scholarly journals Treatment of Prolactinomas in Low-Income Countries

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Ivan Kruljac ◽  
Lora Stanka Kirigin ◽  
Mateja Strinović ◽  
Jelena Marinković ◽  
Hrvoje Ivan Pećina ◽  
...  

Purpose. In low-income countries, prolactinomas are difficult to manage with dopamine agonists (DA). We compared the effectiveness of DA in microprolactinomas as a first line treatment and as adjuvant therapy for residual macroprolactinomas treated surgically.Methods. Our retrospective study analyzed 78 patients, 38 with microprolactinomas and 40 with macroprolactinomas. Microprolactinomas were treated with DA. Macroprolactinomas were treated with microsurgical or endoscopic adenomectomies and adjuvant DA. Surgical remission was defined as normoprolactinemia three months postoperatively, and long-term remission as normoprolactinemia at the last control.Results. Surgical remission was achieved in 9 patients (23%). Postsurgical tumor mass was reduced by 50% (34–68). Residual macroprolactinoma size was greater than microprolactinoma size prior to treatment (10 mm versus 4 mm,P<0.001). Both groups received similar doses of DA. Long-term remission occurred in 68% of microprolactinomas and 43% of macroprolactinomas (P=0.102). Prolactin (PRL) levels at the last control were similar in both groups (23.1 versus 32.9 mcg/L,P=0.347).Conclusion. Comparable remission rates and PRL levels were reached in microprolactinomas and macroprolactinomas using similar doses of DA. Although complete tumor resection is the goal of surgery, our study suggests that even partial surgical removal has a role in treatment of prolactinomas since it may enhance the response to DA.

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. E5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji Hoon Phi ◽  
Chun Kee Chung

Object Surgical treatment of brain tumors in the mesial temporal lobe (MTL) is a highly demanding procedure. Only a few studies describing the surgery of MTL tumors have been reported, and they have been focused on the operative techniques and immediate results of the surgery. The authors have analyzed the long-term oncological outcome in patients with MTL tumors. Methods Thirty-six patients with an MTL tumor were studied. The mean patient age at surgery was 32 years (range 13–62 years). The tumors were confined to the MTL (Schramm Type A) in 25 patients (69%). Extension of the tumor into the fusiform gyrus (Schramm Type C) and temporal stem (Schramm Type D) was observed in 4 and 7 patients (11 and 19%), respectively. There was a significant difference in the tumor size according to Schramm types (p = 0.001). Complete tumor resection was achieved in 26 patients (72%). All tumors were low-grade lesions except for 1 anaplastic astrocytoma. Results After a median follow-up period of 50.5 months, 7 patients showed progression of the disease. The actuarial progression-free survival rates were 97% in the 1st year, 84% in the 2nd year, and 80% in the 5th year. The degree of tumor resection was significantly related to the tumor control failure (p < 0.001) and malignant transformation of a low-grade tumor (p < 0.001). Univariate analyses using a Cox proportional hazards model showed that the following factors were significantly associated with a failure to control the tumor: 1) extent of the tumor (Schramm Type D; p = 0.003, relative risk [RR] 12.04); 2) size of the tumor (p = 0.033, RR 1.052/mm); 3) patient age at surgery ≥ 50 years (p = 0.007, RR 8.312); and 4) short duration of epilepsy (< 6 months; p = 0.001, RR 21.54). Conclusions Surgery is the principal treatment for MTL tumors, despite its technical difficulty. Complete tumor resection is strongly recommended for long-term tumor control. The MTL tumors are heterogeneous in their prognosis. Older age, short duration of epilepsy, and tumor size are all associated with poor outcome. Patients with these characteristics may have a more aggressive form of the disease than those with MTL tumors associated with chronic epilepsy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filipe Rocha Da Silva ◽  
Alan Vitor Jerônimo Lima ◽  
Erick Willian Rocha Pereira  Albuquerque ◽  
Carlos Augusto Moreira-Silva ◽  
Nicole Maués Flexa De Oliveira ◽  
...  

