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L Tomio

Publications and source records attributed to L Tomio.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Quality of life after radiotherapy for early-stage testicular seminoma.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Standard therapy in early-stage testicular seminoma (TS) includes inguinal orchiectomy followed by irradiation (XRT) of the pelvic and para-aortic nodes. Since this treatment is highly effective in controlling the disease and leads to many long survivors, the quality of life (QL) may be impaired by treatment-induced side-effects. The aim of this study was to provide a QL evaluation of patients treated with XRT after orchiectomy for TS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used a validated self-completed questionnaire based on a series of 44 items covering all QL fields. The items were grouped into six subscales with standardized scores. The questionnaire was mailed to a consecutive series of 143 patients treated between 1961 and 1995 for TS with no evidence of disease after primary treatment. RESULTS: Ninety-eight questionnaires (68.5%) were returned and are assessable. The median age of the patients was 48 years (range, 26-85 years) at the time of completing the questionnaire, with a median follow-up after completion of treatment of 123 months (range, 15-432 months). The physical and autonomy subscale standardized scores were > or =1 in 83 and 95% of the cases, respectively. Psychological problems were reported by a small percentage of patients, ranging from 13, who reported a depressive condition, to 16%, who declared feeling tense. Of the patients, 86 and 89% have regularly met relatives and friends. The urinary score was above the central point in 99% of the patients. Only 6% of the patients perceived their body image as worsened by treatment. The patients who were more informed about the disease and therapy had a better physical and psychological adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: The QL in our patients resulted as satisfactory, with a maintained body image and few side-effects. The information given to the patients about their disease and its treatment influenced the post-treatment QL adjustment.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Quadruple cancer in a single patient: a report of four cases.

Multiple primary neoplasia was once considered a rare curiosity but is now a well recognized phenomenon. Only a few papers have been published in the English literature with regard to occurrence of four or more primary malignancies in a single patient. We report four cases of quadruple cancer; a review of the literature about this topic is discussed.

Humans↗
PubMed1999

p21 expression in colorectal carcinomas: a study on 103 cases with analysis of p53 gene mutation/expression and clinic-pathological correlations.

The WAF1/CIP1 gene product, p21, an inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases, is a critical downstream effector in the p53 pathway. The expression of p21 in human neoplasms is heterogeneous, and may be related to p53 functional status. We evaluated p21 immunoreactivity in 103 colorectal carcinomas (CC) in relation to the p53 gene and protein alterations and clinico-pathologic parameters. High p21 expression (more than 10% reactive cells) was seen in 39% of cases. p21 staining was heterogeneous and often detected in clusters of tumour cells; in some tumours p21 staining was more pronounced in superficial areas. No relation was seen between p21 immunoreactivity and site of the tumours (right vs left), TNM stage and grade. p21 expression was related to p53 status as evaluated with IHC or with SSCP analyses, low p21 expression usually being associated with p53 protein overexpression (P=0.048) and p53 gene alteration (P=0.005). The strongest associations were seen when the combined p53/p21 immunophenotype was compared with p53 gene alterations (P=0.0002). These data support the hypothesis that p21 expression in CC is mainly related to p53 functional status, suggesting that p21 expression could be an interesting adjunct in the evaluation of the functional status of the p53 pathway in CC.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1998

Ultrarapid high-dose course of prophylactic cranial irradiation in small-cell lung cancer: evaluation of late neurologic morbidity in 16 long-term survivors.

Despite the reduction in the incidence of brain metastases following prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) in patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), the use of this modality is still controversial due to the lack of improvement in survival and the appearance of neurotoxicity in long-term survivors. Moreover, the optimum dose, fraction size, and timing are not known. From 1980 to 1988, 70 patients with limited stage SCLC underwent PCI after or during multimodality treatment of their primary tumor. Most of these patients (75.7%) received an unconventional ultrarapid high-dose course of 17 Gy in two fractions over 3 days. Long-term (range 60-138 months) survivors (n = 16) were invited to have a complete neurological evaluation including computed cranial tomography (CCT), 99mTc-HMPAO single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) scan, electroencephalography (EEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and neuropsychometry. Delayed neurologic complications or psychometric impairment was observed in 46% of patients. One or more abnormalities were detected by CCT in all patients, and the presence of neurologic complications seemed to correlate with periventricular and subcortical white matter changes. A strong correlation was found between CCT and SPECT periventricular white matter changes. Although the incidence of late neurologic toxicity following this rapid course of irradiation was high, clinical findings were less severe than expected, and all the patients were capable of self-care.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Hyperfractionated radiation in combination with local hyperthermia in the treatment of advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: a phase I-II study.

