Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0018681 (headache)
 56,091 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Ondansetron is a selective 5-HT3 antagonist with significant antiemetic properties in patients receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy. Patients who had suffered severe vomiting on carboplatin alone (23 patients with ovarian carcinoma) or in combination (two patients with testicular cancer) despite intensive antiemetic regimens were treated with ondansetron, given as 8 mg immediately prior to carboplatin followed by 8 mg orally, 8 hourly for 5 days. Twenty-five patients received 58 courses of ondansetron. In the first 24 h after the first course of chemotherapy with ondansetron, 17 patients (68%) experienced no vomiting, five patients (20%) had almost complete control and the other three patients had partial control. During the subsequent 4 days slightly lesser control was achieved. Nausea was similarly controlled in most patients. Twenty-two patients stated a preference for ondansetron with future chemotherapy. Fourteen patients received additional chemotherapy with ondansetron and in only three patients did the efficacy of therapy lessen. Toxicity was mild and transient with headache and constipation predominant. No extrapyramidal reaction was seen. Sedation was absent. Ondansetron is highly effective in refractory vomiting associated with carboplatin chemotherapy. It may be particularly beneficial when an extrapyramidal reaction has occurred on previous antiemetics and when sedation is unacceptable.
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PMID:Reduction of carboplatin induced emesis by ondansetron. 182 54

Thirty four patients who were receiving carboplatin 400 mg/m2 for advanced epithelial ovarian cancer were treated with ondansetron antiemetic prophylaxis. Ondansetron was given as 4 mg oral +4 mg iv 30 minutes prior to carboplatin followed by 8 mg oral tds for 5 days. Of the evaluable patients complete or major control of emesis on day one was achieved in 94% of previously untreated patients and 81% of patients refractory to conventional antiemetic therapy. For the 5 day period as a whole 88% of untreated patients and 69% of those with refractory emesis reported complete or major control of nausea and vomiting. Fifteen patients noted no side effects with mild headache (30%) and constipation (21%) the most frequent problems in the remainder. Ondansetron is effective antiemetic prophylaxis for carboplatin chemotherapy and should allow the majority of these patients to be managed on an out-patient basis.
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PMID:A phase II study of ondansetron as antiemetic prophylaxis in patients receiving carboplatin for advanced ovarian cancer. The North Thames Ovary Group. 183 30

Apart from choriocarcinoma, involvement of the central nervous system (CNS) by gynecologic malignancy is rare. A 10-year retrospective review at the University of Washington Medical Center (Seattle, WA) and Swedish Hospital and Medical Center Tumor Registry (Seattle, WA) identified 14 patients with cerebral metastases from ovarian carcinoma. Median age at diagnosis of cerebral metastases was 52.5 years. Median interval from the diagnosis of ovarian carcinoma to the diagnosis of CNS metastases was 14.5 months. Seven patients had received cisplatin therapy before CNS relapse. Seven patients underwent second-look procedures before developing CNS metastases; in three, results were negative. Eight patients had evidence of extraperitoneal spread to other sites at the time of CNS relapse. Clinical manifestations included motor weakness, seizures, headache, confusion, and speech disturbance. All lesions were contrast enhancing on computed tomography (CT) scans and were located in the cerebral hemispheres. Nine patients had single lesions, five of whom underwent surgical resection of the lesion with histologic confirmation of metastases from the primary site. Median survival was 2 months in patients receiving radiation therapy alone and 17 months in patients who received surgery and radiation. Median survival of the entire series was 3 months. The presence of multiple cerebral metastases or evidence of extraperitoneal spread elsewhere in the body was adversely associated with survival. The prognosis of patients with cerebral metastases from ovarian carcinoma appears poor. However, early diagnosis by routine CT scanning followed by surgical resection and radiation may improve overall survival in a select group of patients.
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PMID:Cerebral metastases from ovarian carcinoma. 200 40

