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Biomedical subjects

M Westerhausen

Publications and source records attributed to M Westerhausen.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Treatment results of the thioether lipid ilmofosine in patients with malignant tumours.

In a multicentre study patients with liver metastases stratified to the histology of the primary tumour were investigated. A total of 102 patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma, non-small-cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, primary liver carcinoma and malignant melanoma were treated with the thioether lipid ilmofosine. The drug was administered orally as a tablet at a dosage of 150-300 mg/day (75 mg/tablet). The tolerability of ilmofosine was poor. There was a dose-limiting gastrointestinal toxicity with nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite (WHO grade II-IV) in 67% of patients. During the period of therapy (1-29 weeks, 8.5 weeks mean) no complete remission and no partial response were observed. We thus conclude that treatment with oral ilmofosine is not effective in patients with liver metastases due to various malignancies.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1991

[Malignant lymphoma associated with HIV infection].

The course of disease in 119 HIV-infected patients (117 men, 2 women; median age 38.5 years) with malignant tumours other than Kaposi's sarcoma was analyzed in a multi-centre retrospective study. This was conducted to obtain initial information concerning the incidence, clinical features and results of therapy in HIV-associated neoplasms, especially malignant lymphomas. The most frequent tumour was malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (98 patients, 82.5%), seven patients had Hodgkin's disease, five had solid tumours, four a polyclonal lymphoproliferative syndrome, three an acute lymphocytic leukaemia, and two had other lymphoproliferative diseases. 58% of the non-Hodgkin's lymphomas occurred in patients with marked immunodeficiency, 85% were high grade malignancies and 47% had primary extranodal disease. 56% of primary nodal lymphomas also had visceral spread (Stage IV). Lymphoblastic non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was more common in patients with favourable immunological status, presented less frequently with primary extranodal disease, was diagnosed earlier than other non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, and appeared to carry a better prognosis. 78 out of the 98 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma had been treated, 66 with cytotoxics. The median survival time was 6 months. Longer remission periods, of at least 12 months, were seen in ten of the 78 patients (13%). Despite the overall poor prognosis and the pre-existing immune defect, palliative (chemo-)therapeutic measures are both justified and promising, and may also result in life-prolonging remissions.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Oral administration of idarubicin as first line cytostatic therapy in patients with metastasized breast cancer and favourable prognosis. A trial of the phase II study group of the Association for Medical Oncology of the German Cancer Society.

Idarubicin is a new anthracycline derivative with therapeutic efficacy in metastatic breast cancer. In a phase II trial we treated 23 patients with advanced breast carcinoma and favourable prognostic factors. Oral dose of idarubicin was 15 mg/m2 day 1-3 repeated every 3 weeks. All patients were pretreated with hormones. Idarubicin was administered as first line chemotherapy. 20 patients were evaluable for response: 3 patients achieved partial remission, 12 patients stable disease; tumour progression occurred in 5 patients. 3 patients were not evaluable for response because only 1 treatment cycle was administered. Main toxicites were leukopenia (median WHO-grade: 2,r:0-4), nausea and vomiting (median: 1,r:0-4) and alopezia (median: 1,r:0-3). 1 patient died in septic shock: Immediately after the administration of one idarubicine cycle, she was extensively irradiated because of bone metastasis. The fatal course of the disease in this patient does not depend only on the idarubicin therapy, but also on the extensive bone infiltration and on intensive radiation therapy. Idarubicin proved to be an effective drug in metastatic breast cancer with low systemic toxicity and the advantage of oral administration. The drug is an enrichment of therapeutic armament, especially in patients with soft tissue and bone metastasis.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1977

Determination of the bacteriostatic capacity of neutrophils and monocytes in mixed cell populations.

Cline [1, 2] described a method of determining the phagocytic and bacteriostatic activity of individual types of leukocytes within mixed cell populations. We tried to improve the applicability of this method for the investigation of clinical problems.--Bacteria in the log-phase of growth were incubated in test tubes with leukocytes separated from venous blood. After a short period of phagocytosis 3H-thymidine was added to label DNA-synthesizing organisms. Smears were prepared and processed by autoradiography. The labeling indices of extracellular bacteria and of those phagocytized by neutrophils and monocytes were determined microscopically. The intracellular inhibition of DNA-synthesis was taken as indicative of the bacteriostatic activity of the leukocytes. The proposed modification of Cline's assay is suited to investigate clinical problems of phagocyte dysfunction.

Autoradiography↗
PubMed1977

Transferrin-immune complex disease.

A 71-year-old woman showed a highly unusual pattern of iron distribution in the organism which was associated with iron overload. The hallmark of this disease was an extreme hypersiderinemia, the serum iron reaching about 800 mug/100 ml. There was a pigment cirrhosis of the liver, bronzed skin containing hemosiderin, and diabetes mellitus. Paradoxically, hemosiderin was not detectable in bone marrow macrophages, sideroblasts and erythrocytes were reduced, and there was a decrease in radioiron utilization of erythropoiesis, thus indicating insufficient iron supply. The pathogenesis of this disorder based on the formation of an autoantibody with specificity for transferrin thus producing a circulating immune complex which bound the majority of serum iron. Immunosuppression achieved a partial remission including a recovery of the patient's general state, a rise in free transferrin, a decrease in serum iron, disappearance of hemosiderin in the liver, and a rise in erythrocyte production.

Aged↗
PubMed1975

[Hairy cell leukemia].

Chronical course, splenomegaly and pancytopenia are characteristic for hairy cell leukemia. The main feature are so-called hairy cells in peripheral blood. This cells were investigated by cytological, cytochemical, histological and electron microscopical methods. Special cytoplasmic inculsions seem to be specific for this cell type.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Toxic and immunologic side effects of daily C. parvum-infusion in treatment-resistant cancer patients.

Daily increasing intravenous doses of Corynebacterium parvum (C.p.) up to 5 mg/m2 i.v. X 10-14 days were given to 6 patients with widespread metastatic neoplastic diseases resistant to radio- and chemotherapy. The immunotherapy treatment-cycles were evaluated for toxic and immunologic side effects and also for possible clinical benefit to the patients. Immunotherapy with i.v.-C.p. was moderately well tolerated. Subjective discomfort for the patients (headache, chills, nausea) was not better tolerated with ongoing treatment-doses. After the 3rd day the body temperature rose nearly regularly to 40 degrees and more within 3-4 h after i.v.-C.p. and returned to normal levels about 6-10 h after the infusion was stopped. Hematological values were monitored on day 1, 4, 8, 15. WBC counts rose after an initial moderate decrease to normal levels. Monocyte counts rose also after an initial transient fall to pre-treatment levels. The monocytic activity index of Naphthol-AS-D-Chloro-Acetate-Esterase, correlating with the monocyte turnover, did not show a significant change. Granulocyte counts, especially stabs, increased slightly. Lymphocyte counts, the number and relations of B, T and O-cells, did not change in a uniform typical way. Hemoglobin values fell in all patients, reticulocyte counts increased, and the blood sedimentation rate did not change.

Adolescent↗