Twenty-seven patients with cervical metastases from squamous cell head and neck tumours were treated with hyperfractionated XRT (total dose 69.60-76.80 Gy, 1.2 Gy b.i.d. five times a week) combined with a total of two to six sessions of superficial external HT. Acute local toxicity was mild; as major acute side effects, only one ulceration was recorded. No severe late side effects were observed. Late toxicity was similar to that observed in our previous studies with the combination of heat and radiation. Nodal complete response was observed in 77% of patients, partial response was observed in 15% of patients and no change was observed in 8% of patients. Five-year actuarial nodal control was 64.5 +/- 19% and 5-year actuarial survival was 24 +/- 10%. The treatment of nodal metastases from head and neck tumours with the combination of HT and hyperfractionated XRT is feasible with an acceptable acute and late toxicity profile.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Pre-operative chemoradiotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer stage III patients. Feasibility, toxicity and long-term results of a phase II study.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, the response rate and the effect on survival of full dose polychemotherapy delivered concurrently with bifractionated radiotherapy at a radical dose, in a subset of patients with marginally resectable or unresectable stage IIIA-B non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Treatment consisted of two courses of cisplatin 100 mg/m2 for 1 day plus etoposide 120 mg/m2 for 3 days delivered from day 1 to day 22, plus radiotherapy delivered in two cycles of 2560 cGy each from day 3 to day 12 and from day 24 to 33 (total dose 5120 cGy in 31 days). The daily dose was 320 cGy in two equal fractions. After surgery, three additional courses of cisplatin plus etoposide were planned. From February 1988 to June 1991, 39 patients with stage III NSCLC (19 were judged as having marginally resectable, 20 as having unresectable disease) were entered into the study. Out of 39 patients (22 squamous cell carcinoma, 17 adeno/large cell carcinoma), 24 had stage IIIa (62%) and 15 stage IIIb (38%). Median PS was 80 (70-90). A total of 78 (74 evaluable) concurrent cycles of pre-operative chemoradiotherapy were delivered. The prominent side-effect was leucopenia: leucopenia > or = grade 3 at nadir occurred in 20 cycles (27%), thrombocytopenia > or = grade 3 at nadir in seven cycles (9%), 19 patients (54%) had a treatment delay of 1 week between the two cycles. Other important toxicities were sepsis in 5 patients (13%), oesophagitis > grade 2 in 9 patients (23%) and pneumonitis in 5 patients (13%). The response rate was 67% (6 CR (complete response), 16%; 19 PR (partial response), 51%). A resection was subsequently performed in 20 (51%) patients: 14 out of 19 marginally resectable (74%) and 6 out 20 initially unresectable (30%) patients. One other patient had an exploratory thoracotomy. Surgical specimens were tumour-free in 3 patients (14%); in 8 patients (38%) only microscopic tumour was found, and in 10 (48%) macroscopic residual tumour was found. Out of 23 patients attaining a CR, 5 relapsed locally and 11 only distantly. At present, with a follow-up ranging from 64 to 90 months, 34 patients have died, 1 is alive with recurrent disease and 4 (17%) are alive without evidence of disease. Median survival was 16 months, with 18% 3-year survivors and 13% 5-year survivors. Resected patients had a median survival of 21 months, versus 10 months for unresected patients (P = 0.01). No significant difference was evident between stage IIIa and stage IIIb patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Phase III trial of initial chemotherapy in stage III or IV head and neck cancers: a study by the Gruppo di Studio sui Tumori della Testa e del Collo.

