that it was mostly related to improved diagnostic techniques. The most important survival increase occurred in the younger patients, both for 1- and 5-year survival, suggesting that younger patients have less biologically aggressive tumours, benefiting from the combined effect of diagnostic accuracy and effective therapies. The most marked survival increase was seen in England and Denmark, countries with low survival rates at the beginning of the study period, whereas in Finland and Germany, where survival was relatively high to begin with, no important temporal trend was seen.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Estimation and projections of colorectal cancer trends in Italy.

BACKGROUND: Occurrence of and prognosis for tumours of the colon and rectum are thought to be changing rapidly due to simultaneous changes in risk factor prevalence, early diagnosis and treatment. In this paper time trends of morbidity, survival and mortality for colorectal cancer during the period 1970-1990 are estimated and analysed. METHODS: Mortality trends were obtained from official death certificates. Relative survival rates were computed from population-based cancer registries. Incidence and prevalence rates were estimated from mortality and survival data. RESULTS: Incidence rates were increasing during the period considered, with a lower rate of increase for the youngest birth cohorts. Relative survival rates of both colon and rectum cancers were higher for women, and for younger age groups, and were positively associated with period of diagnosis. No significant survival difference among the cancer registries used was found. A total of about 155,000 prevalent cases, 40% of which had been diagnosed > or = 7 years before, were estimated in the Italian population for the year 1990. Mortality rates were slightly increasing for men and stable for women. Projections of colorectal cancer trends to the year 2000 indicate major expected rises in both incidence and prevalence. CONCLUSION: Colorectal cancer represents a problem of growing impact for health services in Italy. This conclusion can probably be extended to many developed countries.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Substantial variation in therapy for colorectal cancer across Europe: EUROCARE analysis of cancer registry data for 1987.

To provide a quantitative description of the treatments applied to malignant colorectal cancer across Europe, we analysed all cases (11,333) of colorectal cancer registered in 1987 by 15 Cancer Registries in eight European countries. In a third of cancer registries, therapy was known for all cases, in the others 1-15% of registrations lacked treatment information. Eighty per cent of all patients received surgical resection, ranging from 58% (Estonia) to 92% (Tarn). The proportion of resections decreased with advancing age (85-73% for colon cancer; 85-70% for rectal cancer for < 65 years to > 74 years, respectively). Only 4% of colon cancer patients received adjuvant or palliative chemotherapy, range 1-12%. Sixteen per cent of rectal cancer patients received radiotherapy with great inter-registry variability (1-43%). Since the proportion of surgically resected patients correlated positively with the 5-year relative survival probability reported by the recently published EUROCARE study, this may be part of the explanation for the major differences in survival for these cancers among different European populations. The most likely determinant of this correlation is stage at diagnosis, but, quality of, and access to surgery, as well as access to endoscopy, may differ among countries and registry areas, and these may also contribute to inter-country survival differences.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

[Survival for digestive system tumors: Italian population-based data and international comparisons].

Survival for malignant tumour of the upper digestive tract, oesophagus, stomach and pancreas are analysed from the data of 5042 cases observed during the period 1976-1985 by the Italian cancer registries (CRs) of Varese, Latina, Ragusa and Florence. Three-year relative survival rates were 42% for patients with tumours of the upper digestive tract and 7% for those tumour of the oesophagus. Five-year relative survival for patients with stomach cancer was 20%. A worse prognosis was found for cases from the Latina and Ragusa CRs. One-year relative survival for patients with pancreatitic cancer was 17%. Younger age, histologic confirmation, period of diagnosis (for upper tract, stomach and pancreatitic cancers), and female gender (for tumours of the upper tract) resulted as positively associated to survival.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

[Survival for tumors of the colon and the rectum in Italy].

