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R Doci

Publications and source records attributed to R Doci.

89 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

[Uro-radiographic investigations in patients with tumors in the large bowel (author's transl)].

At the Istituto Nazionale Tumori, from 1970 to 1974, 154 patients with cancer of the large bowel underwent urography; 80 cases before surgery and 74 after surgery. Preoperative findings, correlated with neoplasia, were found in 4 patients, while non-neoplastic lesions were found in 32 patients. During postoperative evaluation, 21 patients showed lesions by locoregional diffusion of the neoplasia with involvement of the ureters especially by metastatic nodes. Less frequent was the finding of bladder involvement. 30 patients presented lesions due to surgery. Urography is useful for evaluating patients with neoplasia of the large bowel, especially after surgery and during follow-up.

Anus Neoplasms↗

[Reliability and value of diagnostic lymphography in carcinoma of the sigmoid, rectum and anus (author's transl)].

From 1963 to 1973, 253 patients with cancer of the sigmoid, rectum and anus underwent diagnostic lymphography at the Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan. In 218 patients lymphography was performed as part of the intial diagnostic work-up, while in 35 it was done during the follow up period, after surgery. The accuracy of radio-histological correlation was 95%. This confirms the reliability of diagnostic lymphography and its clinical usefulness. In view of these results, this diagnostic tool is essential in the initial evaluation in patients with carcinoma of the anus, because lymphography was superior (28%) to the clinical inspection (6%) in the evaluation of the inguino-iliac lymph nodes. Lymphography is also useful in rectal cancer since it permits, in case of nodal metastases, selection of a group of patients in whom the therapeutic program should be revised. The exam is useless in cancer of the sigmoid. In the small group of patients who had lymphography in the follow up period, this technique was the only to show, in symptomatic patients, the presence of pelvic and/or para-aortic nodal metastases. Lymphography is also useful in these patients for the evaluation of the results of the radio/chemotherapy on involved nodes.

Anus Neoplasms↗

[Clinical examination and 131 Cs scanning in the diagnosis of cold nodules of the thyroid (author's transl)].

The usefulness of 131Cs scanning in preoperative diagnosis of 131I cold nodules of the thyroid that present no clear clinical sign of malignancy is discussed. The results of clinical examination of 283 thyroid nodules, associated in 139 cases with 131Cs scanning, are correlated with the histologic nature. In nodules that were classifided as cold, warm or hot in the 131Cs scan, the incidence of malignancy was 2.6, 12.3 and 25%, respectively. In the nodules that, on the basis of clinical examination, were classified as probably benign, dubious or suspected for malignancy, the incidence of cancer was, respectively, 3.6, 26.3 and 72.7%. Malignancy ocurred in 16 of 144 patients that were selected for surgical treatment only on the basis of clinical data and in 17 of 139 patients that were selected on the basis of clinical examination associated with 131Cs scanning. The accuracy of clinical preoperative diagnosis of thyroid cold nodules does not seem to be significantly improved by association of 131Cs scanning.

Adolescent↗

Thyroid cancer in childhood.

From 1956 to 1975 21 patients (13 females and 8 males) with thyroid cancer developed by age 14 have been observed at the Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan. Follicular adenocarcinoma was diagnosed in 4 cases and papillary adenocarcinoma in 17. Five patients (24%) had been given previous cervical irradiation for benign conditions. At admission lung metastases were evident in 2 patients (one affected by follicular and the other by papillary adenocarcinoma). All patients were submitted to surgical treatment, which in most cases consisted in total thyroidectomy plus elective lymph node dissection; serious postoperative complications were not observed. External irradiation was given to 4 patients, since surgery had not been radical. Radioiodine treatment was performed in the 2 patients with lung metastases: in the patient with follicular adenocarcinoma metastases disappeared after 131I treatment, whereas in the other one they still persist unmodified 10 years later. A local recurrence occurred in 3 cases and pulmonary metastases in one: all of them made an apparent recovery after surgical and/or radioiodine treatment. All patients are alive and, except one, without evidence of disease after a follow-up period from 14 months to 21 years. Although differences in evolution have been noted according to the histotype, the prognosis of thyroid cancer in childhood is good, even if distant metastases are present.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Feasibility of intraportal chemotherapy with fluorouracil and folinic acid immediately after hepatic resection for colorectal metastases.

