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Biomedical subjects

F Pavesi

Publications and source records attributed to F Pavesi.

31 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Long-term effects of parenteral dichloromethylene bisphosphonate (CL2MBP) on bone disease of myeloma patients treated with chemotherapy.

Data on the long-term treatment of myeloma bone disease with bisphosphonates are scanty. In a prospective pilot trial we evaluated the effect of long-term parenteral administration of dichloromethylene bisphosphonate (Clodronate), in addition to standard chemotherapy, in 30 patients with active myeloma bone disease. Patients were treated with a mean of 4 courses (range 2-8) of Clodronate: 300 mg/day i.v. for seven days followed by 100 mg/day i.m. for 10 days, administered at a mean interval of 4 months (range 3-6). The median follow-up was 24 months (range 8-36). Clodronate reduced bone pain rapidly and significantly, and reduced the mean values of the biochemical indices of bone resorption to within normal limits; these effects were maintained throughout the follow-up. In three hypercalcemic episodes serum calcium became normal after 2-5 days of treatment with Clodronate. No toxic or side effects were noticed. The occurrence of skeletal morbidity in patients treated with Clodronate was compared with that observed in the control group of myeloma patients (p less than 0.001) in severe bone pain as well as in the incidence of new osteolytic lesions and pathological fractures (p less than 0.001). Supportive Clodronate therapy contributes significantly in controlling the progression of myeloma bone disease.

Bone Diseases↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Circulating CA 549 and other associated antigens in breast cancer patients.

The new marker CA 549 was determined in the serum of 258 breast cancer patients, classified according to TNM (148 at diagnosis and 110 at relapse), using a RIA method (cut-off: 10 U/ml). CEA, CA 15-3 and MCA were also evaluated. At diagnosis, CA 549 was more sensitive than the other markers, and cut-off values of 11 and 12 U/ml did not significantly reduce sensitivity. No significant correlation existed between the markers, except for CA 15-3 and CA 549 (r = 0.65). A new quantitative approach to the four markers was effected in the relapsed patients: an X value was calculated for each marker by dividing serum concentration by its cut-off. In these patients, grouped according to the area involved, marker sensitivities were similar except in locoregional relapse, where CA 549 and MCA were the most sensitive. From the data obtained, the more defined cut-off and the good specificity, it is suggested that CA 549 be routinely determined in the follow-up of the disease.

Antigens, Neoplasm↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Nutritional and immunological evaluations in cancer patients. Relationship to surgical infections.

Several reports provide evidence of the synergism between malnutrition and infection in hospitalized patients. In this study, preoperative complete nutritional assessment (NA) was performed to: 1) evaluate NA modifications in 21 controls with benign minor surgical diseases and in 71 surgical cancer patients; 2) determine the relative value of nutritional and immunological indicators in relation to the postoperative septic complications in cancer patients. The following parameters were used: percent weight loss/month, percent standard arm circumference, percent standard triceps skinfold; hematocrit, hemoglobin, serum proteins, albumin, iron, transferrin, ceruloplasmin, retinol binding protein (RBP); serum creatinine, urine creatinine, creatinine/height index, percent arm muscle circumference; peripheral lymphocytes, white blood cells, complement (C3c), skin tests. In the cancer group percent usual body weight, percent arm muscle circumference, hematocrit, hemoglobin, albumin, iron, ceruloplasmin, retinol binding protein, C3c and delayed hypersensitivity response (DHR) were significantly different from controls. Ceruloplasmin and DHR were the only tests significantly different in the cancer patients who developed postoperative infections. Duration of anesthesia and operative field contamination are other important causative factors which, if associated with malnutrition, may determine a higher susceptibility to infections in surgical cancer patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Evaluation of possible causes of delayed hypersensitivity impairment in cancer patients.

The separate roles of malnutrition, advanced age, and stage of tumor growth as causes of impairment of delayed hypersensitivity response (DHR) was studied in 111 patients with solid tumors and in 56 nonneoplastic control patients matched for age, anatomical site of disease, degree of illness, and nutritional status. Pretreatment DHR to recall antigens (tuberculin, Candida, streptokinase-streptodornase, trichophyton) and to dinitrochlorobenzene in cancer patients with 9% anergic, 43% hypoergic, and 48% normoergic; the distribution of DHR in controls was not significantly different. In cancer patients, the serum albumin level showed an inverse correlation with the stage of tumor (p less than 0.01) and a positive correlation with the DHR (p less than 0.001); the serum albumin level was also in the controls positively correlated with the DHR (p less than 0.01), indicating that malnutrition in neoplastic or benign disease may cause depression of DHR. In well-nourished controls, age was inversely correlated with DHR (p less than 0.05), showing that aging itself may be another relevant cause of depression of DHR. The results of this study indicate that DHR in patients with solid tumors is similar to the DHR of nonneoplastic patients if matched for age, sex, and nutritional status. DHR impairment in cancer patients appears to be caused mainly by aging and by malnutrition due to the advanced progression of cancer.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Efficiency of composite laboratory tests in the diagnosis of liver malignancies.

The utility of the markers CEA, beta-HCG, CA-50, alpha-fetoprotein (APF), ferritin, alkaline phosphatase (AP), its isoenzyme liver-1 (APL1), gamma-glutamyltransferase (gGT), its fast migrating isoenzyme (gGT1) and 5'nucleotidase (5'N) in differentiating liver malignancies and benign involvement was evaluated in the sera of 85 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), 157 with chronic liver disease (CLD) and 91 with liver metastases (LM) derived from different tumors. The mean concentrations of all the parameters except CEA and GGT1 were significantly different in HCC and CLD, but a broad overlap existed in the two groups, so different cut-offs were considered to assess the positive and negative predictive values and test efficiency (Eff). The best results were observed considering AFP greater than 100 IU/m (Eff0.86), ferritin greater than 800 ng/ml (Eff0.69), CA-50 greater than 100 U/ml (Eff 0.63), beta-HCG greater than 10 mU/ml (Eff 0.61), AP greater than 300 IU/ml (Eff 0.66), the presence of APL1 (Eff 0.78), 5'N greater than 25 mU/ml (Eff 0.70), gGT greater than 100 mIU/ml (Eff 0.63). Among HCC patients 17% did not secrete AFP; in 26% the protein was less than 100 IU/ml and in 36% less than 400 IU/ml. Apart from AFP the most effective marker was APL1. At the above cut-offs more than three parameters were simultaneously positive in 71% of HCC and 9.9% of CLD. CEA, CA50, AFP were the only parameters that distinguished the HCC from the LM group; in the latter, APL1 was also a very sensitive marker (87%) for neoplastic involvement of the liver.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Tumour associated antigens CA 15.3 and CA 125 in ovarian cancer.

CA 125 and CA 15.3 antigens were determined by enzyme immunoassay in 78 patients with ovarian cancer for a total of 540 determinations. The antigens were also investigated in sera from 100 women with other gynaecological diseases, 82 lung cancer patients and in 39 pleural fluids of varying origin. CA 15.3 reference values were evaluated in 91 healthy women (cut-off: 25 U/ml). CA 15.3 sensitivity at diagnosis (60%) and for detecting relapse (44%) was lower than that of CA 125 (90% and 64.7%, respectively). However, CA 15.3 does not increase with aspecific mesothelial cell reaction and thus it is more specific than CA 125. Combined use of the markers during follow-up improves early detection of relapse (at least one of the two was positive in 79% of cases). Therefore both CA 15.3 and CA 125 should be routinely determined for the detection and monitoring of ovarian cancer.

Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate↗