In population based from four Italian cancer registries (Varese, Modena, Latina, Ragusa), five-years relative survival was 34% for colon cancer patients (no. = 1864) and 28% from rectum cancer patients (no. = 1117). However, rectum cancer patients showed higher survival rates in the first year of follow-up, which is possibly due to earlier diagnosis for sites more accessible to clinical examination. For colorectal cancer, age was an important prognostic factor, both in univariate and in multivariate analysis, adjusting for competitive mortality, sex, geographical area and year of diagnosis. In the same multivariate analysis, the prognosis was better for women, significantly for colon cancer and the excess death risk was reduced by 25-30% from 1978-79 to 1984-85. No significant differences were found among different geographical areas, possibly because of the low number of patients from some of the participating cancer registries.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Comparisons of colon-cancer survival among European countries: The Eurocare Study.

Under the aegis of EUROCARE, a European Union project to assemble survival data from population-based cancer registries and analyze them according to standardized procedures, we have investigated and compared colon-cancer survival in 10 European countries. We analyzed 68,283 colon-cancer cases diagnosed between 1978 and 1985 and followed for at least 6 years. After calculating relative survival, putative factors prognostic for survival were investigated by univariate and multiple-regression analyses. Important intercountry colon-cancer survival differences exist within Europe, which are not explained by methodological differences, nor by demographic confounders. In patients aged 60 to 69, the mean European 5-year cumulative relative survival was 40%. Switzerland, Finland and The Netherlands had significantly higher 5-year relative survival, while one area in the UK and Cracow in Poland had significantly lower survival than this European estimate. Prognosis improved over time: from 1978 to 1985, the risk of death was reduced by about 4% per year in all countries studied. Age at diagnosis is inversely related to prognosis. Differences in health provision and hence in quality of care and stage at presentation seem largely responsible for the differences in colon-cancer survival found in the EUROCARE countries.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Estimation and projections of stomach cancer trends in Italy.

Mortality data from official sources, and survival data from population-based cancer registries, are used for the estimation of incidence and prevalence of stomach cancer. Time trends of morbidity, survival, and mortality during the period 1970-90 are presented and analyzed. Incidence rates were decreasing during the considered period, but the rate of decrease was slowing down during the last decade. Almost stable rates, and even slightly increasing for women, were estimated for the youngest cohorts. Relative survival for stomach cancer was higher for women and for young ages; it was associated positively with period of diagnosis, and presented a significant South-North geographic gradient. Prevalence was estimated as decreasing during the period 1970-80, but increasing during the successive decade, due to both better survival and population aging. Projection of stomach cancer morbidity and mortality to the year 2000 showed that the disease should still be considered in Italy as a major public health problem.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Time trends of lung and larynx cancers in Italy.

During the period 1970-1989, age-adjusted mortality rates for lung cancer in Italy increased by more than 50%, while rates for larynx cancer in males decreased by approximately 13%. This study aims to interpret this difference, which seems to contradict the finding that cigarette smoking is a common major risk factor for both lung and larynx cancer. To this end, we jointly analyzed the time trends of incidence, survival and mortality. We first examined survival data taken from the population-based Lombardy Cancer Registry (northern Italy). Based on data referring to 880 incident cases of larynx cancer, diagnosed during the period 1976-1987, we estimated a 3% annual increase in relative survival. By contrast, no significant period effect was observed for survival rates of 2,259 incident cases of lung cancer. National incidence rates were estimated using official mortality data and the above-described survival data. Age-adjusted estimated incidence rates increased, from 1970 to 1989, for both cancer sites: +55% for male lung, +56% for female lung, and +22% for male larynx. Moreover, the patterns of birth-cohort effect, which are diverging for mortality, are nearly parallel with regard to incidence. This analysis suggests that a substantial improvement in survival of larynx cancer patients may largely explain the differences in mortality trends for cancer of lung and larynx.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Descriptive epidemiology of colorectal cancer in Italy: the 6-year experience of a specialised registry.

