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Biomedical subjects

S Ludgate

Publications and source records attributed to S Ludgate.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

Breast implants: is there an association with connective tissue disease?

Following concern over a suggested link between the implantation of silicone gel and connective tissue disease, the Medical Devices Directorate (MDD) of the Department of Health reviewed all available data for submission to a specially convened Expert Advisory Group. Animal studies indicated that silicones are unlikely to stimulate a specific antibody response or cell-mediated immunity, that they have no adverse effect on resistance to infection, and produce minimal effects in the presence of potent adjuvants but can act as adjuvants themselves. The connective tissue disease most commonly claimed to be associated with breast implants is scleroderma. Although one series of patients showed a significantly higher prevalence of this disease than expected, there is no clear indication that the incidence of scleroderma in women with breast implants is any higher than in the general population.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Five-year results of a controlled study of BCG immunotherapy after surgical resection in bronchogenic carcinoma.

Ninety-two patients with histologically confirmed bronchogenic carcinoma treated by surgical resection of the tumour were subsequently given immunotherapy with BCG (Glaxo). The patients were randomly allocated into three groups. Twenty-nine patients received multipuncture BCG (50 to 250 X 10(6) viable units), and twenty-six patients intradermal BCG (0.4 to 0.9 X 10(6) viable units), treatment being given at 1, 2, 6, 9, 13, 26, and 52 weeks after operation. Thirty-seven control patients did not receive any BCG immunotherapy; two patients in the control group were lost to follow-up. The overall five-year survival in all groups was 37%. Favourable prognostic features were squamous carcinoma (45% five-year survival), the absence of involved mediastinal nodes at operation (46%), and lobectomy (45%), but even the presence of involved mediastinal nodes was associated with a 19% five-year survival. There were no statistically significant differences between the survival of the control group and either group treated by immunotherapy considered individually or in combination. The influence of the presence of positive mediastinal lymph nodes and the extent of surgical resection on survival was not affected by immunotherapy. No serious side-effects of immunotherapy were encountered.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Fluorouracil cardiotoxicity.

Our of 140 patients treated with intravenous 5-fluorouracil, four developed ischaemic chest pain within 18 hours of either the second or third dose. In three of these patients the pain recurred after subsequent doses. Predose electrocardiograms in two cases were normal. None of the four patients had a history of ischaemic heart disease, although all had received left ventricular irradiation. Although cardiotoxicity is a rare complication of fluorouracil treatment, it merits wider recognition.

Adult↗