Ordered hydrogen overlayers on metal surfaces.
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Journal Article↗
Biomedical subjects
J Muscat
Publications and source records attributed to J Muscat.
The care of the mentally ill, and psychiatric nursing in Malta.
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History, 16th Century↗
Serum prostate-specific antigen as a predictor of staging abdominal/pelvic computed tomography in newly diagnosed prostate cancer.
BACKGROUND: The standard staging evaluation for prostate cancer includes digital rectal examination, measurement of serum tumor markers, and radionuclide bone scan. In many institutions, abdominal/pelvic computed tomography (CT) scan or nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is performed. We retrospectively reviewed 425 cases of newly diagnosed, untreated adenocarcinoma of the prostate to evaluate the ability of serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) to predict results of staging abdominal pelvic CT. METHODS: The medical records of 425 newly diagnosed, untreated prostate cancer patients were reviewed. The following information was collected on a standard data form: age, clinical stage based on digital rectal exam, method of diagnosis, histological grade, serum PSA level, and results of abdominal pelvic CT including adenopathy and abnormalities of the upper urinary tract. The results of this review were tabulated and analyzed with regard to the ability of serum PSA level to predict positive results of abdominal pelvic CT. RESULTS: The mean PSA level of the study group was 22.1 ng/ml. Fourteen patients (3.6%) presented with a positive abdominal/pelvic CT (12 with adenopathy, one with a renal cell tumor, and one with an adrenal metastasis). Eleven of these (79%) had serum PSA levels of 30.0 ng/ml or greater, ranging from 30.0 to 234 ng/ml. No patient with a positive study presented with a normal serum PSA level. Two patients with a positive study had a serum PSA level between 4.1 and 10.0 ng/ml (0.6%), and one had a PSA level between 10.1 and 20 ng/ml (0.3%). CONCLUSION: We conclude that in asymptomatic patients with newly diagnosed, untreated prostate cancer and serum PSA levels of less than 20 ng/ml the likelihood of positive findings on abdominal/pelvic CT is extremely low (<1.0%). Abdominal/pelvic CT does not appear necessary in this setting. With 200,000 cases of newly diagnosed prostate cancer each year in the United States, elimination of staging abdominal/pelvic CT in these patients could reduce medical expenditures for prostate cancer management by $20-50 million per year.
Adenocarcinoma↗
Treatment and survival in diffuse malignant pleural mesothelioma; a study of 83 cases from the Massachusetts General Hospital.
The influence of treatment on clinical outcome in pleural mesothelioma (PM) is uncertain. We studied 83 patients with PM treated at our institution to evaluate the impact of treatment modality on survival, Methods. Medical records of 83 patients with PM treated between 1978 and 1994 were reviewed. The following data were tabulated for each patient; age, sex, date of diagnosis, history of asbestos exposure, smoking history, method of diagnosis, histologic subtype, type of treatment and survival from diagnosis. Four treatment groups were analyzed; chemotherapy (C), surgery (S), combined modality (CM i.e. S + C with or without radiation therapy) and supportive care alone (SC). Survival curves were calculated and adjustment made for age. Survival curves were compared using Wilcoxon Chi-square analysis. Results. Seventy-one males and 12 females with a mean age of 67 years were analyzed. Seventy-five percent were smokers and 74% reported definite or probable asbestos exposure. Treatment groups did not vary according to smoking or asbestos history. The CM group and SC groups contained similar proportions of patients with epithelial tumors (54% v 56%). Median survival for patients in the CM group was 23.9 months versus 4.5 months among those receiving SC (p < 0.01). Discussion. This analysis suggest prolonged survival among patients with PM receiving CM versus SC or single modality treatment.
Adult↗
Treatment of recurrent high grade astrocytoma; results of a systematic review of 1,415 patients.
