Biomedical subjects

C Lebrun-Frenay

Publications and source records attributed to C Lebrun-Frenay.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2002

Choosing the right dopamine agonist for patients with Parkinson's disease.

Dopamine receptor agonists (DA) are assuming an increasing importance in the treatment of both early and advanced symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). However, choosing the right DA for patients with PD unfortunately remains more a pragmatic medical art than a science. The aim of this review is to provide a realistic point of view on the strengths and weaknesses of five DAs: bromocriptine, ropinirole, pergolide, pramipexole and piribedil. This has been done by analysing their respective: (1) flexibility in PD, i.e. in monotherapy, in early and in late combination with levodopa; (2) safety profile and (3) titration schedule. These five DAs are not evenly matched regarding these three criteria. The differences observed highlight the therapeutic value of piribedil, which has a flexible indication, adapted to all stages of PD, a safer profile and the most simple initiation schedule.

Decision Making↗

PubMed2001

[Pain in multiple sclerosis].

Pain is a major issue in the care of Multiple Sclerosis patients. It is present in more than half of the cases and it adopts many aspects, which frequently ruin the patients quality of life. Most of them do not receive appropriate treatments, as clinicians are more oriented towards controlling the immuno-pathogenic process of the disease than coping with symptomatic consequences of the lesions. Any clinical form of the disease may include pain and no clinical criteria have been correlated with the occurrence of pain: neither age, nor gender, nor MS subtypes nor severity of the handicap; almost all MS cases will complain of pain at a time or another of their evolution. A key issue is to make a precise diagnosis of the type or types of pain that any patient reports: is pain due to a central neuropathic or a nociceptive pathogenesis. Treatments will depend upon these two main pain mechanisms and will use different agents according to each type: antispastic, antiepileptic, anti-inflammatory, opioids.... Pain has to be taken in consideration in every MS patient and adapted treatment strategy must be prescribed.

Humans↗

PubMed1998

Epidermal growth factor receptor and labeling index are independent prognostic factors in glial tumor outcome.

The aim of this study was to perform a multivariate analysis including clinical and biological prognostic factors on glial tumor outcome. Seventy-nine patients were analyzed (48 men and 31 women; mean age = 56 years, range = 16-77 years): 7 had a benign glial tumor (grades 1 and 2), 21 had an anaplastic glial tumor (grade 3), and 51 had a glioblastoma (grade 4). Median follow-up was 17.9 months for patients who survived (50 patients died). Biopsies were obtained at time of diagnosis (complete tumor resection in 62 patients and stereotaxic biopsies in 17 patients). Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) was measured by a binding assay, and labeling index (LI) was measured by tritiated thymidine incorporation. EGFR varied from 4 to 73,110 fmol/mg protein (mean = 3912 fmol/mg protein; median = 374 fmol/mg protein; n = 79). LI varied between 0.1 and 16.5% (mean = 6.2%; median = 5.2%; n = 40). Log10 EGFR was significantly and positively correlated with patient age. LI was significantly different according to tumor histology. Univariate Cox analysis (end point was cancer death) showed that age (P = 0.027), log10 EGFR (P = 0.025), and LI (P = 0.0019) were significant continuous variables, the survival being shortened when the covariable increased; tumor resection (P = 0.015, relative risk = 0.45) and histology (P = 0.0009) were significant categorical factors. A multivariate Cox analysis (forward selection) including age, histology, tumor resection, log10 EGFR, and LI revealed that log10 EGFR, LI, and tumor resection were the only independent significant predictors of survival. This multivariate approach reveals that the clinical prognostic factors of glial tumors, namely age and tumor histology, disappear, to the benefit of intrinsic characteristics of the tumor, i.e., EGFR expression and LI, suggesting that coupled EGFR and LI determination could be a useful tool for better evaluation of glial tumor outcome.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

Boron neutron capture irradiation: setting up a clinical programme in Nice.

Neutron capture irradiation aims to selectively destroy tumor cells using 10B(n,alpha)7Li nuclear reactions produced within themselves. Following the capture reaction, an alpha particle and a, 7Li ion are emitted. Carrying an energy of 2.79 MeV, they destroy all molecular structures along their path close to 10 microns. These captures, used exclusively with a 'slow' neutron irradiation, provide a neutron capture therapy (BNCT). If they are used in addition to a fast neutron beam irradiation, they provide a neutron capture potentiation (NCP). The Centre Antoine-Lacassagne in Nice is actively involved in the European Demonstration Project for BNCT of grade IV glioblastomas (GBM) after surgical excision and BSH administration. Taking into account the preliminary results obtained in Japan, work on an 'epithermal' neutron target compatible with various cyclotron beams is in progress to facilitate further developments of this technique. For NCP, thermalized neutron yield has been measured in phantoms irradiated in the fast neutron beam of the biomedical cyclotron in Nice. A thermal peak appears after 5 cm depth in the tissues, delayed after the fast neutron peak at 1.8 cm depth. Thus, a physical overdosage of 10% may be obtained if 100 ppm of 10B are assumed in the tissues. Our results using CAL 58 GBM cell line demonstrate a dose modification factor (DMF) of 1.19 when 100 ppm of boric acid are added to the growth medium. Thus for the particles, issued from neutron capture, a biological efficiency at least twice that of fast neutrons can be derived. These results, compared with historical data on fast neutron irradiation of glioblastoma, suggest that a therapeutic window may be obtained for GBM.

Boron Neutron Capture Therapy↗