Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0027627 (metastases)
 103,950 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

During a 5-year period, 588 consecutive patients with nonseminomatous testicular germ cell cancer were included by 16 hospitals into the Swedish-Norwegian Testicular Cancer Project (SWENOTECA). A total of 370 (63%) had early clinical stages (CS1, CS1Mk+ and CS2A), and 345 (93%) of these patients underwent pathological staging (PS) by retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND). The overall clinical staging accuracy was 75%, with no significant difference between hospitals with low, medium or high patient accrual rate. Addition of bipedal lymphography did not improve the clinical staging accuracy compared to evaluation of the retroperitoneum by CT alone. Tumor serum markers before and close monitoring of the levels after orchiectomy gave valuable information regarding risk of retroperitoneal metastases. After a median follow-up period of 5 years 30 (13.8%) of 217 patients with PS1 disease relapsed, only 3 of them later than 18 months from the RPLND. Short orchiectomy to RPLND time interval, vascular invasion and absence of teratoma elements in the primary tumour were significant predictors of relapse in PS1 cases according to multivariate analysis. Unilateral RPLND was not associated with higher relapse rate than a bilateral procedure, but significantly reduced the risk of dry ejaculation after RPLND. None out of 122 PS2 patients who received adjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy after RPLND relapsed, despite the fact that 37 of them had only undergone a unilateral RPLND. Repeated CT examinations and most routine blood tests except serum alpha foeto protein (AFP), beta subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) and lactate dehydrogenase (LD) may safely be omitted in the follow-up period for patients who have been pathologically staged with RPLND, provided that effective adjuvant chemotherapy has been given to the PS2 patients.
 ...
PMID:Early clinical stages of nonseminomatous testis cancer. Evaluation of the primary treatment and follow-up procedures of the SWENOTECA project. 165 24

We sit at a crossroads in the therapeutic treatment of patients with low-stage testicular cancer. The luxury of effective chemotherapy has allowed achievement of virtually 100% survival rates in patients with low-stage testicular cancer. The goal of urologists and oncologists in concert should be to minimize the long-term morbidity and to reduce the amount of therapy necessary to achieve these high survival rates. Patients with a low risk of lymphatic or disseminated metastases, such as those with low-stage tumors, without vascular invasion and with favorable histologic features (teratoma), are clearly candidates for observation protocols to be carried out in well-defined centers. It should be emphasized, however, that observation needs to be an active surveillance program for a minimum of 2 to 3 years after orchiectomy, with frequent chest roentgenography, tumor marker studies, and CT scanning. In the majority of patients with low-stage tumors, however, modified retroperitoneal lymph node dissection allows definitive staging, thus allowing treatment with a lesser amount of chemotherapy. Patients with bulky stage II disease require chemotherapy in hopes of avoiding the need for retroperitoneal lymph node dissection. In the group of patients with stage II disease with minimal retroperitoneal involvement (less than 3 cm in maximal diameter, stage IIA), approximately half of the patients can be treated by surgical approaches alone, although half will require postoperative chemotherapy. Testicular cancer at this time is one of the most successfully treated solid tumors. Although diagnostic tools are available, successful diagnosis still relies upon suspicion and physical findings. Staging techniques have improved but still have vast limitations, especially in patients with low-stage disease. By careful application of multimodal therapy, long-term survival and cure are likely in the majority of patients. Continued long-term observation is necessary, however, especially in patients with residual teratoma that has been resected. As we look to the 1990s, emphasis can be placed on finding less morbid treatments yet still maintaining the high success rates enjoyed in the treatment of this once nearly uniformly fatal tumor.
 ...
PMID:Surgical aspects in the treatment of patients with testicular cancer. 166 37

Testicular cancer is an important malignancy, not only because it has high curative potential with surgical resection (in local disease) and chemotherapy (in metastatic disease), but also because it serves as a pre-eminent example of the successful linkage between preclinical and clinical research experience. Improvements in salvage therapy have resulted in important advances in first-line therapy in germ cell cancer. Testicular cancer remains one of the few solid tumors in which a curative approach may be taken in patients who are not cured with initial induction chemotherapy. Furthermore, it remains as a fertile testing ground for future drug development and other innovative treatment approaches.
 ...
PMID:Salvage therapy in recurrent germ cell cancer. 166 40