The Colorectal Cancer Registry of Modena recorded 838 malignancies of the large bowel between 1984 and 1989. Crude Incidence rates were 59.5 new cases per 100,000 per year in men and 47.4 in women (age-standardised values 33.1 and 20.6, respectively). 35 incident cases (4.2%) had multiple colorectal tumours, whereas 42 (5.1%) had extraintestinal malignancies (mainly breast, endometrium and stomach). Although 90.5% of the patients underwent surgery, this was "curative" in 634 (77.6% of the total), while 105 individuals (12.8%) had palliative operations; 78 patients (9.5%) were not operated, mainly because of metastatic disease or poor clinical condition. Finally, emergency operations--due to intestinal obstruction, perforation or massive bleeding--were carried out in 46 patients (6.1%). A total of 659 tumours (79%) were accurately staged. Among first-degree relatives of the registered patients a significant excess of cases of colorectal cancer was found in each year of the study. 5-year survival was evaluated in 132 (out of 140) patients registered in 1984 and followed-up until 1989. Overall 5-year survival was 37%, but rose to 43% when only colorectal cancer related deaths were taken into consideration. As expected, survival was strongly influenced by stage (P < 0.0001 by log-rank test). In conclusion, this study confirms previously reported data about incidence and mortality rates for colorectal cancer in northern Italy. The particular approach--limited to the large bowel--allowed the evaluation of the frequency of multiple tumours and of the marked aggregation of cancer among first-degree relatives. Finally, survival figures are comparable to those of many other studies and confirm that the clinical outcome of this neoplasm remains unfavourable in more than 50% of the affected patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

[Trends in cancer incidence as observed by Lombardy cancer registry, Varese Province].

Trends in cancer risk of the Varese province Cancer Registry from 1976 to 1987 have been considered. The analysis has been carried out subdividing the 12 years of observation in three quadriennia. In younger ages (0 to 54) an increase of melanomas, of testicular cancer and, only in females, of tobacco-related cancers (oral cavity, oesophagus, pancreas, larynx, lung, bladder and kidney) has been observed. In younger males, instead, a decrease of tobacco-related cancer risk is already observable. Below age 55 there is no reduction in gastric cancer risk. The increase of breast cancer for youngest women is only observed between the first and the second quadriennium. For older ages (from 55 to 74) tobacco-related cancers continue to increase, in both sexes, but mainly among females. Also increasing, for males, are colon and liver cancer risks. Among the same ages, gastric and cervix (for screened age groups) cancer risks are decreasing. These observations, most in accordance with patterns observed in other western countries, can be used for setting intervention and research priorities.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

The effect of cytological screening on cervical neoplasia in the Italian province of Varese.

In the Varese province (409,142 female inhabitants in 1981), which has been covered by a cancer registry since 1976, cytologic screening for cervical cancer began in the early sixties in the municipality of Busto Arsizio (41,818 female inhabitants in 1981) and subsequently spread to the rest of the province. The distribution by age of cytologic smears and of detected in situ cancer reveals a more frequent attitude to be screened for women aged between 25 and 54 years. Overall, the incidence rate (world standardized) for invasive cancer in the province decreased from 10.3/100,000 women-year in the period 1976-81 to 7.5/100,000 in 1982-87. In Busto Arsizio a survey of the hospital archives has been carried out to identify the cases of cervical cancer diagnosed from 1966 to 1985: in this 20-year period, the incidence of cervical cancer decreased markedly, but only in those ages frequently screened. In the rest of the province, for the first period of cancer registration (1976-81), the incidence was significantly higher than in Busto Arsizio, especially for ages 35-64. Subsequently, between 1982-87, the cervical cancer incidence was low in both areas. For the period 1976-87, no difference for carcinoma in situ registration rates was observed between the two populations studied. Actually by 1976, when the Lombardy Cander Registry began its activity, the screening was diffuse throughout the province. These observations are consistent with the preventive effect of screening activity.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Estimated incidence and prevalence of female breast cancer in Italian regions.

