PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

R C Shamberger

Publications and source records attributed to R C Shamberger.

100 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

The effect of total parenteral nutrition on chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression. A randomized study.

We studied the effect of total parenteral nutrition on recovery from myelosuppression in patients receiving intensive chemotherapy. Twenty-seven patients (ages 11 to 33 years) with locally recurrent or metastatic Ewing's sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, or osteosarcoma were randomly selected to receive either conventional oral nutrition or total parenteral nutrition concurrently with intensive chemotherapy. The control group (15 patients) received significantly fewer calories (range 380 to 880/m2 per day, median 685 versus range 1,020 to 2,100 median 1,650) and less nitrogen (0-3.7 g/m2 per day, median 1.5 versus range 5.3 to 12.4, median 8.9) than the group receiving total parenteral nutrition (12 patients). Assessment of recovery from myelosuppression was based on the length of time the absolute granulocyte count was below 500/mm3, the length of time the platelet count was below 40,000/mm3, the number of days the platelet count was below 20,000/mm3, and the number of blood transfusions required. There was no statistical difference in any of the parameters evaluated between the group that received total parenteral nutrition and the control group (p less than 0.05); granulocyte and platelet recovery and the difference in transfusion requirements favored the control group with marginal statistical significance (p = 0.05). The frequency of clinical infections was similar in the patients receiving total parenteral nutrition (five of 12) and in those receiving conventional oral nutrition (five of 15). Thus, although total parenteral nutrition could be safely administered in this severely myelosuppressed population, no benefit could be defined in recovery from bone marrow suppression or frequency of clinical infections.

Adolescent↗

The effects of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy on testicular function in men undergoing treatment for soft tissue sarcoma.

Testicular function was studied in 26 men with sarcoma who received adjuvant treatment with doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, and high-dose methotrexate (with or without radiotherapy). Testicular size, sperm output, and serum FSH, LH and testosterone levels were assessed after treatment. Five of 17 men who received chemotherapy or chemotherapy with radiotherapy to the neck, arm, chest, or leg, had normal testicular function. Eight of the remaining 12 men who provided ejaculates were oligospermic or azoospermic and serum FSH was increased threefold and LH twofold; testosterone levels were normal. In the five men with normal testicular function, FSH was increased fourfold during therapy but returned to normal six to 21 months after treatment. In men less than 40 years old, the mean FSH was less than that of men over 40 years of age (P = to 0.05), suggesting that recovery from the injury was age-related. By contrast, all nine men who received chemotherapy plus radiotherapy to the abdomen or thigh had decreased testicular size, azoospermia, fourfold increase in FSH, and twofold increase in LH levels; but testosterone concentration was normal. These data increase in FSH, and reversible testicular injury occurs after treatment with doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, and high-dose methotrexate; recovery is age-related. However, these agents in combination with use of adjuvant radiotherapy to the thigh or abdomen may produce permanent testicular injury even in young patients.

Adolescent↗

The effect of ultrasonics and thermal treatment on wounds.

A method of local treatment of wounds to accelerate healing would be a major benefit in those patients in whom abnormal healing is expected. Earlier studies has suggested that local ultrasonic treatment of wounds would stimulate the healing process. We have evaluated the effect of local ultrasound (5 MHz) and thermal treatments on healing in a dermal wound model. Various intensities of ultrasound and heat were employed for 5 min/day (0.05 W/cm2) and 10 min/day (0.05W/cm2), with healing assessed by wound breaking strength measurements obtained 14 days after injury. Subcutaneous temperature measurements demonstrated that equal intensities of ultrasound and heat produced equivalent temperature changes in the tissues. None of the treatments employed resulted in greater wound breaking strengths than the controls, and the higher intensities of ultrasound (0.1 and 0.15 W/cm2) and heat (0.15 W/cm2) resulted in decreased wound breaking strength. Our results failed to support brief daily treatments of local ultrasound or heat as stimulants of wound healing.

Animals↗

The effect of chemotherapeutic agents on wound healing.

A review of experimental studies of chemotherapeutic agents and wound healing has demonstrated impairment of healing by a wide variety of agents. The extent of impairment by several agents (corticosteroids, Adriamycin, methotrexate, and cyclophosphamide) is dependent upon the interval between administration and wounding. If given within three to four days of wounding significant impairment results, but beyond that interval, impairment is minimal. Studies in animals with some agents (adriamycin, nitrogen mustard, cyclophosphamide, and methotrexate) have shown a dose-dependent impairment of healing, but extrapolation of these doses to regimens employed in man is impossible. Information regarding complications of chemotherapeutic agents in wound healing in man is available from adjuvant studies. No increased frequency of complications from nitrogen mustard, thio-TEPA, or cyclophosphamide occurred, even when these agents were given in the immediate perioperative period. Increased wound complications occurred with 5-fluorouracil when a 60 mg/kg dose was begun seven days after surgery but not when it was begun 14 days after surgery. These results stress the need for continued attention to wound complication occurring in adjuvant studies, and suggest that delay of treatment until seven days after surgery should produce minimal impairment.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗

Effects of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy on ovarian function in women undergoing treatment for soft tissue sarcoma.

