Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0035412 (rhabdomyosarcoma)
 6,156 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Transient or permanent paraplegia after the use of intrathecal (IT) methotrexate (MTX) or cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) for treatment or prophylaxis of patients with meningeal leukemia is an unusual complication, with an incidence of less than 3% among such patients. Only 15 cases involving IT MTX have been documented and even fewer with IT Ara-C. Three patients were studied who developed permanent or ascending myelopathy from treatment of their leukemia or rhabdomyosarcoma with IT chemotherapy. The patients' ages ranged from 7 to 62 years. Two of the three patients had electromyographic examinations. These revealed a primary motor neuron degeneration or a polyradiculopathy, superimposed on a mild axonal peripheral neuropathy associated with vincristine therapy. This is consistent with other electromyographic studies. Two of the patients showed an elevation of the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) protein before development of paraplegia; one also showed a rise in myelin basic protein associated with his myelopathy. Neuropathologic findings suggest demyelination as the primary process leading to myelopathy. Increasing evidence has shown that total CSF protein, or more specifically, the myelin basic protein, may be elevated before development of paraplegia. Routine serial testing of the CSF for total protein could be used as a screening test during therapy.
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PMID:Paraplegia and quadriplegia after intrathecal chemotherapy. 321 64

A series of 18 patients with odontoid fractures due to metastatic cancer were treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center between 1974--1980. The primary source of cancer was breast (12 cases), lung (two cases), nasopharynx (one case), multiple myeloma (one case), colon (one case), and rhabdomyosarcoma (one case). The clinical features consisted of severe neck pain and neck stiffness in 17 patients; signs of cord compression were noted in only four patients. Tomography and computerized tomography were useful in identifying both the osseous and soft-tissue involvement by tumor. Initial treatment in all patients except those with myelopathy consisted of high-dose steroids, and immobilization in a hard collar. Ten patients were treated with radiation therapy alone; six patients underwent surgical fusion (four before and two after radiation therapy); and two patients died before completion of treatment. Conservatively treated patients were allowed to walk with the support of only a collar following radiation therapy. We believe that the initial management of patients with odontoid fractures secondary to cancer should be high-dose steroids and radiation therapy, unless displacement is marked. Assessment for surgical fusion should be made following radiation therapy, since conservative treatment may suffice in most patients. Early recognition is important so that treatment can be instituted before C1--2 subluxation becomes severe.
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PMID:Treatment of odontoid fractures in cancer patients. 745 32