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Biomedical subjects

C G Wathen

Publications and source records attributed to C G Wathen.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Lung cancer in young patients.

During 1981-1986 the Edinburgh Lung Cancer Group prespectively registered 3560 new patients with lung cancer of whom only 48 (1.3%) were aged less than 45 years. When compared with 3512 older patients aged more than 45 years, a similar proportion of young patients were female (17/48; 35% vs. 28% of the older patients) and had equally advanced disease (30/48; 62% vs. 58% in stage III). Slightly more young patients were in better Karnofsky performance status groups (28/48; 59% vs. 45%, score > 80) and duration of symptoms was considerably shorter (median 45 vs. 93 days); only three of the younger patients were non-smokers. A pathological diagnosis was obtained more often in young patients (47/48; 98% vs. 81%). The commonest cell type was small cell (16/48; 34% vs. 24%) with 10/48 adenocarcinoma (20% vs. 13%) and less squamous carcinoma (11/48; 23% vs. 48%). Although only 12/48 young patients (25% vs. 19%) underwent surgical resection, six of these were still alive after 5 years (50% vs. 30% in older patients). More young patients received chemotherapy either alone (14) or combined with radiotherapy (6)--42% vs. 16% in older patients. There were no long-term survivors and the median survival was 8 months in 13 patients with small cell and only 4 months in seven with non-small cell carcinoma.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1992

Pathological assessment of mediastinal lymph nodes in lung cancer: implications for non-invasive mediastinal staging.

BACKGROUND: The use of computed tomography in mediastinal staging of lung cancer relies on the premiss that malignant lymph nodes are larger than benign ones. This hypothesis was tested by linking node size and presence or absence of malignancy and looking at factors possibly influencing the size of benign nodes. METHODS: All accessible mediastinal lymph nodes were taken from 56 consecutive patients with lung cancer who underwent thoracotomy. Nodes were measured and histologically examined. Resected cancer bearing lung from 44 of these patients was assessed for degree of acute and chronic inflammation. RESULTS: Lymph node size was not significantly related to the presence of metastatic disease, 58% of malignant and 43% of benign lymph nodes measuring over 15 mm. Similarly, there was no statistically significant relation between size of lymph nodes and the likelihood of malignancy, 20% of lymph nodes of 10 mm or more but also 15% of those less than 10 mm being malignant. Thresholds of 15 and 20 mm showed similar results. The maximum size of benign lymph nodes was significantly greater in those patients with histological evidence of acute pulmonary inflammation than in those without. CONCLUSIONS: The study shows that in patients with lung cancer (1) malignant mediastinal lymph nodes are not larger than benign nodes; (2) small mediastinal lymph nodes are not infrequently malignant; and (3) benign adenopathy is more common in patients with acute pulmonary inflammation.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1992

Factors affecting asthma mortality in Scotland.

Asthma mortality in the age group 5-44 years appeared to be stable in Scotland in both males and females at a rate of approximately 1.0 per 100,000 during the period 1970-1988 despite an increase in the hospital discharge rate for asthma of approximately 4% per annum during that period. Two-thirds of these deaths occurred outside hospital. There was evidence of a seasonal variation in asthma deaths with a peak mortality occurring in August, four to six weeks after the peak in total pollen counts. Monthly variation in atmospheric pollution did not appear to account for the variation in asthma mortality. It is suggested that the seasonal variation in asthma mortality provides a basis for further studies to elucidate the factors contributing to these deaths.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Central and peripheral haemodynamic responses to felodipine in congestive heart failure.

Using non-invasive radionuclide techniques, we studied the arterial and venous effects of 0.1 mg/kg oral felodipine in 12 men with heart failure due to ischaemic heart disease aged 37-72 y. All were in New York Heart Association Class II or III, required frusemide 40-120 mg daily and were clinically stable. Felodipine produced significant falls in blood pressure (-19%) and systemic vascular resistance (-39%) with increases in cardiac index (+34%), heart rate (+12%) and left ventricular ejection fraction (from 0.25 to 0.32). Peripheral venous volume fell by 10.6% after felodipine indicating venoconstriction rather than venodilatation and may be caused by an acute sympathetic reflex associated with the increase in heart rate. Our results confirm that felodipine is an arterial vasodilator. The previously observed changes in cardiac filling pressures may simply represent improved ventricular function as a consequence of reduced afterload, not venodilatation.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Glutathione S-transferase mu locus: use of genotyping and phenotyping assays to assess association with lung cancer susceptibility.