Ovarian function was evaluated in 11 women 16 to 43 years of age at treatment who received doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, and high doses of methotrexate with or without radiotherapy in adjuvant therapy of soft tissue sarcoma. Five women (16-33 yr old) who received chemotherapy alone or combined with radiotherapy only at sites distant from the ovaries (chest wall, thigh, and leg) had minimal menstrual irregularities or temporary cessation of menses during therapy; cyclic menses returned promptly after therapy. Gonadotropin levels (expressed as means +/- SD [follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), 10 +/- 5 mlU/ml; luteinizing hormone (LH), 10 +/- 4 mlU/ml] and 17 beta-estradiol (E2) levels (means +/- SD, 208 +/- 147 pg/ml) were normal. By contrast, 4 older women (ages 36-43 yr) who received similar treatment developed persistent amenorrhea with postmenopausal levels of gonadotropin (FSH, 108 +/- 29 mlU/ml; LH, 72 +/- 19 mlU/ml) and E2 (19 +/- 8 pg/ml). Two additional women (ages 21 and 39 yr) who received radiation (7,000 rad) to the pelvis plus chemotherapy developed prompt cessation of menses and became functional castrates (FSH, 77 and 80 mlU/ml; LH, 40 and 58 mlU/ml; E2, 10 and 19 pg/ml). However, this result would be expected from the radiation dose alone. The data demonstrated that ovarian dysfunction may follow the use of doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, and high doses of methotrexate and that the injury is age related.

Adolescent↗

Percutaneous biopsy of thoracic lesions in children.

Over the last 6 years, 15 percutaneous thoracic biopsies have been performed in 15 children. The peripheral nature of most of the lesions allowed ultrasound guidance in ten and needles larger than 21 gauge in ten. No pneumothorax developed. Of the 15, 12 biopsies were sufficient for final diagnosis; 3 required surgical biopsy for more definitive tissue typing.

Adolescent↗

Cystic neuroblastoma: emphasis on gene expression, morphology, and pathogenesis.

Cystic neuroblastoma (CN) is an unusual variant of neuroblastoma characterized by a grossly visible cyst(s) and almost always distinctive microcysts on light microscopy. Rarely, CN will appear solid grossly, but microcystification will be present. We examined the clinical, pathologic, and biologic features of 17 cases of CN. The majority of CN had been detected by prenatal ultrasound. The tumors were favorable stage, stroma-poor, but with low or intermediate mitotic-karyorhectic indices and had favorable biologic markers reflected by aneuploidy and by an absence of N-myc amplification and chromosome 1p deletions. However, the high trk expression typically identified in good risk tumors was absent. Although the complete natural history of CN is not fully defined, our experience suggests that some tumors progress in size, whereas others may spontaneously regress or mature. The clinical outcome is excellent, as is expected in localized and stage 4S neuroblastoma in infancy.

Adrenal Gland Neoplasms↗

Effects of high-dose methotrexate and vincristine on ovarian and testicular functions in patients undergoing postoperative adjuvant treatment of osteosarcoma.

We have studied gonadal function in five patients (three men and two women) who received high-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX) alone and in 12 patients (seven men and five women) who received HD-MTX and vincristine (VCR) as postoperative adjuvant therapy for osteosarcoma. Testicular function was assessed by determination of testicular size, sperm concentration, and serum follicle-stimulation hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and testosterone levels while evaluation of ovarian function was based on menstrual history and serum FSH, LH, estradiol, and progesterone levels. The two women who received HD-MTX and all five women who received HD-MTX and VCR had regular cyclic menses not only after therapy but also during treatment. Serum FSH, LH, estradiol, and progesterone levels were normal in all women studied. Among the ten men studied, testicular function was normal in the six patients evaluated initially several months after the completion of therapy. In contrast, severe oligospermia was noted among four men evaluated during and immediately after treatment. From serum samples obtained before, during, and after treatment we have determined that approximately one half of the men who received HD-MTX alone or in combination with VCR develop transient testicular failure associated with a significant increase in serum FSH but not LH levels. Sperm concentration and serum FSH levels then return to normal after completion of chemotherapy.

Adolescent↗