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Biomedical subjects

U Fink

Publications and source records attributed to U Fink.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Nonspecific immunostimulation with low doses of cyclophosphamide (LDCY), thymostimulin, and Echinacea purpurea extracts (echinacin) in patients with far advanced colorectal cancers: preliminary results.

Outpatients (n = 15) with metastasizing far advanced colorectal cancers received immunotherapy consisting of low-dose cyclophosphamide (LDCY) 300 mg/m2 every 28 days i.v., thymostimulin 30 mg/m2, days 3-10 after low-dose cyclophosphamide i.m. once daily, then twice a week, and echinacin 60 mg/m2 together with thymostimulin i.m. All patients had had previous surgery and/or chemotherapy and had progressive disease upon entering the study. Two months after onset of therapy a partial tumor regression was documented in one and a stable disease in 6 other patients by abdominal ultrasonography, decrease of the tumor markers carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), CA 19-9, CA 15-3, and/or chest roentgenography, which may also be attributed to the natural course of disease. Mean survival time was 4 months, 2 patients survived for more than 8 months. Immunotherapy was well tolerated by all patients without side effects.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗
PubMed1992

Visualization of multimodal image information in medicine.

Radiological and clinical practice can be enhanced by improved access to multimodal image informations. Analysis, visualization, method characteristic image processing and image synthesis is needed not only for the interpretation of the images but also for performing effective consultations with clinical colleagues and computer supported therapy planning and control strategies. The distributed system RADVIS (radiological visualization) is presented which enables the fast display, three dimensional visualization and the modality oriented analysis of multimodal image informations. Based on a unique image format, modality specific evaluation procedures and two- or three dimensional processing tools of image analysis produce the input data for therapy planning programs. The easy use of this multimedia visualisation tool enables radiologists and clinicians to deal with their image data. The description of methods and procedures of the prototype, as well as typical examples of radiologic practice will demonstrate the efficiency of the presented system.

Humans↗
PubMed1992

Biochemical modulation of 5-fluorouracil by folinic acid or alpha-interferon with and without other cytostatic drugs in gastric, esophageal, and pancreatic cancer.

5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) is one of the important antineoplastic agents for the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers. The biochemical modulation of 5-FU by various drugs has brought about the two combinations of 5-FU/folinic acid (FA) and 5-FU/alpha-interferon (IFN), which have shown clinical activity in phase II and III trials, especially in colorectal cancer. The experience with both combinations in upper gastrointestinal cancers, however, is limited. In esophageal cancer, two phase II studies with 5-FU/IFN reported seven (27%) objective remissions in 26 patients, indicating superiority of 5-FU/IFN over 5-FU monotherapy. Trials with 5-FU/FA alone are lacking in esophageal cancer. The modulation of 5-FU by IFN or FA failed to show clinically significant activity in pancreatic cancer. However, in gastric cancer, 5-FU/FA and 5-FU/IFN seem to induce higher complete and overall remission rates in advanced gastric cancer compared with 5-FU alone. With the daily times five schedule of 5-FU/FA, 27% objective remissions were achieved; in combination with other cytotoxic drugs, such as etoposide, anthracyclines, cisplatin, mitomycin, or methotrexate, objective response rates up to 50% and more were reported.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗
PubMed1991

New developments in the treatment of gastric carcinoma.

The recent successes being achieved with combination chemotherapy regimens strongly indicate that gastric cancer is chemosensitive. With these regimens, objective remission rates of more than 50% were recorded, including approximately 10% complete remission (CRs). The finding that locally advanced disease (LAD) and technically unresectable disease could be rendered resectable by preoperative chemotherapy (EAP) was important. The median survival time was 18 months for all patients and 24 months for disease-free patients. At 30+ months, 21% of all patients are still living disease free. The expected survival of patients with unresectable LAD is approximately 4-6 months without any treatment and 6-9 months with standard chemotherapy. Compared with the latter results, the preoperative use of etoposide, adriamycin, and platinum (EAP) seems to improve the prognosis of patients with LAD. Moreover, such a multimodal approach may increase the number of long-term survivors among patients with resectable gastric cancer, especially those whose stage indicates a high risk of relapse (stage IIIa or IIIb). However, partly because of the severe toxicities (myelo-suppression, nausea/vomiting), a considerable number of patients cannot be treated with these new regimens. Considering the predominantly palliative treatment intentions in far-advanced (metastasized) gastric cancer, regimens with low toxicities and acceptable activity should be preferred. For these reasons, we developed and investigated the combination etoposide, leucovorin, and 5-FU (ELF) in a phase II trial in elderly patients (greater than 65 years) and in patients with cardiac risks who could not be treated with anthracyclines. The overall response rate in 51 evaluable patients was 53%, including six clinical CRs (12%). The median remission duration was 9.5 months and the median survival time was 11 months. Tolerability was excellent. The high remission rate and long medical survival time achieved with ELF, plus its good tolerability, make this combination a valuable alternative to anthracycline-containing regimens. In addition to developing new treatment plans and strategies, it is also desirable to predict treatment outcome with an acceptable degree of certainty. Combinations of variable defined patient subgroups with significantly different probabilities for achieving objective response and for survival. The results of this analysis may contribute to a more patient-oriented and risk-adapted chemotherapy and to better comparability of future studies.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗
PubMed1991