In mammals, the cytosolic glutathione S-transferases (GSTs; EC 2.5.1.18) are a supergene family comprised of four multigene families, named alpha, mu, pi and theta. In man, within the mu class gene family there is a gene (the GSTmu 1 locus) that is polymorphic and is only expressed in 50-55% of individuals. It has previously been reported, using trans-stilbene oxide (tSBO) as a specific substrate for the expressed phenotype, that smokers with the null phenotype had a greater susceptibility to lung cancer. In a subsequent study, it was shown that on Southern blot analyses of human DNAs using a GSTmu 1 cDNA probe a DNA fragment was absent in certain individuals. The absence of this band correlated with the tSBO null phenotype. In the present work, DNA clones derived from GST mu class genomic sequences were used as probes in Southern blot analyses and confirmed the correlation between the lack of a DNA fragment and the null phenotype; moreover in this case, using radioimmunoassay for the GST mu protein, these probes were then used in a genotyping assay to investigate further the association of GSTmu 1 polymorphism with susceptibility to lung cancer. It was found that in a control group of 225 individuals, of unknown smoking history, 42% lacked the restriction fragment and were homozygous null, and therefore 58% were either heterozygous or were homozygous normal. Among 228 lung cancer patients, which included all tumour types, a similar distribution occurred, namely 43% were homozygous and 57% were heterozygous or homozygous normal. If, however, the tumours were analysed by tumour type a small but significant positive correlation with the homozygous null genotype was seen in squamous carcinoma of the lung, and an apparently negative correlation with adenocarcinoma of the lung.

Blotting, Southern↗
PubMed1991

Vindesine and etoposide chemotherapy in the management of patients with small cell lung cancer and poor prognosis.

Twenty-five patients with histologically proven small cell lung cancer who were in too poor physical condition to receive 'aggressive' chemotherapy were treated with vindesine and etoposide (VE). The median survival was 195 days, and there were 4 survivors of greater than 460 days. Eight patients died before the second pulse of chemotherapy, and these all had a Karnofsky score of less than or equal to 20 at diagnosis. Toxicity of the chemotherapy regimen was minimal, and the results suggest that VE chemotherapy may be suitable for the treatment of patients with small cell lung cancer who are unsuitable for more toxic chemotherapy.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1990

A comparison of cobalt (57Co) bleomycin scanning and contrast-enhanced CT scanning for assessment of the mediastinum in lung cancer.

Sixty patients with histologically proven lung cancer who had been accepted for mediastinoscopy or thoracotomy were prospectively entered into a study to evaluate computed tomographic (CT) scanning, 57Co-bleomycin scanning, and barium swallow in preoperative assessment of mediastinal lymph node metastasis. Fifty-six patients had thoracotomy at which all accessible lymph nodes were sampled. Twenty-four patients were found to have mediastinal tumor on histologic analysis of the resected mediastinal lymph nodes. Neither 57Co-bleomycin scanning nor barium swallow were clinically useful, with sensitivities of 21 percent and 11 percent respectively, whereas CT scanning was helpful. However, there was no clear cutoff point of node size to optimize sensitivity and specificity for CT scanning. When nodes greater than or equal to 15 mm were taken to indicate likely malignancy, the sensitivity was 58 percent and the specificity was 87 percent and when greater than or equal to 10 mm was used the sensitivity was 80 percent but the specificity was only 55 percent. There was no clear relationship between the size of the largest resected lymph node in each patient and the presence of malignant lymph nodes. Only 42 percent of patients with resected nodes greater than or equal to 2 cm had histologic evidence of metastases. We conclude that CT scanning should be used to indicate the presence and site of mediastinal lymph nodes, which, when visualized, should always be sampled and histologically examined prior to resection of primary tumor.

Aged↗