ABSTRACT
Clinico-pathological differences between adenocarcinoma in the right and left colo-rectum play a role in determining the prognosis and response to treatment. Studies suggest that primary tumor location is more relevant as the disease progresses and reflects a possible difference in biology and response to therapy. This review aims to explore the clinico-pathological features of right and left colo-rectum and the impact of primary tumor location on prognosis of CRC as well as discuss the available clinical data on tumor sidedness in metastatic colorectal cancer. In so far as the clinical data of tumor sidedness is concerned, very few reviews have discussed the clinical implications of sidedness in heavily pre-treated metastatic colorectal cancer (second and subsequent lines of therapy in metastatic disease). This review aims to fill the current gap in this setting.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: We report our experience with Indian patients who received palliative chemotherapy with/without cetuximab for recurrent/metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (R/M SCCHN). METHODS: Data from 229 R/M SCCHN patients treated with cetuximab and chemotherapy (n = 140) or chemotherapy alone (n = 89) were retrospectively analyzed for response rate (RR), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and safety. RESULTS: Patients receiving cetuximab with chemotherapy demonstrated significant increase in RR (77.1% vs 44.9%, P = .0001), PFS (8.1 vs 6.1 months, P = .039), and OS (11.8 vs 8.0 months, P = .002) compared with patients receiving chemotherapy alone. Continuing cetuximab and changing chemotherapy combination (second line and beyond) in fit patients doubled OS (13.5 vs 6.1 months, P = .001). Adverse effects, except skin reactions (more in the cetuximab with chemotherapy group; P = .001), were similar in both groups. CONCLUSION: Adding cetuximab to chemotherapy improved ORR, PFS, and OS in Indian R/M SCCHN patients, and cetuximab was well tolerated.
Subject(s)
Head and Neck Neoplasms , Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/adverse effects , Cetuximab/therapeutic use , Head and Neck Neoplasms/drug therapy , Humans , Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/drug therapy , Retrospective Studies , Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck/drug therapy , Tertiary HealthcareABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Genital tuberculosis (GTB) is one of the major causes for severe tubal disease leading to infertility. Unlike pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), the clinical diagnosis of GTB is difficult because in the majority of cases the disease is either asymptomatic or has varied clinical presentation. Routine laboratory tests are of little value in the diagnosis. The objective of this study was to compare the modalities of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, acid fast bacilli (AFB) culture and AFB staining. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The women visiting in vitro fertility center during December 2012 and May 2013 were included in this study. A total of 227 aseptically collected endometrial tissue samples were processed. AFB staining, AFB culture and PCR were carried out using standard procedures. RESULT: Out of 227 patients suspected of GTB, 133 were found to be positive either by AFB smear microscopy, culture or PCR. Out of 133 samples, two samples (1.5%) were found to be positive by all three methods, i.e. microscopy, culture and PCR, 11 (4.8%) were found to be positive by both PCR and culture, whereas 126 (86%) samples were found to be positive only by PCR. The PCR has failed to detect seven cases that were positive by conventional culture method. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that the conventional methods of diagnosis like microscopy and culture are less sensitive when compared with PCR. PCR also helped in early diagnosis of infection. However simultaneously, false negative results were an important limitation of this method. PCR negative samples were found to be positive by culture methods. Deoxyribose nucleic acid PCR is not reliable for TB due to false positive or negative result. Thus, we suggest both culture and PCR as important diagnostic methods for detection of GTB.
