Benzydamine for prophylaxis of radiation-induced oral mucositis in head and neck cancers: a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial.

We evaluated the efficacy of benzydamine oral rinse for prevention of radiation-induced mucositis. Patients with head and neck cancers, who were referred in 2004-2005, received an oral rinse of either benzydamine or placebo. One hundred patients were randomized in this trial. At the end of the study, 19 patients were excluded from the analysis because they did not use the medication for the assigned period. In the benzydamine group, the frequency of mucositis grade > or =3 was 43.6% in contrast to 78.6% in other group (P = 0.001). Grade > or =3 mucositis was 2.6 times more frequent in the placebo group. Intensity of mucositis increased up to fourth week of treatment in both groups to grade 2. In the treated group the grade of mucositis was approximately constant to the end of therapy; but in the control group it raised to grade 3 (P < 0.001). The highest grade of mucositis during the treatment time was significantly different between two groups (P = 0.049). The median interval to observation of grade > or =2 mucositis was 24 days in the placebo group and 28 days in the benzydamine group (P = 0.12). Benzydamine oral rinse seems to be effective, safe, and well tolerated for prophylactic treatment of radiation-induced oral mucositis in head and neck tumours.

Evaluation and management of brain metastatic patients with high-risk gestational trophoblastic tumors.

A retrospective study to evaluate the characteristics of brain metastatic patients with gestational trophoblastic tumors (GTT) and to analyze the results of treatment has been performed. During 1996-2001, 40 patients with metastatic GTT were diagnosed at Vali-e-Asr Hospital, Tehran, Iran. Of them, nine with brain metastases, which were documented with the help of computed tomography scan, were evaluated retrospectively. Eight patients received EMA-EP regimen (etoposide, methotrexate, actinomycin, etoposide, and cisplatinum) and one received EMA-CO (etoposide, methotrexate, actinomycin, cyclophosphamide, and vincristin). All cases received whole brain irradiation therapy concurrently. The median age of the patients at diagnosis was 30 years (range: 17-53). Six of them were of early group (five with symptoms of central nervous system and one was detected during workup) and three were of late group (relapsed group). Five (56%) patients responded to treatment and four (44%) were deceased (three of them belonged to late group). It seems that multi-agent chemotherapy (EMA-EP) concurrently with whole brain irradiation results in acceptable survival rates in GTT patients with brain metastases.

Spectrophotometric determination of periodate or iodate ions by liquid-liquid extraction as an ion-pair using tetramethylammonium iodide.

A simple and accurate extractive Spectrophotometric procedure was developed for the microdetermination of periodate and iodate in aqueous media. The determination of periodate was based upon the extraction of the ion-pair formed between the periodate and tetramethylammonium iodide at pH 4 in chloroform followed by direct Spectrophotometric measurements at 509, 358 and 288 nm. The optimum concentration range evaluated by Ringbom's plot, the molar absorptivity, the Sandell's sensitivity and the stoichiometry of the formed ion-pair were critically determined. Iodate could be determined quantitively by the proposed procedure after oxidation to periodate with potassium persulphate. The effect of the diverse ions on the determination of the periodate and/or iodate by the proposed procedures was also investigated. The application of the method for the analysis of iodate or periodate in the artificial fresh water was successfully carried out.