[Treatment patterns in advanced breast cancer with anthracycline and taxanes and their costs in three public hospitals of Mexico]. / Patrones de tratamiento y costo de atención del cáncer de mama avanzado con falla a antraciclinas y taxanos en 3 hospitales públicos de México.

OBJECTIVES: In Mexico, breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer mortality among females. For patients with advanced breast cancer (ABC) resistant to anthracyclines and taxanes (AT), there are limited treatment options. There is a scarcity of data regarding clinical management of this population and treatment costs at this stage of the disease. The objective of this study was to describe the treatment patterns of care for metastatic breast cancer after AT and the associated cost from the point-of-view of the Mexican Public Health Care Sector. METHODS: Between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2007, a retrospective cohort of adult female ABC patients resistant to AT was developed by reviewing and extracting key data from medical charts. We conducted a retrospective, transversal and descriptive analysis of the patient data. Target population data files were obtained from 414 patients from 3 public hospitals in México. RESULTS: Capecitabine, vinorelbine and cyclophosphamide were the most commonly prescribed agents, however clinical drug therapy management of the disease was different within and among the three hospitals included in the study. This difference translated into a disparity of prescription costs, ranging from an average of $122.22 pesos/patient/month (cyclophosphamide, IC 95% $94.43-$150.01) to $37,835.53 pesos/patient/month (capecitabine+trastuzumab IC 95% $34,953.18-$40,717.88) for the first treatment after AT. CONCLUSIONS: The results highlight a lack of standardized care for patients and suggest that differences in treatment patterns are not only a reflection of scarcity of scientific data and diversity of prescription preferences among physicians but also of economic restrictions. Ultimately, there is a clear unmet medical need to be addressed through evidence-based medicine alternatives that support efficacy and cost effectiveness treatments.

Prognostic factors in gallbladder and biliary tract cancer.

BACKGROUND: Cancers of the gallbladder and bile ducts are uncommon neoplasms with poor survival. Prognostic factors are not well defined because of the scant number of patients reported through series of cases. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of patients with cancer of the bile ducts and gallbladder between the years 1979 and 1998, and analyzed their characteristics according to location (gallbladder, extrahepatic biliary tract, intrahepatic biliary tract, and Klatskin tumors). RESULTS: One hundred and sixty-eight patients were included; the mean follow-up time was 238 +/- 54 d. The tumor found at more advanced stages was the biliary tract tumor. Overall survival time was 254 +/- 40 d. Location did not influence survival. The factors significantly associated to increased survival were age at diagnosis less than 50 yr (p = 0.0065), surgical treatment (p < 0.001), adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy (p < 0.001 and p = 0.0072, respectively), surgical treatment with curative purpose (p < 0.001), stage of the disease (p < 0.0001), absence of jaundice (p = 0.0425), and absence of weight loss (p = 0.0446). In the multivariate analysis the significant variables were age, surgical treatment, adjuvant chemotherapy, surgery with curative purpose, stage of the disease, and absence of jaundice. CONCLUSIONS: Cancers of the bile ducts are neoplasms known to have a poor prognosis. Chemotherapy was an independent survival factor despite the context, there is need of future studies to define its role on this disease.

Parámetros de práctica para el manejo del dolor en cáncer: Grupo de Consenso para el Manejo del Dolor en Cáncer / Practice guidelines for cancer pain management: Task Force for Cancer Pain Management

El dolor por cáncer es un problema frecuente en nuestro medio, se presenta en 80 a 90 % de los pacientes y en aproximadamente 90 % de ellos se resuelve con medidas relativamente sencillas. No obstante, aproximadamente 40 % de los pacientes se encuentra insatisfecho con el médico o la enfermera respecto al manejo de su dolor. Por tal motivo, se convocó a un grupo de consenso con la finalidad de generar parámetros de práctica clínica fundamentados en la evidencia publicada y en la opinión de los expertos. Este grupo estuvo integrado por 31 médicos líderes de opinión es este campo, quienes con base en 599 documentos emitieron esta serie de recomendaciones, identificadas cada una según su nivel de evidencia.

