[The labelling index as a prognostic marker in breast carcinoma]. / Labelling index come marker prognostico nel carcinoma della mammella.

In this work assess the labelling index in sixty patients affected by breast cancer and treated with only local surgical therapy, without subsequent chemo- or radiotherapy. We had considered L.I. a single prognostic factor and in relation with other common prognostic factors of this neoplasia. The patients with a high L.I. have shown a greater probability of relapses, also in absence of lymph nodal metastases.

Cisplatin-VP16 alternating with cyclophosphamide-epirubicin versus cyclophosphamide-epirubicin-vincristine in small cell lung cancer.

In the hope of increasing the incidence of objective remissions and the survival time of patients with small cell lung cancer, we conducted a randomized study designed to compare a treatment scheme of alternating chemotherapy featuring cisplatin+etoposide followed by cyclophosphamide+epirubicin versus conventional chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide+epirubicin+vincristine, in a total of 113 patients (56 treated with the alternating regime and 57 treated conventionally). Patients receiving the alternating drug regimen showed some increase in objective remission rates, and above all increased mean survival time (297 days versus 232). The higher incidence of side effects encountered was effectively controlled by the usual medical therapy.

[Discordance between clinical and immunological aspects in a case of chronic B-type lymphoproliferative syndrome]. / Discordanza tra aspetti clinici ed immunologici in un caso di sindrome linfoproliferativa cronica di tipo B.

Chronic lymphoproliferative disorders are extremely heterogeneous from a clinical, morphological and immunological point of view. The paper reports the case of a woman with chronic prolymphocytic leukemia. The neoplastic clone revealed the typical immunological features of pre-B lymphocytes, which are at an earlier stage of differentiation in respect to prolymphocytes. After polychemotherapy (CEOP) the phenotype of the neoplastic cells shifted to an immunological pattern typical of B lymphocytes.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with cisplatinum and 5-fluorouracil in advanced head and neck cancer.

Forty-one patients affected by solid tumors of the head and neck were treated with neoadjuvant therapy before radiotherapy or surgery. All patients received therapy with cisplatinum 100 mg/m2 day 1 and 5-fluorouracil 1000 mg/day for days 1-5 by continuous infusion with a portable chronoinfusor. After three cycles, we observed an objective response in 34/41 patients (82.9%), with 9 (21.9%) complete remissions and 25 (61%) partial remissions. The main side effects were few and controllable. In our experience, neoadjuvant chemotherapy was able to induce a significant remission in 4/5 of patients, with better prospects for subsequent surgery and/or radiotherapy.

POEMS syndrome: a case report.

A case of POEMS syndrome in a 43-year-old male with polyneuropathy, osteolytic lesion of the basin due to solitary IgA-lambda plasmacytoma, cutaneous scleroderma-like changes, diffuse lymphadenopathy and hepatosplenomegaly is described. Liver biopsy showed a regenerative process of the parenchyma without laboratory and histologic evidence of necrosis. A peculiar finding was the onset of a right hemiparesis in the absence of signs of vascular disease or other predisposing factors. The possible links between the peculiar elements of the POEMS syndrome are briefly analyzed and discussed.