[Digital peripheral angiography with pace shifting and subtraction. Comparison with the standard procedure].

In a prospective randomised study including 60 patients digital peripheral angiography with stepping and subtraction (DPSA) was compared to DPA without subtraction (DPA), DSA without stepping and conventional angiography. Using conventional angiography, complementary series were necessary in 8 out of 20 patients. This number could be reduced to 3 out of 20 patients using DPSA and DSA respectively. Examination time could thus be shortened by about 20%. The amount of contrast medium could also be reduced by 15 to 20%. Both digital subtraction techniques supplied superior image quality especially in the lower limb in comparison with conventional and digital peripheral angiography without subtraction. X-ray exposure was similar for conventional angiography and DPSA. DSA without subtraction revealed a three times increased dose. Our results indicate that DPA with the possibility of image subtraction is a desirable new technique and might become the method of choice in peripheral angiography in the future.

Angiography↗
PubMed1991

[The methods and place of digital subtraction arthrography of the hip in detecting endoprosthesis loosening].

Digital subtraction arthrography (DSAr) of the operated hip is presented and compared to nuclide bone scan and plain radiograph. Surgical proof was obtained in 47 patients. In the evaluation DSAr proved to be superior to nuclide bone scan and plain radiograph. DSAr had the best predictive value in the diagnosis of loosening of a prosthesis. In contrast to conventional arthrography there is a better differentiation between the contrast medium, the prosthesis, the acrylic cement and the bone by using DSAr. In addition DSAr presents the advantage of postprocessing, especially pixel shift.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Digital imaging and picture archiving and communication systems.

Great progress has been made in digital imaging of the chest. Most studies are dealing with computed radiography. Chest radiography in the intensive care unit may, in most cases, be performed using computed radiography. However, subtle pulmonary interstitial disease can be demonstrated less confidently using computed radiography. Significantly better detection of calcified lung nodules can be obtained by using simplified single-exposure dual-energy technique that uses storage phosphor. The wide latitude of computed radiography permits images of high quality in areas other than chest radiography. Encouraging results are presented especially in the diagnostic evaluation of scoliosis and other musculoskeletal abnormalities. An important technical innovation in digital radiography is an improved method for single-exposure dual-energy digital imaging using prefiltration with gadolinium, a cassette consisting of four photostimulable phosphor plates, spatially dependent scatter and beam hardening corrections, and noise reduction algorithm. Other groups tested algorithms for enhancement of digital images that allowed significant data compression. The implementation of picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) is inevitable; the question concerning PACS implementation is not why, but when. A comparison of the cost-effectiveness of PACS with conventional film archiving and communication systems shows that PACS should provide indirect savings when regarding the hidden costs of conventional systems. Much more experience will be needed before there is general agreement on the best design for the radiologist's workstation. Teleradiology should contribute to radiologic consultation for remote locations, because it improves the efficacy of management of patients in such locations.

Child↗
PubMed1990

High dose folinic acid/etoposide/5-fluorouracil in advanced gastric cancer--a phase II study in elderly patients or patients with cardiac risk.

