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Biomedical subjects

G Pizzi

Publications and source records attributed to G Pizzi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Radiotherapy versus radiotherapy enhanced by cisplatin in stage III non-small cell lung cancer.

Between January 1987 and June 1991, 173 patients with inoperable non-small cell lung cancer, Stage III, were entered into a randomized trial comparing radiotherapy only (RT) (45 Gy/15 fractions/3 weeks) (arm A) versus RT and a daily low dose of cDDP (6 mg/m2) (arm B). An overall response rate of 58.9% was observed in arm A and 50.6% in arm B, respectively. No differences in the pattern of relapse were noted between the two treatment groups. Median time to progression was 10.6 months for arm A and 14.2 months for arm B. Median survivals were 10.3 months and 9.97 months, respectively. Toxicity was acceptable and no treatment-related death occurred in either treatment schedule. In this study no significant advantage of the combined treatment over radiation therapy only was found. The encouraging results achieved in some trials together with the intractability of the disease suggest that further efforts should be made to optimize clinical trial protocols, perhaps by reviewing the radiobiological and pharmacological basis of the combined treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

[Results of conservative treatment of stage I-II carcinoma of the breast. Analysis of 311 patients].

From January 1984 through December 1990, 311 patients affected with breast cancer were treated with quadrantectomy plus lymphadenectomy and radiation therapy (QUART) at the Umberto I Hospital in Mestre, Italy. The patients with positive nodes (N+) were treated with adjuvant chemotherapy (CMF) or hormonotherapy (Tamoxifen) according to pausal status. Most patients were in the 5th, 6th and 7th decades of life; 60.5% of them were over 50. Staging was always performed according to TNM classification (UICC criteria) and demonstrated mostly stage-I lesions (66.9%). Overall and disease-free (NED) survival rates were 95%; mean survival rates were 7.47 (+/- 0.138) and 7.22 (+/- 0.164) years, respectively. Ten patients died (5 from breast cancer); 6 local relapses were observed and 8 metastases. Metastases were seen mostly in patients with breast cancer in the internal quadrants (QI) N0, with no statistically significant differences relative to the other groups. This is probably due to the existence of an axillary pN0 and parasternal N+ group of patients, who receive insufficient treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

An afterloading technique suitable for carcinomas of the oral cavity.

The authors describe an afterloading brachytherapy to treat oral cavity carcinomas. Catheters for arterial/venous catheterization are inserted percutaneously in the target volume. The internal needles are then removed and replaced with iridium wires inside tubes to form wire loops. This technique has proven to be simple, quick and safe.

Brachytherapy↗
PubMed1991

[Influence of radiotherapy on lymphocyte subpopulations].

The authors investigated the effects of radiation therapy on the immune system by studying lymphocyte subsets and other parameters in 32 patients undergoing radiation therapy for solid cancer. With monoclonal antibody techniques, we studied both T- and B-lymphocytes; cell suspensions were analyzed by means of a Facs Spectrum III Ortho (Ortho-Diagnostic) unit. The first control was performed right after the beginning of radiotherapy, when the dose to the patients was 50 Gy or higher. The second control was performed at 40 Gy because all patients received this dose. 30% of the patients exhibited lymphopenia from the beginning of the study; at 40 Gy the number of T-lymphocytes was low and helper/suppressor ratio was altered. A variable response of B-cells was observed, although all patients exhibited restoration of normal values at 6 months. Four patients only suffered from side-effects: a patient with tongue cancer presented oral mycosis, and a woman--treated for breast cancer--presented vaginal mycosis. Two cases of cystitis were also observed, after 18 Gy, in patients with uterine carcinoma undergoing pelvic irradiation. Disease progression was observed in 2 patients with head and neck cancer, while 3 patients died from lung cancer progression. Another one, with head and neck cancer, died because of heart failure.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Heart transplantation in mildly diabetic patients.

