Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to N J Shiffman.
In a series of nine consecutive cases of anterior intranasal carcinoma seen between 1965 and 1975, a single treatment failed to control the disease in four. This failure rate is much higher than that reported for squamous cell carcinomas of the skin in general and appears to indicate that tumours at this site require aggressive therapy.
Pellagra due to malnutrition occurred in an Ottawa women in 1973. She was given a normal diet with supplements of riboflavin, thiamine, niacin and ascorbic acid. The clinical response was striking. Although pellagra is still common in some parts of the world, it is now rare in North America. The disease may occur secondary to malnutrition or malabsorption; inborn errors of metabolism or transport, as in Hartnup disease; deviation of precursors of niacin, as in carcinoid syndrome; or competitive inhibition of niacin incorporation into nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide, as with administration of isoniazid.
Among 52 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the skin of the pinna seen consecutively between 1952 and 1973, a single course of treatment failed to control the disease in 10 (19%). This failure rate is higher than that usually reported for squamous cell carcinomas of the skin in general (2 to 6%), and appears to be in conflict with the belief that squamous cell carcinomas of the skin of the pinna rarely metastasize. It appears that other factors than neglect are responsible for this discrepancy. In this series it was not possible to judge the relative efficacy of one mode of treatment over another.