Conventional chemotherapy has failed to substantially prolong survival for patients with advanced follicular lymphoma. To improve outcomes, the German Low-Grade Lymphoma Study Group (GLSG) initiated a randomized trial to compare the effect of potentially curative myeloablative radiochemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) with interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) maintenance...

In recent years the incidence of gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) tumors has been rapidly increasing. Many trials have investigated the role of preoperative radiochemotherapy for this specific subgroup. In past, GEJ tumors were sometimes considered either esophageal or gastric cancer, due to their anatomical location. Purpose of this paper is to elucidate the benefit of radiotherapy in combinati...

Primary smooth muscle tumors of the thyroid gland are extremely rare neoplasms. Due to their rarity, clinical case studies concerning management are lacking. According to a literature review, only 19 cases of primary thyroid leiomyosarcomas (TLs) have been reported. In the majority of patients, the prognosis is poor since adjuvant radiochemotherapy is ineffective on local recurrence and on long...

Preoperative radiochemotherapy and total mesorectal excision surgery is a recommended standard therapy for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer. However, some subgroups of patients benefit more than others from this approach. In order to avoid long-term complications of radiation and chemotherapy, efforts are being made to subdivide T3N0 stage using advanced imaging techniques, and to a...

Over the last few years, taking advantage of the linear kinetics of the tumor growth during the steady-state phase, tumor diameter-based rather than tumor volume-based models have been developed for the phenomenological modeling of tumor growth. In this study, we propose a new tumor diameter growth model characterizing early, late and steady-state treatment effects. Model parameters consist of ...

We have previously reported that polaprezinc in sodium alginate suspension (P-AG) inhibited the incidence of oral mucositis induced by radiochemotherapy in patients with head and neck cancer. The present study was designed to investigate whether P-AG prevents oral mucositis in all patients (36 patients) with hematological malignancy receiving high-dose chemotherapy and radiotherapy followed by ...

The mevalonate pathway produces many critical substances in cells, including sterols essential for membrane structure and isoprenoids vital to the function of many membrane proteins. 3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase is a rate-limiting enzyme in the mevalonate pathway. Because cholesterol is a product of this pathway, HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) are used to tr...

The aim of this study was to explore possible associations between social and socioeconomic status and ongoing treatment among patients with head and neck cancer. Material and methods Data from 159 examined patients treated with head and neck cancer during the period from 2011 to 2012 were explored. A logistic regression analysis was used to assess association of social status (living with so...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the prevalence of hearing loss after concomitant radiochemotherapy in patients enrolled in a larynx preservation protocol. DESIGN Prospective study. SETTING Consecutive patients treated in a tertiary cancer center hospital between 2001 and 2002. PATIENTS Eligible subjects included patients prospectively enrolled in an organ preservation protocol based on concomita...

PURPOSE Patients with locally advanced rectal carcinoma are at risk for both local recurrence and distant metastases. We demonstrated the efficacy of preoperative hyperfractionated accelerated radiotherapy (HART). In this Phase I trial, we aimed at introducing chemotherapy early in the treatment course with both intrinsic antitumor activity and a radiosensitizer effect. METHODS AND MATERIALS ...