Thirty-four consecutive patients with measurable advanced gastric cancer were treated in a disease oriented Phase II study with high-dose folinic acid (HDFA) 300 mg/m2 10 min. inf., followed immediately by etoposide 120 mg/m2 50 min. inf., followed immediately by 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) 500 mg/m2 10 min. inf., given on day 1,2,3 (ELF). Courses were repeated every 22-28 days. All patients who entered this study were older than 65 years or had underlying cardiac disease. Thirty-three patients were evaluable for response and toxicity (greater than or equal to 1 course). One patient was lost to follow up. The overall response rate was 48% (16/23) including 12% (4/33) complete remissions. Eight patients had minor responses or no change and 9 had progressive disease. Five of six patients with locally advanced and non-resectable disease had an objective response (1 CR, 4 PR's). The response rate in patients with metastatic disease was 41% (11/27). After a median observation time of 6.5 months, the median survival time was 10.5 months, with a median remission (CR + PR) duration of 8 months. Toxicity was manageable and included mild to moderate myelosuppression and gastrointestinal toxicities. One episode of life-threatening (Grade IV) leukopenia, and two episodes of severe diarrhea requiring hydration were noted. No treatment related death occurred. ELF is an effective combination in advanced gastric cancer and can be safely administered to elderly patients and patients with cardiac risk.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

[Ondansetron (GR 38032F), a competitive 5-HT3 receptor antagonist as an antiemetic in cytostatic drug-induced nausea and vomiting. An open, substance-oriented phase II/III study].

In an open, drug-oriented phase-II/III-study 24 patients were treated with the 5-HT3-antagonist Ondansetron as an antiemetic drug for chemotherapy-induced nausea and emesis. Patients with treatment regimen containing cisplatin were excluded. All patients had suffered from severe nausea and vomiting under conventional antiemetic drugs during a previous identical chemotherapy cycle and were treated with 8 mg Ondansetron t.d. on the day of the chemotherapy and on the four following days. The drug was given with 90 cytostatic cycles ranging from 1 to 14 cycles per patient. Only 2 patients (8%) did not experience an improvement of their symptoms in any of the treatment cycles as measured by a self-conducted grading of nausea and by the frequency of vomiting in comparison to a previous treatment cycle under conventional antiemetic therapy. Eleven out of 18 patients, who were treated with Ondansetron more than once (61%) noted a diminished frequency of vomiting in each treatment cycle with Ondansetron. Sixty of the 90 therapy cycles with Ondansetron resulted in complete (no vomiting) or major (one to two vomits within 24 h following chemotherapy) protection from emesis (37 and 29 per cent, respectively). The most frequent side effect noted was obstipation (7 patients), followed by slight diffuse abdominal pain (4 patients, probably also due to chemotherapy) and slight to severe headache (3 patients, 1 patient was therefore withdrawn from the study). No other side effects were seen. In conclusion, our study indicates that Ondansetron is an effective and safe drug for the treatment of cytostatic drug-induced nausea and vomiting.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

[Perioperative chemotherapy of stomach cancer].

Surgery is the treatment of choice in early stages of gastric carcinoma. Systemic chemotherapy (CTx) is indicated in unresectable and metastatic disease. New studies have shown that CTx perioperatively improved median survival times compared with surgery alone in locally advanced, technically inoperable tumors. Moreover CTx induced resectability in 47-80% of the patients. Therefore, younger patients in these stages of disease should be treated with effective CTx, such as EAP, in order to induce objective remissions so that residual tumor masses can be surgically removed.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗
PubMed1990

[Surgical oncology--oncologic surgery].

Oncologic surgery still is the fundamental principle of cancer therapy. This is only useful when leading to a complete tumor extirpation (so-called R0-resection). Under these conditions an improvement of prognosis can be achieved. Unfortunately this aim can only be reached in some 50-70% of our patients. For all the other patients non-surgical therapy in surgery has to be secured by oncologic surgery. A most interesting development takes at present the preoperative chemotherapy or radiation therapy respectively. The aim is down-staging of the tumor to make a final R0-resection possible after all.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1990

[Perioperative chemotherapy of squamous cell cancer of the esophagus].

In the majority of patients with esophageal cancer local tumor infiltration and/or distant metastases are responsible for the poor prognosis. Therefore to improve life expectancy additional modalities--chemotherapy alone or in combination with simultaneous radiation--have been introduced perioperatively. In spite of a possible increase of resectability convincing data are lacking which could argue for an uncontrolled introduction of the neoadjuvant approach outside investigational studies in early tumor stages (T1, T2).

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