Recombinant leukocyte alpha interferon (rIFN-alpha A; Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc) was administered to 15 patients with recurrent or persistent ovarian carcinoma. All patients had been previously treated with surgery and combination chemotherapy including cyclophosphamide (15 patients), doxorubicin (14), and cisplatin (14). Three patient had also previously undergone radiation therapy. At the start of therapy the largest tumor size was less than or equal to 2 cm in four patients and greater than 2 cm in 11. Interferon was administered in three times weekly for 8 weeks at a dose of 20 X 10(6) units/m2, with average drug levels of 2267 pg/ml 6 hours after im injection. In three patients (20%), the dose had to be reduced by 50% because of drug toxicity. Side effects included fever (greater than 101 degrees F) in 12 patients, fatigue in ten, headache in two, diarrhea in two, and reversible myelosuppression in five. Of the 15 patients, one had mixed response lasting 12 weeks, two had stable disease of 8 weeks' duration, and 12 had disease progression.
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PMID:Recombinant leukocyte alpha interferon in advanced ovarian carcinoma. 401 97

The toxicity of intravenously administered Corynebacterium parvum was observed in 14 patients with stage II melanoma and in 14 patients with advanced ovarian carcinoma. Those with melanoma were rendered disease-free by surgery prior to treatment. The ovarian cancer patients had failed chemotherapy with alkylating agents and were receiving C. parvum prior to chemotherapy as part of an immunochemotherapy trial. Both clinical and laboratory parameters were observed. The mean daily C. parvum dose for melanoma patients was 2.03 mg/m2 and for ovarian carcinoma patients 2.02 mg/m2. The most important clinical toxic effects noted were fever, chills, blood pressure changes, headache, nausea, vomiting and diaphoresis. Laboratory toxicity was mild, with small decreases in hemoglobin levels, white blood cell counts and uric acid and albumin concentrations occurring in some patients. Serum bilirubin and SGOT levels tended to rise. In addition to determining the frequency of clinical toxic effects by treatment course, consideration was also given to frequency per treatment day, correlation of the occurrence of different toxicities in the same patient, time of onset of each toxicity and, for vital signs, to intensity of change and duration. In this analysis no major differences in toxicity were observed when C. parvum was given to the two patient groups.
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PMID:Corynebacterium parvum toxicity in patients with limited and advanced malignancy. 653 97

Recombinant human interleukin-6 (IL-6) has previously been shown to increase platelet counts in normal and sublethally irradiated mice, dogs, and primates. To assess its tolerance and efficacy in clinical use, we performed a randomized phase Ib study in patients with ovarian carcinoma. IL-6 was administered during an initial 7-day cycle before any chemotherapy. Beginning 7 days later, six cycles of chemotherapy containing carboplatin were administered every 3 weeks. During chemotherapy cycles 2 to 6, IL-6 was administered from day 4 through day 17 at escalating dose levels from 0.5 to 10 micrograms/kg/d. At each level, three patients received IL-6 and one patient received a placebo. During the prechemotherapy cycle of IL-6, a dose-dependent increase in platelet count was observed from day 12 to 15 and was maximal on day 15 (r = .77; P < .01). The median ploidy of bone marrow megakaryocytes shifted from 16 N to 32 N after 7 days of the initial prechemotherapy IL-6 administration. Dose-dependent increases in C-reactive protein (CRP) and fibrinogen levels were observed on day 8 (P < .0001 for both). A significant decrease in hemoglobin level occured rapidly after initiation of IL-6 therapy and was maximal on day 8 (P < .001). When given after chemotherapy, IL-6 accelerated platelet recovery after chemotherapy cycles 2 to 6. Postponements of scheduled chemotherapy due to thrombocytopenia were less frequent in patients treated with IL-6. No difference in either neutrophils or peripheral blood progenitor assays was observed during or after IL-6 treatment. Toxicity of IL-6 appeared mild and was not dose-limiting up to 10 micrograms/kg/d. Systemic symptoms such as fever, headache, and myalgia were the main side effects and were easily relieved by acetaminophen administration. No biologic toxicity was observed. The data indicate that IL-6 is a well-tolerated cytokine and capable of accelerating platelet recovery in patients receiving chemotherapy.
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PMID:Thrombopoietic effects and toxicity of interleukin-6 in patients with ovarian cancer before and after chemotherapy: a multicentric placebo-controlled, randomized phase Ib study. 753 10

