["I-125 Rapid-Strand" interstitial radiotherapy of localised prostate cancer]. / Interstitsial'naia luchevaia terapiia "125 I Rapid-Strand" localizovannogo raka predstatel'noi zhelezy.

Nikolai Alekseevich Lopatkin, Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, has contributed much to development of prostatic cancer (PC) diagnosis and treatment in the Russian Federation. N. A. Lopatkin headed specialists from the Research Institute of Urology who were the first in Russia to introduce into clinical practice the method of interstitial radiotherapy (brachitherapy) of local prostatic cancer (PC). A total of 58 PC patients 42 to 76 years of age were treated. They had stages T1bN0M0 (n = 5), T2aN0M0 (n = 36), T2bN0M0 (n = 11), T3aN0M0 (n = 6). Staging was made by the data of finger rectal examination, transrectal ultrasonography, NMR tomography, radionuclide osteoscintigraphy. Mean PSA was 2.5-36 ng/ml in the size of the prostatic gland 14.96-52.76 cm3. All the patients received neoadjuvant hormone therapy. Four patients one year or more before the radiotherapy had TUR of the prostate. Brachytherapy was made under peridural anesthesia which allowed implantation of 40-120 sources with activity of 0.38-0.35 mCi for 20-45 min. A total dose was 120-160 Gy. Mean hospital stay was 4 days. Spontaneous urination recovered within 6 postoperative hours. The procedure was well tolerated, complications arose on postimplantation day 2-8. We attribute complications to inadequate calculation of the doses at the stage of the method introduction. A short follow-up (3 years) is not long enough to allow conclusions about the efficacy of the method. Within 3 years biochemical recurrence occurred in 4 (6.9%) patients on months 14-26 (stage T2b and 2-T3). Four patients were lost for follow-up. Thus, brachytherapy efficacy depended much on adequate selection of the patients and planning of the procedure by the results of previous volumetry. The procedure is safe and reproducible. The studies will be continued.

[Individual and average weight requirements of pharmaceutical preparations]. / Gyógyszerkészítmények egyedi és átlagtömeg elöírásairól.

Authors studied the weight deviations allowed by non-statistically constructed individual and average weight requirements of Pharmacopoeas under consideration of normal Gaussian distribution. Normality was examined on a given suppository product and has been established, that in this case theoretically the hypothesis of normal distribution is not valid. For this reason deviation characteristics calculated according to the severest and the lightest Pharmacopoean requirements have been presented, i.e. the lower limit (if the deviation is less than this limit, the preparation meets the requirements by all means), and the upper limit (if the deviation is larger than this limit, the preparation definitively does not meet the requirements) respectively. Moreover, deviation characteristics calculated for continuous Gaussian distribution and for discrete distribution with few elements (representing a good approximation of the former) are given in the paper. On the basis of these results authors suggested to modernize the requirements of Pharmacopoeas and to continue research work in this direction.

Mesenteric infarction secondary to tumor emboli from primary aortic sarcoma. Guidelines for diagnosis and management.

Primary aortic tumors are rare, difficult to diagnose, and often fatal. This case and a review of the literature identified aortic tumors as a potential source of emboli leading to acute mesenteric insufficiency. The case showed the efficacy of magnetic resonance imaging in diagnosing and determining the extent and location of an aortic tumor.

Advantage of transvaginal over transabdominal sonography.

Results with transvaginal sonography (TVS), a new ultrasound diagnostic method, are reported. A total of 40 patients were comparatively examined by transvaginal and transabdominal sonography. In contrast to transabdominal sonography, the transvaginal examination provided additional information in 35% of the patients. The indications and advantages of transvaginal sonography are summarized as compared with the traditional method. The introduction of the method is recommended in all US laboratories where examinations of the pelvis are performed.

Fluorescence label studies of the phase transitions of T7.

Optical density, fluorescence intensity, polarization and lifetime measurements were performed to analyze the temperature-induced phase transitions of phage T7 in several buffers. For labelling the intraphage DNA, ethidium bromide, proflavine and rivanol were applied for the proteins 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH). In the temperature range of 20 degrees C-100 degrees C several structural changes of T7 were detected. Making corrections for light scattering by using integrating spheres and analyzing the fluorescence signals, the phase transition of intraphage DNA below 60 degrees C was interpreted as a superhelical relaxation phenomenon. The structural changes found by optical density at higher temperatures could be assigned to a change in the phage DNA or to a change in its protein part on the basis of fluorescence-melting results concerning DNA and protein labels. The effects of ionic strength and environment on the structural changes were studied.

Hepatic angiosarcoma associated with short-term arsenic ingestion.

In a 45 year old man, hepatic angiosarcoma developed 33 years after medicinal arsenic ingestion of only six months' duration. In addition, the patient had a history of basal cell carcinomas without having had excessive sunlight exposure. Factor VIII staining of the tumor supports an endothelial cell origin of the tumor. The development of skin cancers and hepatic angiosarcoma in this patient suggests that there may be no safe threshold of arsenic exposure. A careful history concerning even short-term arsenic exposure in all patients with hepatic angiosarcoma may uncover more examples of this association.

En bloc chest wall resection for candidal costochondritis in a drug addict.

A case of Candida costochondritis seen initially as a chest wall tumor in a narcotic addict is reported. Bone and cartilage are rare sites of Candida infection from whatever cause. Since 1973, only 6 cases of Candida costochondritis have been reported; 5 were complications of thoracic operations and the other, of intravenous hyperalimentation. Treatment by a one-stage en bloc resection of chest wall, and reconstruction by rib graft and Marlex mesh resulted in cure in our patient, without complications.

Sarcoidosis of the central nervous system.

A case of central nervous system sarcoidosis verified by direct biopsy and skin tests and without evidence of any other system involvement is reported. The computed tomography findings are described in detail.

Bilateral multilocular renal cysts with recurrence.

Multilocular renal cysts may occur bilaterally. A partial nephrectomy usually is curative but unroofing of the cyst may lead to recurrence. We suggest to delete the criterion of unilaterality and to base the diagnosis on histological features. The first case of bilateral multilocular renal cysts with unilateral recurrence is reported.