From 1985 to 1989, 67 heart transplantations were performed in our hospital, 6 of them in non-insulin-dependent (type II) diabetic patients. Six pretransplantation type II diabetic male heart recipients (mean +/- SD age 50.0 +/- 7.3 yr) were compared with 61 nondiabetic recipients (mean age 44.5 +/- 11.0 yr; 55 men, 6 women) to define whether a different posttransplantation prognosis may be caused by pretransplantation diabetes. Before transplantation, all diabetic recipients (3 newly diagnosed and 3 with diabetes duration of 5, 6, and 12 yr, respectively) were in good glycemic control (mean fasting blood glucose 7.95 +/- 1.62 mM, mean HbA1c 7.6 +/- 0.2%). None had ocular or renal microangiopathic complications, 5 were treated only with diet, and 1 was treated with oral hypoglycemic agents. All recipients were treated with the same immunosuppressive protocol (cyclosporin, prednisone, and since 1986, azathioprine and antilymphocyte globulin), and mean dose and blood levels of cyclosporin were not significantly different between diabetic and nondiabetic recipients. After heart transplantation (mean follow-up 558 +/- 340 days in diabetic and 379 +/- 338 in nondiabetic recipients), the mortality rate and complications (i.e., rejection episodes, supplementary immunosuppressive treatments, major and minor infections, arterial hypertension, and graft atherosclerosis) showed no significant differences except for the more frequent arterial hypertension in diabetic recipients (P less than 0.05), although pretransplantation incidence of hypertension was lower in diabetic candidates.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Coronary Disease↗
PubMed1990

[Role of accelerated electrons in the therapy of advanced-stage skin epithelioma advanced stage: analysis of 31 cases].

Electron beam therapy is the superior modality of treatment for advanced skin cancer or in specific anatomical situations. The authors report the results for the electron beam therapy of 31 patients with advanced skin carcinoma. There were 15 squamous cell carcinomas, 11 basal cell carcinomas and 5 mixed, basosquamous cell carcinomas. All lesions were 3 cm or greater in maximum diameter. With follow-up ranging from 1 to 6 years, 28 patients have not evidence of disease, 1 is dead with disease, 1 is alive with suspicious residual disease and 1 is alive with recurrence. Acute and late complications are acceptable; bone, cartilage and soft tissue necrosis are not reported. The treatment results are similar to those in the literature and show the advantages of the electron beam irradiation for advanced skin carcinomas.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

[The treatment of cancer of the anal area with radiotherapy. An analysis of the authors' personal experience].

The treatment of anal canal carcinoma is very difficult and great care must be taken in planning therapy because this type of cancer is potentially curable. From 1982 through 1989 we treated 16 patients with carcinoma of the anal canal. All patients were evaluable for toxicity and 14/16 for response after treatment. Of the 12 patients who underwent irradiation alone and were N0 M0, 8 are alive with no evidence of the disease, 4 had a recurrence which was treated with radical surgery, and 2 underwent palliative treatment alone. Therapy toxicity was not relevant in most cases and our results are in agreement with those reported in the literature.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1989

[Templates for curietherapy of the oral cavity and their dosimetric use].

Flexible 192Ir wire implants are commonly used for the treatment of some types of cancer in the oral cavity. A modified technique of plastic tubes is here presented which aims at correctly positioning the active wires with thin plastic templates. Possible sources of error are examined and their consequences on the dose distribution around the implant are analyzed. In most cases control dosimetry matches the provisions satisfactorily. It may be thus concluded that the use of templates allows good and reproducible results to be obtained in the brachytherapy of the oral cavity.

Brachytherapy↗
PubMed1988

Is prophylactic para-aortic irradiation worthwhile in the treatment of advanced cervical carcinoma? Results of a controlled clinical trial of the EORTC radiotherapy group.