Central nervous system metastases from epithelial ovarian carcinoma are uncommon. A retrospective study was undertaken to see if there was a difference in brain metastases from ovarian cancer in our patient population as compared to the literature. A retrospective study of all patients diagnosed with brain metastases from epithelial ovarian carcinoma at two institutions was performed. All patients were analyzed for stage, grade, type of chemotherapy, sites of recurrence, time to relapse, and survival after relapse. The results were compared to a compilation of reported cases from the literature. Sixteen patients with central nervous system metastases of 479 patients treated for ovarian carcinoma between January 1, 1979 and December 31, 1992 were identified. All 16 patients were diagnosed with serous cystadenocarcinoma, and all were either stage III or IV on presentation. Fifteen of the 16 patients had grade 2 or 3 disease. Histologic grade, at the time of diagnosis, did not influence survival after central nervous system recurrence; however, stage at original diagnosis did influence survival after brain metastases (P < 0.001). Eight of 11 patients undergoing second-look laparotomy had no evidence of disease. The most common presenting symptom of central nervous system disease was a slowly worsening headache of several weeks duration. The median time from original diagnosis to diagnosis of central nervous system disease was 19 months with a median survival after diagnosis of central nervous system disease of 3 months. The incidence of brain metastases in patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma in our institutions was 3.3%. In conclusion, our incidence of brain metastases of 3.3% was not statistically significant from other reported rates. Patients who underwent radiation therapy with either craniotomy or chemotherapy for their brain metastases fared better than those who received radiation alone.
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PMID:Brain metastases in epithelial ovarian carcinoma. 772 43

A 61-year-old woman was treated with cisplatin and etoposide for ovarian carcinoma. After the second course of chemotherapy she developed acute encephalopathy which manifested itself as headache, fever, a partial seizure, confusion, and mild right hemiparesis, although no evidence of a central nervous system infection was found. Ten days after the onset of neurological symptoms, she experienced a sudden loss of vision in both eyes. Neurological findings were compatible with cortical blindness. Neurological symptoms subsided and visual acuity completely returned over the next months. The total cumulative dose of cisplatin was 325 mg/m2. She died of aspiration pneumonia on the 43rd day. Postmortem examination revealed severe nerve cell loss, gliosis and spongy changes in the bilateral occipital cortex including visual field, and slight to moderate demyelination in the subcortical white matter of the occipital cortex, Goll's tract, and dorsal root ganglia. As far as we know this encephalopathy is the second report in which the neuropathological changes associated with cisplatin therapy have been demonstrated by autopsy findings. The first was a case report of leukoencephalopathy, which differed significantly from our case in the primary lesions of the brain. We measured the platinum level in several parts of the cerebrum and cerebellum, optic nerve, spinal cord, and cauda equina by using an atomic absorption spectrophotometric technique. Platinum was detected in the bilateral occipital cortex, spinal cord, and cauda equina. These results were consistent with the distribution of pathological lesions. The mechanism of cisplatin-induced focal encephalopathy remains speculative.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:[Clinicopathological report of cisplatin encephalopathy]. 778 Dec 18

