Experience with the Portacath

Fifty Portacaths have been inserted in patients undergoing prolonged outpatient chemotherapy, most for haematological disease. Twenty-one are still working at a median duration of 12 months (range 1-27) and a further 15 were functioning normally at the time of the patients death (median survival 6 months). Four functioning Portacaths have been removed, three suspected of causing septicaemia and one believed erroneously to have occluded. Ten have ceased to function and nine of these have been removed. The causes of these failures are nearly all avoidable and are discussed in detail; many occurred early in our experience. With careful attention to detail and with management by trained and interested staff, the Portacath is a safe and reliable device for intermittent vascular access.     

Stimulation of the immune system with polyvinylpyrrolidone in patients with cancer of the larynx

Clinico-immunologic studies showed recurrence and metastatic spread to involve disorders in the synthesis of serum and, particularly, secretory immunoglobulins (M, As) in radically-treated cases of laryngeal cancer. Polyvinylpyrrolidone challenge was intended to stimulate the predominant synthesis of IgM in the blood and, particularly, saliva of the patients. Recurrence and metastatic spread incidence decreased three-fold within 4 years as a result of preoperative intratonsillary immunization with polyvinylpyrrolidone (mol. wt. 40,000).     

吉西他滨联合顺铂治疗老年人肺癌

[目的]观察吉西他滨(Gemcitabine)联合顺铂(cisplatin,DDP)治疗老年人中晚期肺癌的临床疗效和不良反应.[方法]将79例老年人中晚期肺癌患者随机分为A、B两组,A组42例用GP方案(Gemcitabine 800mg/m2,iv,d1-8,DDP 30mg/m2,ivgtt,d1-3),B组37例用EP方案(VP-16 100mg,ivgtt,d1-5,DDP 30mg/m2,ivgtt,d1-3),将两组疗效及毒副反应进行比较.[结果]A组总有效率57.14%,B组总有效率27.03%,两组疗效比较.有显著性差异(P＜0.01).白细胞减少及其他副反应两组相近,血小板下降A组较多,但卡方检验.无显著差异(P＞0.25).[结论]GP方案治疗老年人中晚期肺癌疗效确切,多数患者耐受性好,值得临床推广应用.     

Survival of patients with melanoma of the lower extremity decreases with distance from the trunk

BACKGROUND: Early stage melanoma of the lower extremity is generally associated with a favorable prognosis. However, several retrospective studies have suggested that melanoma on the foot portends poor survival. The authors hypothesized that the region of the lower extremity has prognostic importance. METHODS: Between January 1, 1971, and December 31, 1991, 652 patients were seen at the John Wayne Cancer Institute for a primary melanoma on the foot (92 patients), calf (336 patients), or thigh (224 patients). All patients had clinically or histopathologically negative regional lymph nodes. The duration of follow-up after first diagnosis was 9 -302 months, with a minimum of 6 years for survivors. Survival curves were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Pearson chi-square test was used to test differences associated with the regional site of the lower-extremity melanoma. The log rank test was used for univariate analysis, and Cox proportional hazards regression was used for multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Univariate analysis identified regional site, gender, Breslow depth, Clark level, and age at diagnosis as significant for both overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) (P = 0.0001). Multivariate analysis confirmed regional site as an independent prognostic variable for OS (P = 0.0002) and DFS (P = 0.0005). Ten-year rates of OS and DFS were 71% and 66%, respectively, for patients with foot melanomas, compared with 92% and 87% for those with calf melanomas and 95% and 94% for those with thigh melanomas. CONCLUSIONS: The prognosis for patients with primary melanoma of the lower extremity is affected by the distance of the lesion from the trunk. Thus, distal (foot) lesions carry a higher risk than thigh lesions. This difference should be considered as a covariate when stratifying patients in clinical trials.     

STUDY OF RADIOIMMUNOIMAGING WITH MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY AGAINST THE PATIENTS WITH SCLC

It is an Innovative way to diagnose with cancer with monoclonal antibody (MAb) in vivo. 1-3 After proving MAb 2F7 (IgG2a) had a higher affinity and better specificity to human small cell lung cancer cells in vitro, 4.5 and gave a very clear cut γ- camera pictures for the xenografts of human small cell lung cancer (SCLC) born by nude mice, 6 the possibility of clinical radioimmunoimaging was studied with the MAb 2F7 and its fragment F (ab') 2.     

老年食管瘤和贲门癌合并心电图异常外科治疗83例分析

评价老年食管癌和贲门癌合并心电图异常对外科手术的影响。方法：作者经手术治疗65岁以上老年食管癌和贲门癌共138例，其中术前合并心电图异常者83例，占60．1％（83／138）；术前除左束支传导阻滞、广泛性心肌供血不足、陈旧性及亚急性心肌梗塞患者给予7－10天心脏保护性药物治疗外，余均未作任何特殊性治疗。结果：术后共发生井发症9例次，占10．8％（9／83），其中心跳骤停1例次，急性心肌梗塞1例次，重度房颤2例次，胸胃局灶性坏死穿孔5例次，均经抢救性（和／或手术）治疗痊愈，本组无死亡者。结论：老年食管癌和贲门癌患者合并心电图异常，并不一定是心功能异常，并不一定影响外科手术治疗。     

Estimating the likelihood of success with the initial empiric antimicrobial therapy in patients with nosocomial infections

In order to estimate the likelihood of success (SL) with the initial empiric antimicrobial therapy, the following formula was constructed with data subjected to prior clinical validation in real time: SL (%) = (Nº isolates susceptible to IEAT/Nº patients with MDI) × 100. Where the numerator of the formula represents the total number of isolates recovered from the assessed type of infection, that was susceptible to any component of empiric antimicrobial therapy (IEAT) used, and the denominator represents the total number of patients with the same assessed, but microbiologically documented infection (MDI). For male hospital-acquired urinary tract infection, only imipenem reached a suitable SL value (i.e. ≥80%). In patients with hospital-acquired peritonitis, imipenem and tigecycline–ceftazidime showed the highest coverage rates. For ventilator-associated pneumonia only imipenem yielded acceptable coverage as a single drug. Implementing the present formula instead of the regular global antibiograms used to guide the selection of the initial treatment may benefit the patient outcome and improve antimicrobial usage.