Efforts to diminish the overall morbidity and mortality of malignancy have required a variety of strategies and a balanced national research agenda. The design of curative regimens against leukemia, lymphomas, testis cancer, and childhood malignancies is a tribute to the interactions between laboratory and clinical scientists. Laboratory models illustrated the importance of dose and the need for combinations to avoid the emergence of drug resistance in heterogeneous tumors. In addressing the incurability of common epithelial cancers in adults once disseminated, again laboratory models suggested that regimens which produced responses in advanced disease might be curative in patients with micro-metastases. Such proved to be the case in adjuvant therapy for breast cancer involving lymph nodes and for osteogenic sarcoma. Recent studies have extended this strategy to less advanced breast cancer and to locally advanced colon cancer. Lung cancer has required a different strategy. A coalition has developed to support the strongest possible public position against smoking. For the first time lung cancer incidence has leveled off in white males. Women and minorities continue to be a major target for smoking cessation programs. While large randomized trials are expensive (and to some scientists, unexciting), they are our most reliable means of detecting treatment differences of 10 to 15%. Because lung, breast, and colon cancer kill almost 250,000 Americans each year, such "small" differences represent thousands of Americans. There are also a number of interesting current studies that may impact in the longer term on the care of patients with cancer. Research of three different groups of investigators has recently converged. Over the past 3 decades several groups of basic laboratory investigators had been studying and cloning hematopoietic growth factors. Large randomized trials now confirm that myelosuppression after intensive chemotherapy can be substantially ameliorated, reducing infections and decreasing hospital days, risks, and costs. Another cohort of clinical pharmacologists and clinicians were studying bone marrow transplantation, developing combinations of agents that can be given at high dose to overcome resistance, albeit with considerable toxicity. Other groups in blood banks and those interested in the regulation of hematopoiesis recognized that early hematopoietic progenitor cells circulate in the peripheral blood. Their number were increased after certain chemotherapy regimens, by growth factors and most remarkably, with growth factors given after chemotherapy. Patients supported with peripheral blood progenitor cells reengraft both platelets and granulocytes more rapidly than those given marrow, in the time frame of recovery after standard doses of chemotherapy (i.e., 21 days).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
 ...
PMID:New developments in clinical oncology: the interdependence of bench and bedside. 167 75

Between 1981 and 1986, 279 consecutive patients with clinical stage I (CS1) nonseminomatous germ cell tumors (NSGCT) of the testis underwent pathological staging (PS) with retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy (RPLND). Patients with retroperitoneal metastases (PS2) received adjuvant chemotherapy. The median follow-up time after RPLND was 50 months (range, 30 to 90). Clinical and histopathologic features were registered prospectively and analyzed for association with risk of having PS2, relapse despite pathological stage 1 (PS1) or the combined risk of either event, metastatic disease (MET). Seventy-five (26.9%) of the patients had PS2 disease, and 30 (14.7%) of the 204 PS1 patients relapsed, indicating that at least 105 (37.6%) of this CS1 population had subclinical MET at the time of orchiectomy. Four (1.4%) of the 279 CS1 patients died of testicular cancer. Multivariate analyses showed several variables to be significantly associated with outcome for the CS1 patients; vascular invasion in primary tumor and normal preorchiectomy serum alpha-fetoprotein (Pre-AFP) level indicated PS2 disease. If Pre-AFP was excluded from the model, the absence of teratoma or yolk sac elements in the primary tumor became significant predictors of PS2. Vascular invasion, absence of teratoma, and a short interval between orchiectomy and RPLND indicated increased risk of relapse in PS1 patients. Vascular invasion, normal Pre-AFP, absence of teratoma elements, and a short orchiectomy to RPLND interval were predictive of MET. Our results indicate that prognostic factors useful for stratification of CS1 patients with NSGCT to different treatment options may be established.
 ...
PMID:Prognostic factors in clinical stage I nonseminomatous germ cell tumors of the testis: multivariate analysis of a prospective multicenter study. Swedish-Norwegian Testicular Cancer Group. 168 73

155 patients with metastatic non-seminomatous testicular cancer were treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy which in most cases was combined with surgery. The 5 year crude survival was 90% for all patients (98 patients with small volume disease: 97%; 32 patients with large volume disease: 91%; 25 patients with very large volume disease: 64%). High pre-chemotherapy serum tumour marker levels (AFP greater than 500 micrograms/l; and/or HCG greater than 1000 U/l) decreased the survival rates in all groups. Only 4 of 17 relapsing patients were rendered tumour-free by salvage chemotherapy. In a multivariate analysis, a pre-chemotherapy alpha-foetoprotein (AFP) level greater than 500 micrograms/l was associated with poor survival as was the presence of a retroperitoneal tumour greater than 10 cm, lung metastases greater than 3 cm and/or extrapulmonary hematogenous metastases. It is concluded that easily assessable clinical pre-treatment variables can be used to define high risk or low risk patients with metastatic testicular cancer. Treatment intensity should be adjusted in accordance to such prognostic factors.
 ...
PMID:Prognosis in patients with metastatic non-seminomatous testicular cancer. 169 3