Retroperitoneal liposarcoma is a rare type of cancer. Relapse after surgery is frequent, and relapsing tumors tend to be more aggressive and less differentiated each episode, worsening the prognosis. This report describes the case of a 42-year-old female diagnosed with retroperitoneal liposarcoma after complete tumor resection. At the 3-month follow-up, another expansive lipomatous mass in the retroperitoneal area almost the same size as the previous one was detected. The patient underwent a new surgery, followed by first-line treatment with a gemcitabine- and docetaxel-based regimen for 8 cycles. Finally, the patient achieved complete tumor remission confirmed by CT after the end of the treatment proposed. Although recurrence is a well-known characteristic of this neoplasia, no other case with such a vast expansion of a new tumor shortly after complete resection was found in the literature.


Author(s):  
Francesco Ricotta ◽  
Massimo Bassi ◽  
Nicola Tomasetti ◽  
Angelo Campobassi ◽  
Vincenzo Maiolo ◽  
...  

: Osteosarcoma of the jaws (OSJ) is a relatively rare disease, accounting for between 2% and 10% of all cases of osteosarcoma, it is morphologically and radiologically identical to the trunk and extremity variant, but distinct in several crucial aspects. : The lesion is characterized by sarcomatous cells which produces a variable amount of osteoid bone. It arises centrally within the bone and can be subdivided into osteoblastic, chondroblastic and fibroblastic subtype, depending on the predominant cell type. : Radiographically, these tumors display a spectrum of bone changes from well-demarcated borders to lytic bone destruction with indefinite margins and variable cortical bone erosion or, in some cases, images of sclerotic bone. Therapeutic options for OSJ include surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which are employed according to age of the patient, histological classification and localization of the tumor. Today there is no a general consensus in the treatment guidelines for the OSJ though surgery represents the key of the treatment. The main prognostic factor deeply influencing the patient's prognosis remains the complete tumor resection with negative surgical margins. : The aim of the present review is to describe the state of the art regarding diagnostic and surgical treatment aspects of the primary osteosarcoma of the jaws.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiyoharu Fukushima ◽  
Seigo Kitada ◽  
Sho Komukai ◽  
Tomoki Kuge ◽  
Takanori Matsuki ◽  
...  

AbstractThe combination of rifamycin (RFP), ethambutol (EB), and macrolides is currently the standard regimen for treatment of Mycobacterium avium complex pulmonary disease (MAC-PD). However, poor adherence to the standardized regimens recommended by current guidelines have been reported. We undertook a single-centred retrospective cohort study to evaluate the long-term outcomes in 295 patients with MAC-PD following first line treatment with standard (RFP, EB, clarithromycin [CAM]) or alternative (EB and CAM with or without fluoroquinolones (FQs) or RFP, CAM, and FQs) regimens. In this cohort, 80.7% were treated with standard regimens and 19.3% were treated with alternative regimens. After heterogeneity was statistically corrected using propensity scores, outcomes were superior in patients treated with standard regimens. Furthermore, alternative regimens were significantly and independently associated with sputum non-conversion, treatment failure and emergence of CAM resistance. Multivariate cox regression analysis revealed that older age, male, old tuberculosis, diabetes mellitus, higher C-reactive protein, and cavity were positively associated with mortality, while higher body mass index and M. avium infection were negatively associated with mortality. These data suggest that, although different combination regimens are not associated with mortality, first line administration of a standard RFP + EB + macrolide regimen offers the best chance of preventing disease progression in MAC-PD patients.


Author(s):  
Terufumi Kawamoto ◽  
Naoki Nakamura ◽  
Tetsuo Saito ◽  
Ayako Tonari ◽  
Hitoshi Wada ◽  
...  

Abstract Background International guidelines recommend brachytherapy for patients with dysphagia from esophageal cancer, whereas brachytherapy is infrequently used to palliate dysphagia in some countries. To clarify the availability of palliative treatment for dysphagia from esophageal cancer and explain why brachytherapy is not routinely performed are unknown, this study investigated the use of brachytherapy and external beam radiotherapy for dysphagia from esophageal cancer. Methods Japanese Radiation Oncology Study Group members completed a survey and selected the treatment that they would recommend for hypothetical cases of dysphagia from esophageal cancer. Results Of the 136 invited facilities, 61 completed the survey (44.9%). Four (6.6%) facilities performed brachytherapy of the esophagus, whereas brachytherapy represented the first-line treatment at three (4.9%) facilities. Conversely, external beam radiotherapy alone and chemoradiotherapy were first-line treatments at 61 and 58 (95.1%) facilities, respectively. In facilities that performed brachytherapy, the main reason why brachytherapy of the esophagus was not performed was high invasiveness (30.2%). Definitive-dose chemoradiotherapy with (≥50 Gy) tended to be used in patients with expected long-term survival. Conclusions Few facilities routinely considered brachytherapy for the treatment of dysphagia from esophageal cancer in Japan. Conversely, most facilities routinely considered external beam radiotherapy. In the future, it will be necessary to optimize external beam radiotherapy.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 3745
Author(s):  
Hélène Vellemans ◽  
Marc P. E. André

Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a lymphoid-type hematologic disease that is derived from B cells. The incidence of this lymphoid malignancy is around 2–3/100,000/year in the western world. Long-term remission rates are linked to a risk-adapted approach, which allows remission rates higher than 80%. The first-line treatment for advanced stage classical HL (cHL) widely used today is doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD) or escalated bleomycin, etoposide, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone (BEACOPPesc) chemotherapy. Randomized studies comparing these two regimens and a recently performed meta-analysis have demonstrated consistently better disease control with BEACOPPesc. However, this treatment is not the standard of care, as there is an excess of acute hematological toxicities and therapy-related myeloid neoplasms. Moreover, there is a recurrent controversy concerning the impact on overall survival with this regimen. More recently, new drugs such as brentuximab vedotin and checkpoint inhibitors have become available and have been evaluated in combination with doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (AVD) for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced cHL with the objective of tumor control improvement. There are still major debates with respect to first-line treatment of advanced cHL. The use of positron emission tomography-adapted strategies has allowed a reduction in the toxicity of chemotherapy regimens. Incorporation of new drugs into the treatment algorithms requires confirmation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Muñoz ◽  
Maxime Comtois-Bona ◽  
David Cortes ◽  
Cagla Eren Cimenci ◽  
Qiujiang Du ◽  
...  

AbstractThe severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) responsible for the COVID-19 global pandemic has infected over 25 million people worldwide and resulted in the death of millions. The COVID-19 pandemic has also resulted in a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) in many regions around the world, particularly in middle- and low-income countries. The shortages of PPE, such as N95 respirators, is something that will persist until an effective vaccine is made available. Thus, devices that while being easy to operate can also be rapidly deployed in health centers, and long-term residences without the need for major structural overhaul are instrumental to sustainably use N95 respirators. In this report, we present the design and validation of a decontamination device that combines UV-C & B irradiation with mild-temperature treatment. The device can decontaminate up to 20 masks in a cycle of < 30 min. The decontamination process did not damage or reduce the filtering capacity of the masks. Further, the efficacy of the device to eliminate microbes and viruses from the masks was also evaluated. The photothermal treatment of our device was capable of eradicating > 99.9999% of the bacteria and > 99.99% of the virus tested.


2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. E11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed E. Helal ◽  
Heba Abouzahra ◽  
Ahmed Abdelaziz Fayed ◽  
Tarek Rayan ◽  
Mahmoud Abbassy

Healthcare spending has become a grave concern to national budgets worldwide, and to a greater extent in low-income countries. Brain tumors are a serious disease that affects a significant percentage of the population, and thus proper allocation of healthcare provisions for these patients to achieve acceptable outcomes is a must.The authors reviewed patients undergoing craniotomy for tumor resection at their institution for the preceding 3 months. All the methods used for preoperative planning, intraoperative management, and postoperative care of these patients were documented. Compromises to limit spending were made at each stage to limit expenditure, including low-resolution MRI, sparse use of intraoperative monitoring and image guidance, and lack of dedicated postoperative neurocritical ICU.This study included a cohort of 193 patients. The average cost from diagnosis to discharge was $1795 per patient (costs are expressed in USD). On average, there was a mortality rate of 10.5% and a neurological morbidity rate of 14%, of whom only 82.2% improved on discharge or at follow-up. The average length of stay at the hospital for these patients was 9.09 days, with a surgical site infection rate of only 3.5%.The authors believe that despite the great number of financial limitations facing neurosurgical practice in low-income countries, surgery can still be performed with reasonable outcomes.


Blood ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 134 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 4112-4112
Author(s):  
Charline Moulin ◽  
Romain Morizot ◽  
Thomas Remen ◽  
Hélène Augé ◽  
Florian Bouclet ◽  
...  