A large study of tumors of low malignant potential confirmed the favorable survival in this group of patients compared to invasive epithelial ovarian tumors. Only 8% of patients died with recurrent disease after surgery. Patients with stage IA borderline tumors with mucinous histology tended to recur later and carried a poorer prognosis than patients with serous histology and similar stage. The group at highest risk for relapse were age greater than 70, stage II or III tumors, and histology other than serous. Long-term survival in this group was less than 75%. This high-risk group of patients should be targeted for innovative adjuvant treatment strategies. This year several well-designed studies with large sample sizes showed DNA ploidy to be an important new independent prognostic factor in stage I ovarian carcinoma. In patients with well-differentiated early stage ovarian cancer, DNA flow cytometric analysis may indicate subgroups with less favorable prognostic characteristics. This method of analysis may be beneficial in determining the need for additional treatments after surgery for early stage ovarian carcinoma. Recommendations for the definitive management of early stage ovarian cancer awaits completion of current GOG and European randomized prospective studies. Paclitaxel given in combination with platinum-containing agents is an intense area of research for treatment of advanced stage disease. Early data from a prospective randomized trial of patients with advanced ovarian cancer showed a higher response rate and longer disease-free survival in patients treated with paclitaxel and cisplatin compared to a standard regimen of cyclophosphamide and cisplatin. The impact of this treatment on long-term survival awaits maturation of data. Preliminary results evaluating G-CSF in combination with paclitaxel and cisplatin for dose escalation was reported. Paclitaxel, 250 mg/m2, and cisplatin, 75 mg/m2, were the maximally tolerated doses, with peripheral neuropathy or myalgias the dose limiting toxicities. Further studies are now underway to test the effect of dose-response with escalation therapies and to determine the optimal dose and schedule for the management of patients with advanced ovarian cancer. IL-3 significantly ameliorated neutropenia but did not prevent cumulative platelet toxicity in a regimen utilizing high-dose carboplatin. This mild improvement in myelosuppression was obtained at the cost of significant toxicity. Nausea, vomiting, malaise, bone pain, headache, fever, chills and facial flushing were frequent. Intraperitoneal chemotherapy was tested as a means of consolidation treatment for patients after having a negative second-look laparotomy. These treatments were shown to be feasible; however, prospective randomized trials will be necessary to determine a benefit over operative therapy alone. Several studies addressed to problem of residual disease after primary surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy. A large phase II study conducted by the GOG confirmed the activity of salvage cisplatin-based intraperitoneal chemotherapy in patients with small-volume residual ovarian cancer with favorable pretreatment characteristics. Whether intraperitoneal platinum-based therapy represents an advantage over systemic platinum therapy is being addressed in a prospective SWOG study. The use of six additional cycles of CAP for treatment of residual disease after primary treatment of surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy did not significantly improve complete pathological response and survival. Prolonged duration of chemotherapy above six cycles is not likely to impact treatment for residual disease. A regimen of high dose carboplatin was compared to whole abdominal radiotherapy for treatment of residual disease after initial chemotherapy. There was no difference in survival or disease-free survival between treatments.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)
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PMID:Gynecological malignancies. 863 1

Meningeal metastasis is rare in the clinical course of ovarian carcinoma, and its prognosis is poor. Meningeal dissemination of carcinoma is usually treated by intrathecal administration of methotrexate and total brain irradiation, although these treatments are usually ineffective. We experienced a case of meningeal relapse from ovarian carcinoma resistant to multiple antineoplastic agents in a 64-year-old woman who was treated with eight different chemotherapy regimens after her initial operation 7 years previously. Intrathecal administrations of methotrexate or cisplatin with dexamethasone were not effective. Fifty-Gy whole cranial irradiation inhibited increases in serum carbohydrate antigen (CA) 125 levels and further tumor growth. Adjuvant chemotherapy was required to alleviate frequent headaches and to decrease serum CA125 level and tumor size. Intravenous administration of 45 mg paclitaxel and 35 mg cisplatin, and oral administration of 50 mg etoposide were carried out for 5 days. This treatment was repeated every 3 weeks. After four courses of treatment, meningeal carcinomatosis was not detectable on computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. The patient's serum levels of CA125 rapidly fell to beneath normal limits and remained normal. She is still alive and clinically free of recurrence 4 months after the last cycle of chemotherapy. As well as reporting our experience with this case, we also present a review of the literature on meningeal carcinomatosis from ovarian cancer.
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PMID:Meningeal carcinomatosis from an ovarian primary with complete response to adjuvant chemotherapy after cranial irradiation. 1170 87


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