Female breast cancer incidence and prevalence in Italy have been estimated by region and vast areas from population-based survival data of breast cancer patients and 1970-1987 specific mortality data using a mathematical model. Italian age-standardized incidence rates (ASR) for 1987 range from 70 to 90 per 100,000 women-year in the Northern regions, 55 to 73 in the Center, and 45 to 72 in the South. Overall, the ASR is about 80 in the North, 70 in the Center and 60 in the South. In the absence of competitive mortality, breast cancer cumulative risk in the 0-74 years life span is about 7 women out of 100 in the North, 6 in the Center and 5 in the South. The decreasing risk pattern from North to Center then South appears less evident when under 45 age-specific rates are considered. Very high levels for young age-groups are present both in the North (Liguria and Emilia Romagna) and South (Sardinia and Apulia). The incidence pattern by age differs from region to region and over the considered period, suggesting that a birth-cohort effect is crossing the whole country. Using to model, it can be estimated that the risk by cohort increases from the generations born at the beginning of the century to those born in the 40s, after which, for subsequent generations, it has been decreasing in all the considered areas and is similar in the North and South. We can infer that for the whole country the incidence will increase up to the years 2000-2010 when those birth-cohorts at higher risk will also be at higher risk for age. In 1987, about 250,000 Italian women had a present or past history of breast cancer: for the 1970-1987 period, prevalence has increased by approximately 5,500 cases per year.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1992

Clinical and pathologic prognostic indicators in colorectal cancer. A population-based study.

The institution of a colorectal Cancer Register in a health care district of Northern Italy gave the authors the opportunity to evaluate the prognostic relevance of several morphologic and clinical variables by univariate and multivariate analyses. Of the 134 patients registered in 1984, 132 were followed up until the end of 1989. Overall 5-year survival was 37%, but the figure increased to 43% when only colorectal cancer-related deaths were considered. Univariate analysis for clinical variables showed that TNM staging and age at diagnosis were significantly related to prognosis, whereas none of the other parameters were indicative of the clinical outcome. With a similar analysis, among the various morphologic variables, pattern of growth (infiltrating versus expanding) and extent of fibrosis (extensive versus little or absent) appeared to be indicators of prognosis. When the variables that were significant (stage, age, pattern of growth, and fibrosis) in the univariate analysis were entered into the Cox model of multivariate analysis, TNM staging was the only parameter that maintained an independent prognostic importance. The authors state that their results confirm the importance of stage in predicting survival for cancer of the large bowel and suggest that the possible prognostic value of clinical and morphologic variables should be investigated within each of the major TNM or Dukes' classes.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1992

Survival for lung cancer in northern Italy.

From the population covered by the Lombardy Cancer Registry (northern Italy), all 2,259 lung cancer patients diagnosed from 1976 to 1981 were followed through 30 November 1989. The length of follow-up ranged from eight to 13 years. A special investigation on long-term survivors showed that a negligible proportion (0.01 percent) of errors occur in determining life status when an active follow-up is adopted. Age, stage, and histotype were found to be statistically significant, independent, prognostic factors in multivariate analysis both by the Cox model and by a model considering the relative survival. Observed survival was 29 percent at one year after diagnosis, 13 percent at two years, eight percent at three years, five percent at five years and two percent at 10 years. Survival decreased with age, but the youngest patients of both sexes showed lower survival compared with immediately subsequent ages. Among morphologically confirmed tumors, epidermoid carcinomas and adenocarcinomas showed the highest survival (38 percent and 33 percent at one year, respectively); small cell carcinomas showed the poorest prognosis (one-year survival, 23 percent). Beyond the second year after diagnosis, differences between histotypes became slighter. Survival according to stage showed a decreasing pattern from limited to advanced tumors, one-year figures being 41 percent for localized tumors, 27 percent for regional metastasis, and three percent for distant metastasis. Relative survival in Varese was compared with that reported by other cancer registries in Western countries: the variability noted could be related to different modalities of registration and to different distribution of clinical and demographic factors.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Role of histopathology in the diagnosis of tuberculous synovitis.

A study was conducted on 70 cases of tuberculous synovitis. Maximum number of cases were in the age group of 11-30 years (58.58%) with a male preponderance. Knee joint was found to be most commonly (57.12%) affected. Diagnosis of tuberculous synovitis was possible clinically in 75.72% and radiologically in 67.14% of cases only. Histopathological studies made on biopsy materials obtained from synovial membranes of the affected joints showed the presence of fibrosis, lymphocytic infiltration and epithelioid cells forming typical granuloma of tuberculous lesion. Proliferation of synovial membrane (92.85%), increased number of mast cells (82.95%) and caseation (78.57%) were observed. In all the cases the synovial membrane was of greyish white appearance.

Adolescent↗