Cancer pain is a frequent medical problem in our society. This syndrome affects from 80 to 90% of cancer patients and can be solved with relatively simple measures in 90% of the cases. Approximately 40% of cancer patients reported to be unsatisfied with the physician or nurse about their pain management. For these reasons, we gathered a task force in order to generate practice guidelines based on medical evidence and on the opinion of experts in this area. These guidelines were generated by a task force of 31 physicians who were leaders in this field and based on 599 papers selected by a previous literature search. This group evaluated the results of this search in three work sessions, during which a level of evidence was assigned to each recommendation.

Neoplasias malignas en receptores de trasplante renal / Malignant neoplasias in renal transplantation recipients

Malignancy following renal transplantation is an important medical problem during the long-term follow-up. The overall incidence of cancer at this group of patients is 3 to 5 times higher than the expected incidence in general population by age. The most common malignancies are skin carcinomas and lymphomas. There is retrospective experience in many reports about the association between the intensity of immunosuppression and the higher frequency of malignancy, besides other factors. In our Institution we found similar experience than other series, with 8.28%, of development of malignancies in a follow-up of 7.28 years. We found lower latency with three-drug immunosuppression than with two. To reduce the development of malignancies after renal transplantation must be one of the objectives in future immunossupressive therapy, mainly in the setting of new immunosuppressive drugs like rapamycin.

Las neoplasias malignas después del trasplante renal son una de las complicaciones tardías más graves. La incidencia global de cáncer en este grupo de pacientes es de tres a cinco veces mayor que la esperada para la población general por grupo de edad. Las neoplasias malignas más frecuentes son el cáncer de piel y los linfomas. Hay evidencia retrospectiva en diferentes series de la asociación entre el grado de inmunosupresión y la frecuencia del desarrollo de neoplasias, aunque también pudieran intervenir otros factores. En nuestro Instituto la experiencia encontrada es similar a la reportada en otras series, con 8.28% de neoplasias desarrolladas en un seguimiento promedio de 7.28 años. El tiempo de latencia fue menor con inmunosupresión con tres drogas que con dos. La reducción de las neoplasias postrasplante debe ser uno de los objetivos de las futuras terapias inmunosupresoras, entre las que se encuentran drogas como la rapamicina.

[Malignant neoplasias in renal transplantation recipients]. / Neoplasias malignas en receptores de trasplante renal.

Malignancy following renal transplantation is an important medical problem during the long-term follow-up. The overall incidence of cancer at this group of patients is 3 to 5 times higher than the expected incidence in general population by age. The most common malignancies are skin carcinomas and Iymphomas. There is retrospective experience in many reports about the association between the intensity of immunosuppression and the higher frequency of malignancy, besides other factors. In our Institution we found similar experience than other series, with 8.28%, of development of malignancies in a follow-up of 7.28 years. We found lower latency with three-drug immunosuppression than with two. To reduce the development of malignancies after renal transplantation must be one of the objectives in future immunossuppressive therapy, mainly in the setting of new immunosuppressive drugs like rapamycin.

[Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related lymphoma: 1. Course during the 20 years of the epidemic. 2. The experience at the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán: 1986-2003]. / Linfomas no-Hodgkin asociados a SIDA: 1. Evolución durante los 20 años de la pandemia. 2. Experiencia en el INCMNSZ.

The goal of this presentation is the description of the epidemiologic evolution and changes in natural history of the human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV) epidemic itself and its relation with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related lymphoma (ARL). We have started with the description of the world's state of the HIV epidemic, its features since the first case report in the United States of America in 1981, through the peak of new diagnoses in 1993 until the event that changed the natural history of the disease: the era of the widespread use of the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), introduced in 1995 in the world and in 1997 in our country. The widespread introduction of HAART led to dramatic reductions in AIDS related mortality and morbidity throughout the developed world with a marked fall in the incidence of the major opportunistic infections in AIDS. We describe the main risk factors for the development of ARL, and the prognostic factors for survival and response to treatment. There is no clear definition in the literature of the roll that has played the use of HAART in relation to survival and response to treatment in ARL, but there is evidence that the basal count of CD4 cells has increased with HAART, leading to a better survival and response in ARL. The debate regarding this issue is surely affected by factors such as degree of antiretroviral treatment compliance, antiretroviral therapy resistance and chemotherapy heterogeneity. Finally we present the preliminary results of the analysis of our experience in ARL from 1986 to 2003.

