Cancer treatment reports 

About: Cancer treatment reports is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Chemotherapy & Cancer. It has an ISSN identifier of 0361-5960. Over the lifetime, 3642 publications have been published receiving 93043 citations.

A mathematic model for relating the drug sensitivity of tumors to their spontaneous mutation rate.

Abstract: A mathematic model has been developed relating the drug sensitivity of a tumor to its own spontaneous mutation rate towards phenotypic drug resistance. The proportion as well as the absolute numbers of resistant cells will increase with time and the fraction of resistant cells within tumor colonies of the same size with vary depending on whether mutation occurs as an early or late event. Analysis of the model indicates that the probability of the appearance of a resistant phenotype increases with the mutation rate. Furthermore, for any population of tumors with a non-zero mutation rate the likelihood of there being at least one resistant cell will go from a condition of low to high probability over a very short interval in the tumor's biologic history.

Pharmacokinetic rationale for peritoneal drug administration in the treatment of ovarian cancer

Abstract: Evidence from the peritoneal dialysis literature suggests that the peritoneal permeability of a number of hydrophilic anticancer drugs may be considerably less than plasma clearance Pharmacokinetic calculations indicate that such drugs administered ip in large volumes are expected to maintain a significantly greater concentration in the peritoneal space than in the plasma This concentration difference offers a potentially exploitable biochemical advantage in the treatment of patients with presumed microscopic residual ovarian cancer confined to the peritoneal cavity

Regression models for prognostic prediction: advantages, problems, and suggested solutions

Abstract: Multiple regression models have wide applicability in predicting the outcome of patients with a variety of diseases. However, many researchers are using such models without validating the necessary assumptions. All too frequently, researchers also "overfit" the data by developing models using too many predictor variables and insufficient sample sizes. Models developed in this way are unlikely to stand the test of validation on a separate patient sample. Without attempting such a validation, the researcher remains unaware that overfitting has occurred. When the ratio of the number of patients suffering endpoints to the number of potential predictors is small (say less than 10), data reduction methods are available that can greatly improve the performance of regression models. Regression models can make more accurate predictions than other methods such as stratification and recursive partitioning, when model assumptions are thoroughly examined; steps are taken (ie, choosing another model or transforming the data) when assumptions are violated; and the method of model formulation does not result in overfitting the data.

Anthracycline cardiomyopathy monitored by morphologic changes.

Abstract: Seventy-six endomyocardial biopsies obtained from 60 patients receiving adriamycin (ADM) and other anthracycline analogs were studied. The biopsies were studied by light and electron microscopy. Two main types of myocyte degeneration were consistently present, the lesions were focal, and inflammatory infiltrate was absent. The severity of pathologic changes was graded on a scale from 0 (normal) to 3 (marked abnormality). Twelve patients receiving previous mediastinal irradiation (600-5700 rads) showed a mean pathology grade (2.0 +/- 0.89) that was significantly higher than in those patients receiving a comparable dose of ADM but who were not irradiated (1.18 +/- 0.23) (P less than 0.01). This study indicated that radiation, even if remote, enhances ADM-induced cardiotoxicity and evokes a "recall" phenomenon of latent acute irradiation changes. Our data suggest that a specific, progressive, subclinical injury to the heart occurs with anthracycline therapy that cannot be detected reliably by conventional tests. Anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity in rabbits, monkeys, and dogs shows the same basic cellular lesions as in man. The analogs, adria-DNA and rubidazone, also show lesions similar to those produced by ADM in the human heart. The endomyocardial biopsy is a reliable method for monitoring cardiac damage due to anthracyclines in man.