BACKGROUND: About 50% of recurrence after resection of hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer remain confined to the liver. Adjuvant locoregional treatments could reduce the failure rate, but these treatments have been scantily investigated. Experimental models have shown that both intra-arterial chemotherapy (IAC) and intraportal chemotherapy (IPC) in adjuvant setting were able to reduce metastatic growth, but IPC should be initiated in the immediate postoperative period. AIMS: To evaluate the feasibility of immediate postoperative IPC of fluorouracil (5-FU) plus folinic acid (FA) in a consecutive series of patients undergoing hepatic resection for metastatic colorectal cancer. METHODS: Forty-three consecutive patients underwent hepatic resection. The first 25 (Control Group = CG) received only surgery; the latter 18 (Treated Group = TG) were candidate to postoperative IPC of 5-FU 750 mg/m2 plus FA 20 mg/m2/day continuous infusion for 8 days. One patient was not treated owing to bleeding, thus only 17 received the treatment. RESULTS: Postoperative morbidity was 14%, equally distributed in both groups. Biochemical hepatic parameters of TG were not statistically different from those of CG. Five patients (29%) developed systemic toxicity: one hematologic grade 4; 3 mucositis grade 3 and one allergic erythema. Three of these patients had been treated by systemic chemotherapy less than one year before. DISCUSSION: IPC of 5-FU plus FA in the immediate postoperative period has not yet been tested. The schedule we have investigated neither affected the postoperative outcome, nor influenced hepatic function and regeneration. Systemic toxicity was evident and severe mainly in patients already pretreated by systemic chemotherapy. In these patients, however, toxicity did not affect further outcome. This study confirms the feasibility of immediate intraportal chemotherapy after hepatic resection.

Adult↗

Management of complications from hepatobiliary surgery using the percutaneous transjejunal approach.

PURPOSE: The work was aimed at presenting the indications, techniques and results of the percutaneous transjejunal approach to the biliary tree in patients with hepatobiliary complications due to surgery. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Ten patients, 7 males and 3 females, mean age 50 years (range, 10-62) with hepatico-jejunostomy, who developed cholangitis together with jaundice or bile leakage, underwent this procedure, performed through the anastomotic loop that was not surgically anchored to the abdominal wall in all cases but one. The transjejunal approach was chosen because of non-dilated bile ducts in 3 patients, complex pathologic situations in 5 patients and to avoid complications to a transplanted liver in 2 patients. The jejunal loop was identified using CT, US and fluoroscopy in 4 patients and after its opacification in the remaining 6 (by percutaneous transhepatic or intravenous cholangiography or fistulography). RESULTS: The procedure was technically and diagnostically successful in all cases. Therapeutic procedures (stenting, dilation, litholysis) were also performed using the transjejunal approach in 7 patients and in 6 of them complete pathological resolution was achieved. There were no complications. CONCLUSIONS: Different pathologies of the biliary tree, in patients with bilio-enteric anastomoses, have been identified and treated by this technique; they were fistulas, anastomotic and/or multiple segmental benign or malignant stenoses of the bile duct, and diffuse intrahepatic lithiasis. The procedure was safe and reliable.

Adult↗

Radio-chemotherapy of anal cancer.

Conventional treatment of anal cancer has been the demolitive Miles operation for decades. Radiotherapy has been utilized in a limited number of centers for early cancers only. Radio-chemotherapy has become the treatment of choice for all stages of anal cancer after the first experiences by the group of Detroit and after the confirmation of successful results by many other centers. Infusional chemotherapy (5-FU and Mitomycin C or CDDP) and concurrent irradiation are able to achieve local control in more than 80% of patients. Surgery currently represents a rescue treatment for partial responders or in relapsing patients. A brief review of the literature and the experience at the Istituto Tumori in Milano are presented.

Anus Neoplasms↗

Prognostic factors in colorectal cancer.

Prognostic factors should always be taken into consideration before planning treatment. As reported in the literature, and also in our experience, the extent of intestinal wall invasion and the lymph node status must be considered the most important prognostic factors. In the present paper the data from literature are reported and the impact of biologic factors is analyzed. We are convinced that in the future the biological factors of the tumor as well as of the patient should be considered in planning treatment.

Biomarkers, Tumor↗

[Topical ampicilin and local infectious complications in oncological surgery].

420 consecutive patients having clean surgical operations were studied: 210 of them, selected at random, received 0.5-1 g of ampicillin into the wound before closure, the remainder being controls. Patients were examined for wound infection during the first postoperative week, in line with the opinion that topical antibiotic treatment can afford significant protection against wound infection caused by peroperative contamination. Wound infection has been defined as a local inflammation (redness and hyperthermia), usually with fever and/or discharge of pus. In some doubtful cases, a longer observation period was necessary to obtain a correct interpretation. Four out of 210 clean wounds (1.9%) became infected in the patients receiving ampicillin compared with 12 out of 210 (5.7%) in the control group. The difference could have arisen by chance less that one in a hundred times (p less than 0.01). It is our opinion therefore that after clean operations, the higher the risk of local infection, the more effective the topical use of antibiotics.