From November 1977 to July 1981, 441 patients with cervical carcinoma were randomized between pelvic irradiation and pelvic and para-aortic irradiation. Included were patients with stage I and IIB with proximal vaginal and/or parametrial involvement with positive pelvic lymph nodes either on lymphangiogram or at surgery, and stage IIB with distal vaginal and/or parametrial involvement and III regardless of pelvic node status on lymphangiogram. Patients with clinically or surgically involved para-aortic nodes were not included. The external beam dose to the para-aortic area was fixed at 45 Gy. There was no statistically significant difference between the two treatment arms in terms of local control, overall distant metastases and survival with no evidence of disease (NED), although the incidence of para-aortic metastases and distant metastases without tumor at pelvic sites was significantly higher in patients receiving pelvic irradiation alone (pelvic group). The 4-year NED survival rate was 51%. The incidence of severe digestive complications was significantly higher in patients receiving para-aortic irradiation (para-aortic group). Routine para-aortic irradiation for all high risk patients with cervical carcinoma is of limited value, but patients with a high probability of local control can benefit from extended field irradiation, despite an increase in severe digestive complications.

Aorta↗
PubMed1979

Time dependence of hematoporphyrin distribution in selected tissues of normal rats and in ascites hepatoma.

The distribution of hematoporphyrin was determined in normal rats and in rats bearing ascites hepatoma as a function of time after i.p. injection of 10-20 mg/kg of dye. In both cases, hematoporphyrin displayed a high affinity for the tumor cells. At 20 mg/kg, the maximum difference between the amount of hematoporphyrin accumulated in the tumor and in the liver was obtained at 12 h after injection (tumor/liver ratio = 28). Our results suggest that hematoporphyrin is almost exclusively metabolized in the liver and excreted via the biliary tract, whereas only minor amounts are metabolized in the tumor cells. Moreover, the binding between the porphyrin and tumor cells is competitive with serum protein binding.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Treatment with 32P of carcinoma of the prostate (author's transl)].

Twenty-eight patients affected with disseminated prostate cancer, which proved hormone resistant (after castration and oestrogen administration), have undergone combined treatment with Testosterone (for 13 days) and 32P (for the last 7 days of the Testosterone treatment). During the initial fase of the treatment (Testosterone only), 14 patients experienced pain exacerbation and/or fever and one experienced immediate improvement. The exacerbation quickly disappeared following 32P administration, and 26 of the patients had distinct improvement at some time during or after treatment, with a mean remission duration of 3 months and mean survival rate of 7 months. No lytic or soft part deposit showed improvement; improvement was noticeable only in the mixed type or osteo-sclerotic metastases. This observation suggests that the androgen stimulates uptake of the isotope not inside the tumor cells but in the bone matrix around the tumoral deposit. The patient who showed very early improvement had a subsequent relapse on oestrogens, but later responded to the androgen alone.

Humans↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Hyperbaric oxygen in diabetic gangrene treatment.

We treated a group of 18 hospitalized adult diabetic patients (all with retinopathy, 17 with symptomatic neuropathy, and 6 with macroangiopathy) presenting with gangrenous lesions of the foot by a combined regime consisting of strict metabolic control, daily debridement of necrotic tissues, and daily hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) treatments given in a multiplace oxygen chamber. Another group of 10 adult subjects with comparable foot lesions (all with retinopathy, 9 with symptomatic neuropathy, and 4 with macroangiopathy) was treated in exactly the same way except for HBO. In the test treatment group, 16 patients were healed, and the remaining 2 showed no improvement and later underwent amputation. The number of HBO treatments required for healing was significantly related to the size of gangrenous lesions. In the non-HBO-treated group, only 1 patient improved, 5 of 10 showed no change, and 4 of 10 worsened until leg amputation was unavoidable. Comparison of the two groups by chi 2-test revealed a highly significant difference (P = .001). In practical terms, HBO treatment drastically reduced leg amputations in patients so treated in the last 3 yr compared with earlier and current figures for patients not receiving HBO treatment.

Adult↗