OBJECTIVE: The optimum treatment strategy for recurrent high grade glioma (anaplastic astrocytoma and glioblastoma multiforme) remains undefined. The objective of this report is to present a systematic analysis of the published clinical trial literature on the therapy of this disease. METHODS: A study protocol was prospectively developed outlining the objectives and methods of the analysis such as; literature search strategy, eligibility criteria for published trials to be included, key data elements to be extracted, and a plan for statistical analysis. Variables of interest were, those describing key features of the study such as publication date and geographic location of reporting institution, characteristics of study population including functional status, details of patient treatment, treatment sequencing and data on clinical outcomes of interest, i.e. time to tumor progression and overall survival. Data were analyzed using SAS version 6.11. Summary statistics were calculated for the primary outcome variables. Data on recognized prognostic variables were recorded in order to adjust the analysis for these parameters. RESULTS: A total of 40 trials (36 non-randomized controlled trials; nRCTs and 4 randomized controlled trials: RCTs) were included in the analysis. Thirty-two of the eligible trials were chemotherapy trials while 7 were radiation therapy trials. One surgical trial met eligibility criteria. A total of 47 treatment arms were analysed which included 1,415 patients. Five chemotherapy groups were studied, i.e. interferons, nitrosoureas, platinums, platinums + nitrosoureas and others. The nitrosoureas were found to significantly extend time to tumor progression compared to all other drugs (26.9 weeks). The nitrosoureas and platinums appear to be the most active agents with regard to overall survival (over 32.0 weeks) as compared with the other drug categories. Patients treated with both a nitrosourea and a platinum compound showed the longest overall survival (40.0 weeks) although this was not significantly different from these drugs used as single agents. Average median survival for patients treated with radiation therapy was 44.7 weeks although selection bias makes these data difficult to compare with those derived from studies of chemotherapy. No definite conclusions can be made regarding surgical therapy in this setting due to limited data. CONCLUSIONS: The nitrosoureas and platinums, either as single agents or as combination chemotherapy, appear to be the most active agents in this disease although few, well designed chemotherapy trials are available for analysis. Due to the limitations of the available data on radiation therapy and surgery, as outlined in this report, additional, well designed clinical trials are needed to define the appropriate role for these modalities in the treatment of recurrent high grade glioma.
Antineoplastic Agents↗
Planned preoperative radiation therapy in muscle invasive bladder cancer; results of a meta-analysis.
BACKGROUND: The role of pre-operative radiation therapy in the treatment of muscle invasive bladder cancer is unclear. The objective of this report is to present a meta-analysis of the published clinical trial data on this topic to determine whether pre-operative radiation improves survival in patients with this disease. METHODS: Data from 5 randomized trial were pooled using the meta-analytic techniques previously described by Peto et al. Three and five year survival were compared between patients receiving pre-operative radiation therapy followed by cystectomy versus patients treated with cystectomy alone. RESULTS: A summary odds ratio was calculated following a statistical analysis showing a lack of heterogeneity among the included studies in terms of their estimate of effect. The calculated Peto odds ratio was 0.71 favoring the use of preoperative radiation (95% CI 0.48-1.06). Due to possible biases in this original analysis due to study design deficiencies, a sensitivity analysis showed a "corrected" odds ratio of 0.94 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.57- 1.55, a non-statistically significant result. CONCLUSION: The available clinical trial data do not support a role for routine use of pre-operative radiation therapy in the treatment of muscle invasive bladder cancer. Additional well designed trials are needed to address this issue.
Cystectomy↗
Multi-drug versus single agent chemotherapy for high grade astrocytoma; results of a meta-analysis.
BACKGROUND: The addition of chemotherapy to postoperative radiation therapy in the treatment of high grade astrocytoma results in a modest increase in 12 and 24 month survival. It is, at present, unclear whether single agent or combination drug therapy constitutes the best drug regimen for these patients. Despite this uncertainty, multi-drug regimens have become standard therapy for some high grade astrocytomas. METHODS: One year survival data derived from over 2,100 patients enrolled in 9 randomized clinical trials were analyzed using the meta-analytic techniques previously described by Peto et al. This analysis compared the proportion of patients surviving one year treated with multi-drug regimens versus single agent treatment (usually BCNU). All patients included in this analysis also underwent surgery and radiation therapy as part of their clinical management. RESULTS: A summary odds ratio was calculated following a statistical analysis showing a lack of heterogeneity among the included studies in terms of their estimate of effect. The calculated Peto odds ratio was 1.22 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.99-1.36. These data indicate that combination drug treatment is associated with an approximately 22% decreased 1 year survival as compared with single agent therapy. CONCLUSION: This analysis suggests that the available data do not support the use of combination chemotherapy regimens in this patient population. Additional randomized clinical trials are needed to clearly determine whether any multidrug treatment scheme is superior to currently available single agent therapies.
Antineoplastic Agents↗