Fertility and Leydig cell function were investigated in 31 patients previously treated for nonseminomatous testicular cancer. Twenty-two patients with metastatic cancer had received cisplatin-based chemotherapy, and the median follow-up was 64 months (range, 42 to 100 months). Nine patients without metastases were treated with orchiectomy alone, and follow-up in this group was a median of 61 months (range, 40 to 77 months). None of the patients have relapsed and retroperitoneal lymph node dissection was not performed in any patient. Both the concentration of spermatozoa and the volume of the remaining testis are significantly reduced in patients who had previously received chemotherapy when compared with patients treated with orchiectomy alone (P less than .05). There were no significant differences between groups when comparing morphology, motility, and penetration of the spermatozoa. Subclinical Leydig cell dysfunction with normal testosterone and elevated luteinizing hormone (LH) was observed in one patient (11%) treated with orchiectomy alone, while 59% of the patients who had received chemotherapy had elevated LH (P less than .05). We conclude that cisplatin-based chemotherapy leads to a persistent impairment of fertility and Leydig cell function in the majority of patients with testicular cancer.
 ...
PMID:Long-term fertility and Leydig cell function in patients treated for germ cell cancer with cisplatin, vinblastine, and bleomycin versus surveillance. 169 35

Since 1985 44 consecutive patients with testicular cancer have been treated with a modified BEP regimen. 70% had metastatic disease and 30% received adjuvant therapy. After mean follow-up of 26 (8-56) months, 91% of patients are alive and all are in remission. Chemotherapy-related side effects were alopecia (100%), myelosuppression (100%), nausea/vomiting (89%) and fever (66%). Patients reported nausea has been rare. It is concluded that BEP chemotherapy is a highly effective treatment which secures complete remission or cure even in patients with advanced metastatic disease. In retrospect the patients considered the treatment worthwhile despite the stress involved.
 ...
PMID:[BEP-chemotherapy in patients with testicular tumors--is it worthwhile?]. 170 33

Between 1981 and 1986, 200 consecutive patients with metastatic nonseminomatous testicular cancer were entered into the Swedish Norwegian Testicular Cancer (SWENOTECA) project from 14 hospitals. The treatment plan was four chemotherapy cycles (cisplatin, vinblastine, and bleomycin) followed by surgical resection of residual tumor masses. After a median observation time of 75 months, the overall 5-year survival rate was 82%. In a univariate analysis, the following parameters influenced the prognosis significantly: the extent of the disease (Medical Research Council [MRC] grouping); the prechemotherapy levels of serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH); the patients' age; the presence of extrapulmonary hematogeneous metastases; and/or particularly large lymph node metastases. Patients fared better when more than 3 weeks elapsed between orchiectomy and start of chemotherapy as compared with those who were treated within this interval. The place of treatment (a large oncology unit v smaller units) also represented a significant prognostic factor for patients with large-volume (LV) and very-large-volume (VLV) disease combined. Multivariate analysis (Cox regression proportional hazards model) performed in all 193 assessable patients showed the following adverse prognostic factors: high-volume metastatic burden, age older than 35 years, prechemotherapy AFP greater than 500 micrograms/L and/or HCG greater than 1,000 U/L, and an interval between orchiectomy and start of chemotherapy of less than 3 weeks. The place of treatment also significantly influenced the final outcome. If patients with LV and VLV disease were combined, the presence of two of the following risk factors represented an additional prognostic factor: AFP greater than 1,000 micrograms/L, HCG greater than 10,000 U/L, liver metastases, brain metastases, bone metastases, retroperitoneal tumor greater than or equal to 10 cm, and mediastinal tumor greater than or equal to 5 cm.
 ...
PMID:Prognostic factors in unselected patients with nonseminomatous metastatic testicular cancer: a multicenter experience. 170 57

The Testicular Cancer Center Intergroup Study entered surgically staged patients with nonseminomatous tumor and metastases limited to the regional lymph nodes into a previously reported cooperative trial of immediate versus delayed therapy for positive retroperitoneal node disease. Patients with negative nodes (stage I) were placed in an observation registry with specified treatment strategy upon relapse. Of 264 stage I cancer patients 27 (10.2%) had recurrence: 5 of these 27 patients died after recurrence of the testicular malignancies, while 4 other nontumor-related deaths have occurred. Pre-lymphadenectomy staging characteristics observed to predict significantly node positivity are the results of radiological examinations, presence of tumor invasion, vascular invasion and tumor histology. In a multiple logistic regression analysis with these variables, misclassification still occurs in more than a fourth of the patients. Future refinements in diagnosis may allow for better prediction of these patients at risk to have positive lymph nodes and ultimately recurrence. Presently, if assessment of nodal involvement is the objective, noninvasive procedures are not an adequate substitute for surgical staging with modified lymphadenectomy.
 ...
PMID:Staging relationships and outcome in early stage testicular cancer: a report from the Testicular Cancer Intergroup Study. 140 56


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>