[Securing the information system of health care organisations]. / Sécurisation du système d'information des structures médicales.

The information system involves all the resources managing information within a team. It mainly relies on the computer network. Prevention and protection measures are vital, especially in a radiotherapy department. They will aim to preserve the whole staff from potential risks connected with passwords, suspicious emails, specific websites, or USB flash drives. Also, they will consist in maintaining updated operating systems and software, activating antivirus programs and firewalls, and getting a map of the whole network and its users. Finally, it is necessary to anticipate failure scenarios and to set up recovery plans to continue the activity with lower resources.

Pretreatment values of serum CA 15-3 antigen related to prognostic factors in breast cancer patients.

In the present study results of serum CA 15-3 immunoassay obtained at diagnosis in 231 breast cancer women (average age: 54.6, range: 27-87 years) were correlated with prognostic factors of the disease; the cut-off level was established at 30.0 U/ ml. As a result, elevated mean values of serum CA 15-3 as well as positivity rates of the test were significantly associated with more advanced stage of breast cancer, presence of distant metastases, involvement of four and more axillary lymph nodes, high BLOOM and RICHARDSON grade [3], low contents of estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PgR) receptors. Although serum CA 15-3 concentrations should be paralleled the increasing tumor size, the difference being significant only for the proportion of positive results. Our findings suggest that pretreatment levels of CA 15-3 antigen represent the breast cancer extent and reflect the cell differentiation and aggressiveness of the tumor. We conclude that pretreatment concentrations of CA 15-3 antigen may be useful as a prognostic factor in breast cancer patients.

[Level of CA 15-3 antigen--a prognostic factor in patients with breast cancer?]. / Stezenie antygenu CA 15-3--czynnik rokowniczy u chorych na raka sutka?

Serum CA 15-3 concentrations were determined using sandwich enzyme immunoassay in 430 women: 214 breast cancer patients prior to any therapy, 161 patients with benign breast diseases, and 55 healthy controls; the cut-off limit was established at 30.0 U/ml. In breast cancer patients, CA 15-3 levels positively correlated with negative prognostic factors: higher tumor size (p < 0.001), positive axillary lymph nodes (p < 0.02), high histological grade (p < 0.01), low contents of estrogen (p < 0.05) and progesterone (p < 0.006) receptors. However serum CA 15-3 values raised in parallel with clinical stage of breast cancer, the difference was not significant. The overall diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of the test were 24.3% and 94.9%, respectively. The mean serum CA 15-3 values and the percentage of positive results in breast cancer patients were significantly higher as compared to benign breast diseases group (27.52 +/- 27.01 vs. 16.75 +/- 8.43, p < 0.001; 24.3% vs. 5.6%, p < 0.001, respectively) as well as to healthy controls (27.52 27.01 vs. 13.37 +/- 6.51, p < 0.001; 24.3% vs. 3.6%, p < 0.01, respectively). The sensitivity of the CA 15-3 test is low and thus not suitable for the differential diagnosis of breast lumps. Our data suggest potential prognostic value of pretreatment CA 15-3 assays in breast cancer patients.