Administration, Topical↗

Cavitron Ultrasonic Surgical Aspirator (CUSA) in liver resection.

At the Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan, the Cavitron Ultrasonic Surgical Aspirator (CUSA) was employed to perform hepatic resections in 34 patients with primary or secondary liver tumors. The use of CUSA has proved to be very efficient and safe. In lobectomies and extended lobectomies average bleeding was 685 cc with a mean resection time of 28 minutes. In segmentectomies, average bleeding was 540 cc with a mean resection time of 22 minutes. Comparing these data with those we previously obtained in hepatic resections using traditional methods (digitoclasia), it appears that despite overall operative times suffering no significant variation, a considerable reduction in bleeding was obtained, together with a notable fall in post-operative complications.

Adolescent↗

Prognostic factors for survival and disease-free survival in hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer treated by resection.

The prognostic factors of 219 patients submitted to Ro hepatic resection for colorectal metastases have been statistically analyzed. The overall 5-year actuarial survival rate was 24% and the 5-year disease-free survival rate was 18%. At univariate analysis four variables resulted significant: 1) The stage of primary colorectal cancer: if the meserentic lymph nodes were metastatic (Dukes C) or uninvolved (Dukes B) 5-year survival was respectively 16 and 38% (p < 0.001). 2) The percentage of hepatic replacement: the 5-year survival rate of patients with H1 (< 25%), H2 (25-50%) and H3 (> 50%) was 27, 16 and 8% respectively (p < 0.001). 3) The number of metastases: the 5-year survival of patients with 1, 2-3, > 3 hepatic nodules was 29, 21 and 17% respectively (p < 0.05). 4) The extent of surgical resection: 5-year survival after minor and major resection was 28 and 18% respectively (p < 0.05). At multivariate analysis only stage of primary and percentage of hepatic replacement retained statistical significance. In 60% of 154 patients with recurrent disease the liver was again involved.

Analysis of Variance↗

[Liver metastasis. Clinico-pathological prognostic factors in metastasis from colorectal cancer].

Hepatic Metastases (HM) from colorectal cancer represents one of the main problems of oncologic treatment: from 80 to 90 percent of patients undergo chemotherapy and a minority hepatic resection. The natural history of patients with unresectable HM has been recently investigated by uni and multivariate analyses; the percentage of hepatic replacement, the stage and grade of primary colorectal tumours, alkaline phosphatase and the presence of extrahepatic disease proved to be the most important independent prognostic factors. Albumin and carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) levels, age and weight loss of patients were also prognostic. The groups of patients with more favourable factors had a median survival ranging from 21 to 35 months, in contrast to a median survival of 4 to 8 months for those with adverse factors. The outcome of more than 3400 patients submitted to hepatic resection, has been investigated. At multivariate analysis twelve variables resulted independently related to prognosis: stage of primary tumour, extent of liver involvement and presence of extrahepatic metastases were considered to be the most important. The knowledge of prognostic factors is extremely important in selecting patients candidated to various treatments, to interpret the results and to plan new therapeutic strategies.

Colorectal Neoplasms↗

[Liver metastasis: therapeutic strategy].

The liver is one of the most frequent sites of metastatic growth, in particular from digestive malignancies (DM). The first goal is to reduce the incidence of metastases. Adjuvant systemic chemotherapies have been demonstrated to reduce the recurrence rate and to improve survival in Dukes C colon cancer. Fluorouracil is the pivot of adjuvant treatment modulated by Leucovorin or Levamisol. A short postoperative administration of fluorouracil by intraportal route has been tested, but the results are controversial. Adjuvant treatments for different DM are under investigation. When hepatic metastases are clinically evident, therapeutic decisions depend on several factors: site and nature of primary, extent of hepatic and extrahepatic disease, patient characteristics, efficacy of treatments. A staging system should be adopted to allow a rational approach. In selected cases a locoregional treatment can achieve consistent results. Hepatic Intrarterial Chemotherapy (HIAC) for colorectal metastases achieves objective responses in more than 50% of patients. Survival seems positively affected. When feasible, Ro hepatic resection is the most effective treatment, five-year survival rate being about 30% when metastases are from colorectal cancer. Since the liver is the most frequent site of recurrence after resection, repeat resection have been successfully performed.

Humans↗