Introduction: About 2 to 10% of patients (pts) diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) develop diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL, so-called Richter transformation (RT)) over long-term follow-up. The outcomes of pts with RT are variable and poorly understood and there is no consensus on the best therapeutic approach. The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical characteristics, outcomes and factors predictive of survival in a large series of RT from the French Innovative Leukemia Organization (FILO). Methods: Biopsy-confirmed RT (limited to DLBCL and excluding Hodgkin lymphoma) diagnosed from 2001 to 2018 were identified from eight FILO centers. Clinical and biological characteristics of CLL and RT at diagnosis, including cytogenetics, clonal relation with the pre-existing CLL, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) status, cell of origin (COO) analyzed by immunohistochemistry and RT score (Tsimberidou AM et al, J Clin Oncol, 2006) were analyzed as well as treatment and outcomes. Overall survivals (OS) were defined as time from CLL and RT diagnosis to death from any cause and analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Statistical analyses were performed with SAS version 9.4. Results: A total of 70 CLL pts who developed RT were identified. The median age at CLL diagnosis was 62 years old (range 35-82), and 50 (71.4 %) were male. The median time to transformation was 5.5 years (range 0 to 22 years), with 12 simultaneous diagnosis of CLL and RT. Prior to RT, 20 (29%) pts had not been treated for CLL, 50 received one (n=21) or more (n= 29) line of treatment ; 6 pts had received a novel agent (ibrutinib, idelalisib or venetoclax). The median age at RT diagnosis was 68 years old (range 42-88). All biopsies were centrally reviewed; 38/58 pts (66%) had elevated LDH (>1.5N) ; 35/65 pts (54 %) had bulky disease (≥ 5 cm); 10/54 (18.5%) pts had del(17p) or TP53 mutation ; 9/42 pts (21%) had a complex karyotype (at least 3 abnormalities). The CLL and RT were clonally related in 27/27 (100%) tested pts. COO by Hans algorithm was non germinal center B cell-like (GCB) in 26/28 pts (93%). EBV was positive or detected in 5/40 (12.5%) pts. The median of Ki67 positivity was 70% (range 30% to 100%). The RT score (based at RT diagnosis on ECOG performance status 2-4, LDH >1.5 x normal, platelets<100 x 109/L, tumor size >5 cm and >1 prior therapy for CLL) was : low risk in 17 pts (31%), low-intermediate risk in 10 pts (19%), high-intermediate risk in 14 pts (25%) and high risk in 14 pts (25%). The most common first-line treatment of RT was immunochemotherapy (n=57, 87%) including R-CHOP-like regimen (n=48, 73%). Autologous or allogeneic transplantation was performed for 7 pts (11%). Response to first-line treatment was complete or partial response in 26 pts (40%), and stable disease or progression in 39 pts (60%). After a median follow-up of 8 years, 51/64 pts (80%) have died. The main causes of death were progressive DLBCL (n=36, 71%), infection (n=8, 16%) or progressive CLL (n=2, 4%). The median OS of the cohort from CLL and RT diagnosis (Figure 1) were 7.8 years and 9.5 months, respectively. In univariate analysis, patients with TP53 disruption at CLL stage, low platelets count, elevated LDH, elevated beta2-microglobulin, high ECOG score, high RT score, EBV positivity and absence of response to first-line RT treatment had worse OS. The ECOG score, platelets count and TP53 disruption remain significant in multivariate Cox-regression. Last, we compared the clinical and biological parameters of two Richter groups defined as: (i) short-term survivors (<12 months, n = 34) and (ii) long-term survivors (>48 months, n = 18). Long survival was significantly associated with elevated platelets count, low LDH, low ECOG, low RT score and response to RT first-line treatment. Discussion: The clinical outcomes of RT patients is poor and novel treatment options are needed. However, a group of long-term survivors was identified, characterized by elevated platelets count, low LDH, low ECOG, low RT score and response to immunochemotherapy. Disclosures Leblond: Astra Zeneca: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Gilead: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Roche: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Abbvie: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Amgen: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau. Thieblemont:Roche: Honoraria, Research Funding; Gilead: Honoraria; Novartis: Honoraria; Kyte: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria; Cellectis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Cymbalista:Janssen: Honoraria; Gilead: Honoraria; AstraZeneca: Honoraria; Sunesis: Research Funding; Roche: Research Funding; Abbvie: Honoraria. Guièze:Abbvie: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria; Gilead: Honoraria; Roche: Honoraria. Broseus:Janssen: Honoraria; Gilead: Honoraria; Novartis: Research Funding. Feugier:gilead: Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; janssen: Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; abbvie: Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; roche: Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau.


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