BACKGROUND: The standard treatment for advanced (stage III and IV) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (i.e., surgery with postoperative radiotherapy in operable patients and radiotherapy alone in inoperable patients) has had poor results. A series of randomized trials of induction chemotherapy have up to now failed to demonstrate an improvement in survival. PURPOSE: This trial was designed to determine whether intensive induction chemotherapy administered before loco-regional treatment would improve survival of patients with advanced disease. METHODS: Patients had previously untreated, advanced nonmetastatic (stages III and IV) squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, and paranasal sinuses. The study design was a randomized, multi-institutional, phase III trial. Eligible patients (n = 237) were randomly assigned to receive either initial chemotherapy (cisplatin and infusional fluorouracil) followed by loco-regional treatment (group A, n = 118) or loco-regional treatment alone (group B, n = 119). For operable patients (group A, n = 34; group B, n = 32), loco-regional treatment included resection followed by adjuvant radiotherapy. For inoperable patients, radical irradiation was performed with a planned dose of 65-70 Gy to involved areas. A dose of 45-50 Gy was also planned to the uninvolved neck or postoperatively. The statistical (log-rank) test was performed no earlier than 2 years after the randomization of the last patient. RESULTS: Seventy-one patients (60%) in group A and 67 patients (56%) in group B were considered free of disease after they completed the treatment sequence. The analysis of time to distant metastases showed an advantage for group A patients. (Respective 2- and 3-year values for inoperable patients were 15% and 24% for group A versus 36% and 42% for group B, P = .04; only one operable group A patient had distant metastases after 49 months versus 26% [2 years] and 31% [3 years] for operable group B patients, P = .01.) For inoperable patients, the combined treatment was significantly associated with an increase in complete remission rate (group A, 44%) as compared with radiotherapy alone (group B, 30%) (P = .037). Inoperable patients also benefitted from induction chemotherapy in terms of disease-free survival (49% and 34% for group A versus 28% and 26% for group B; P = .06) and of overall survival (30% and 24% for group A versus 19% and 10% for group B; P = .04). CONCLUSIONS: When all 237 randomly assigned patients were analyzed, there were no significant differences in the two treatment strategies in loco-regional failure or in disease-free or overall survival, although the development of distant metastases was reduced. For operable patients, the only benefit from neoadjuvant chemotherapy was a significant reduction in the incidence of distant metastases. For inoperable patients, neoadjuvant chemotherapy improved local control, decreased the incidence of distant metastases, and improved the complete remission rate and overall survival. IMPLICATIONS: Confirmatory studies with effective chemotherapy regimens delivered for an adequate number of cycles are required.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

A pilot study of concomitant radiation and chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer.

Cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil act as radiosensitizers and are active cytotoxic drugs in head and neck cancer. Therefore, from May 1987 to June 1990, we gave a continuous course of radiotherapy (70 Gy/35 fractions/7 weeks) combined with the simultaneous administration, once a week, of cisplatin (40 mg/m2, i.v. bolus) and 5-fluorouracil (400 mg/m2, i.v. bolus) to 21 patients with locally advanced or recurrent tumors of the head and neck. The complete and partial response rates were 65% and 15%, respectively. With a median follow-up of 17 months (range: 4-42) and with 19/21 patients having stages III and IV tumors, 12 patients are NED (no evidence of disease), 8 died with tumor, and 1 died of bronchopneumonia during the treatment. The main toxicity was mucositis and the median length of therapy was higher than with irradiation alone. This regimen appears very encouraging and could be an improvement over radiation alone for patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1992

Carcinoma of the superior pulmonary sulcus. Results of irradiation and radical resection.

Fifty-six patients with superior sulcus syndrome were evaluated at the First Surgical Department of the University of Padua between 1981 and 1990. Forty-two patients with the characteristic of Pancoast's tumor received preoperative irradiation and then en bloc resection of the tumor, chest wall, and adjacent structures. Seven lobectomies and 35 segmentectomies or wedge resections were performed. There was one early postoperative death. Median survival was 14 months, and actuarial survival was 25% at 5 years. Patients with pain relief had better 5-year survival (36.4%) than patients without pain relief (9%). We have no patients with vertebral invasion who survived more than 1 year. Of the five patients with subclavian artery invasion, only one survived more than 1 year. Of five patients with N2 disease, only one survived more than 1 year. Our results suggest that pain relief after irradiation is a good prognostic factor, whereas N2 involvement and vertebral body and great vessel invasion are ominous factors. Another ominous prognostic factor is the Claude Bernard-Horner syndrome even if it is not a contraindication to resection.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1990

Oesophageal cancer treated by photodynamic therapy alone or followed by radiation therapy.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) with porphyrins and red light is receiving increasing attention in the management of malignant tumours. At present PDT is primarily indicated for the treatment of superficial or early-stage lesions. At the Department of Radiotherapy and the First Institute of Surgery in Padova (Italy) more than 150 cases of tumours of different types have been treated using this technique. This paper briefly describes 21 cases of superficial oesophageal cancer. A complete response was observed in 11 of 21 cases. Radiation therapy appeared to be very effective as a salvage treatment of non-response patients.

Antineoplastic Agents↗