Linfomas no-Hodgkin asociados a SIDA: 1. Evolución durante los 20 años de la pandemia. 2. Experiencia en el INCMNSZ / Acquired inmunodeficiency syndrome-related lymphoma: 1.Evolution during the 20 years of the epidemic. 2. The experience at the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán: 1986-2003

El objetivo de esta revisión es situar la evolución epidemiológica y la historia natural de los linfomas no-Hodgkin (LNH) asociados a síndrome de inmunodeficiencia humana adquirida (SIDA) dentro del contexto de la evolución de la pandemia originada por la infección del virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana (VIH). Inicialmente realizamos una descripción del panorama mundial desde la aparición del primer caso de infección por VIH en 1981, el pico de la epidemia en 1993 y el evento que cambió la historia natural de la enfermedad: la terapia antirretroviral altamente efectiva (TARAE), introducida en 1995 en el mundo y en 1997 en nuestro país. Presentamos evidencia clara de la disminución en la mortalidad de pacientes con infección por VIH/SIDA y su relación paralela con la reducción en la frecuencia de las tres infecciones oportunistas (neumonía por Pneumocystis carinii, enfermedad por el complejo Mycobacterium avium y retinitis por citomegalovirus) más frecuentes en esta enfermedad. Describimos los factores de riesgo para padecer LNH en pacientes con VIH/SIDA y los factores pronósticos de supervivencia y remisión en estos pacientes. Señalamos también que se ha incrementado proporcionalmente el diagnóstico de SIDA definido por la presencia de LNH a partir del uso de TARAE. No está claramente definido en la literatura que la supervivencia de los pacientes con LNH asociados a SIDA haya cambiado significativamente a partir del uso de TARAE, pero existen evidencias que sugieren que la cuenta basal de linfocitos CD4 se ha visto incrementada con TARAE, redundando esto en una mejoría en la tasa de remisiones completas y supervivencia de los pacientes con LNH asociados a SIDA. La falta de congruencia en la literatura a este respecto posiblemente esté matizada por factores como apego a terapia antirretroviral, surgimiento de resistencia a la misma y heterogeneidad en los tratamientos de quimioterapia que han recibido estos pacientes. Existen muchas controversias en cuanto al tipo de quimioterapia que deben recibir los pacientes con LNH asociados a SIDA de reciente diagnóstico, que van desde la reducción o no de las dosis estándar de quimioterapia, la combinación temporal de ésta con TARAE, el uso de inmunoterapia conjuntamente con TARAEy quimioterapia. Finalmente, presentamos los resultados preliminares del análisis de la experiencia de nuestra Institución en LNH asociados a SIDA desde 1986 hasta diciembre del 2003.

The goal of this presentation is the description of the epidemiologic evolution and changes in natural history of the human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV) epidemic itself and its relation with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related lymphoma (ARL). We have started with the description of the world's state of the HIV epidemic, its features since the first case report in the United States of America in 1981, through the peak of new diagnoses in 1993 until the event that changed the natural history of the disease: the era of the widespread use of the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), introduced in 1995 in the world and in 1997 in our country. The widespread introduction of HAART led to dramatic reductions in AIDS related mortality and morbidity throughout the developed world with a marked fall in the incidence of the major opportunistic infections in AIDS. We describe the main risk factors for the development of ARL, and the prognostic factors for survival and response to treatment. There is no clear definition in the literature of the roll that has played the use of HAART in relation to survival and response to treatment in ARL, but there is evidence that the basal count of CD4 cells has increased with HAART, leading to a better survival and response in ARL. The debate regarding this issue is surely affected by factors such as degree of antiretroviral treatment compliance, antiretroviral therapy resistance and chemotherapy heterogeneity. Finally we present the preliminary results of the analysis of our experience in ARL from 1986 to 2003.