[Use of Venofer in management of anemia in cancer patients].

Therapy of anemia raises hemoglobin (Hb) level which in turn improves quality of life. Venofer was tested in 20 anemic (grade 1) patients with various malignancies. The drug was administered in 3 courses, i/v, 200 mg at a 4-5 week interval during chemotherapy. Hb levels rose or remained unchanged in 75%; they fell mostly in cases of tumor progression. There was no correlation between Hb concentration and chemotherapy regimen--with or without platinum. Venofer treatment was followed by improvement in quality of life or by stabilization only in 73.3%. Quality of life improved by 9,3% (FACT-An) after an 1g/dl increase in Hb level. Venofer treatment prevented further anemia.

[Comparative clinical appraisal of the effectiveness and tolerability of paclitaxel-LANCE and taxol in combination chemotherapy for recurrences and platinum-refractory ovarian carcinoma]. / Sravnitel'naia klinicheskaia otsenka éffektivnosti i perenosimosti paklitaksela-léns i taksola pri kombinirovannoi khimioterapii retsidivov i platinorezistentnykh form raka iaichnikov.

A clinical appraisal of efficacy and tolerability of taxol (T) and a generic drug--paclitaxel--LANCE (P)--was carried out in two groups of patients with recurrences (9) or platinum-refractory ovarian carcinoma (17). In group I, patients aged 19-71 (mean age--47 yrs) had received 6-7 courses, while, in group II, patients aged 44-72 (mean age--52 yrs) who suffered tumor progression--15.0 courses of various chemotherapeutic regimens. Following standard premedication, T and P were injected 135 mg/sq., intravenously, dropwise, during 3 hrs, as a rule, either concurrently with platinum drugs or with hemzar. In the final analysis, there was no clinically significant difference in overall response--44-30% and 44-48%, respectively, nor any significant difference in side-effect incidence was reported.

[Combination chemotherapy with hexamethylamine (Hexalen, Altretamine, Hexastat) and sarcolysine in advanced ovarian carcinoma]. / Kombinirovannaia khimioterapiia geksametilmelaminom (Geksalenom, Altretaminom, Geksastatom) i sarkolizinom pri rasprostranennom rake iaichnikov.

Combination chemotherapy with hexamethylmelamine (hexalen, altretamine, hexastat), 100 mg, thrice a day, per os, 14 days (out of a 28-day course) and sarcolysin, 15 mg, per os, during the first 5 days of the course, was received by 24 patients with primary advanced tumors of the ovaries, prior to or after cytoreductive surgery. Total apparent response to chemotherapy among 19 patients of the study group was 47.2%, clinically significant (plus stabilization)--94.5%, without significant untoward side-effects (vomiting--19%; leukopenia degree II-III--33% and thrombocytopenia--19%). The drug proved an active component of combination therapy for advanced ovarian carcinoma.

[Evaluation of the role of chemotherapy adjuvant to surgery in patients with cancer of the ovary, 1st stage]. / Otsenka roli dopolnitel'noi k operatsii khimoterapii u bol'nykh rakom iaichnikov I stadii.

The paper discusses the results of a retrospective analysis of the data on the evaluation of the efficacy of chemotherapy as an adjuvant to surgery performed in 167 patients with stage I ovarian cancer who were treated at the Institute and Oncological Dispensary in the city of Gomel in 1963-1979. The evaluation was based on the comparison of 5-year survival rates and the frequency of recurrences in the following three study groups: surgery, surgery + chemotherapy and surgery + chemotherapy + prophylactic chemotherapy. It was found that chemotherapy courses given within 2.5-3 years after primary treatment are followed by a nearly two-fold (1.9) drop in recurrence frequency and a 16.6% increase in 5-year survival.