[Listeria meningoencephalitis resulting in complete bilateral ophtalmoplegia and locked-in syndrome]. / Listerioznyi meningoentsefalit s razvitiem polnoi dvustoronnei oftal'moplegii i sindroma «zapertogo cheloveka¼.

This is a description of the case of quite severe neurolisteriosis in an adult man resulting in the rare combination of neurological symptoms such as complete bilateral ophtalmoplegia and locked-in syndrome. The case illustrates clinical features that are special for this disorder and also highlights management of such patients.

Northern California Oncology Group protocol 6G91: response to treatment with radiation therapy and seven-drug chemotherapy in patients with glioblastoma multiforme.

The Northern California Oncology Group (NCOG) conducted a nonrandomized phase II study to evaluate the benefit of a seven-drug chemotherapy protocol (NCOG 6G91) in patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GM). Time to tumor progression was the primary end point of the study. The treatment consisted of 5-FU and lomustine administered after surgery and before radiation therapy, hydroxyurea and misonidazole during radiation therapy, and procarbazine and vincristine alternated with carmustine and 5-FU after radiation therapy. Ninety patients entered the study; data from the 64 patients with GM who completed radiation therapy and at least started the postradiation chemotherapy regimen and returned for follow-up examination are analyzed in this report. The median time to tumor progression in the 64 adequately treated patients was 42 weeks; the 25th percentile value was 60 weeks. A Cox multivariate analysis showed that age and extent of surgical resection were important prognostic variables in patients with GM. The results of this treatment regimen were similar to those of a previous NCOG protocol (6G61), which consisted of hydroxyurea during radiation therapy followed by chemotherapy with carmustine or a combination of lomustine, procarbazine, and vincristine.

Phase III comparison of BCNU and the combination of procarbazine, CCNU, and vincristine administered after radiotherapy with hydroxyurea for malignant gliomas.

The authors report the results of a randomized study conducted to evaluate the relative benefit of treatment with 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU) or the combination of procarbazine, 1-(2-chloroethyl)-3-cyclohexyl-1-nitrosourea, and vincristine (PCV) administered after radiation therapy with hydroxyurea to 76 evaluable patients with glioblastoma multiforme and 72 patients with other anaplastic gliomas. The primary end-point of the study was time to tumor progression. For better-risk patients with Karnofsky performance scores of 70 to 100, results suggest that PCV was of greater benefit than BCNU (p = 0.15 for glioblastoma multiforme; p = 0.13 for other anaplastic gliomas). Median times to tumor progression were 31 and 32 weeks for patients with glioblastoma multiforme; 25th percentile times to progression were 70 and 40 weeks for patients treated with PCV and BCNU, respectively. For patients with other anaplastic gliomas treated with PCV and BCNU, median times to progression were 123 and 77 weeks, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that the prognostic variables of age and Karnofsky scores were important for patients with glioblastoma multiforme and other anaplastic gliomas, and that the extent of surgical resection was important for those with other anaplastic gliomas.