Studies in primary biliary cirrhosis

The specific aims of the study were: - To (re)define the clinical features of the primary biliary cirrhosis syndrome. - To develop objective criteria which combine specificity with sensitivity for the diagnosis of PBC. - To study the relation of IgM in various forms (pentameric, monomeric and cryoglobulin) to the activity of the non-suppurative destructive cholangitis. - To test the therapeutic effects of 'go-slow-golow' D-penicillamine therapy in a randomized controlled trial, and to determine whether any favourable effects were due to a reduction of hepatic copper or to a decrease of immunological disturbances. - To perform a pilot study for evaluation of the effect of a combined therapy with small doses of D-penicillamine and prednison

Guidelines for chemotherapy of biliary tract and ampullary carcinomas

Few randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with large numbers of patients have been conducted to date in patients with biliary tract cancer, and standard chemotherapy has not been established yet. In this article we review previous studies and clinical trials regarding chemotherapy for unresectable biliary tract cancer, and we present guidelines for the appropriate use of chemotherapy in patients with biliary tract cancer. According to an RCT comparing chemotherapy and best supportive care for these patients, survival was significantly longer and quality of life was significantly better in the chemotherapy group than in the control group. Thus, chemotherapy for patients with biliary tract cancer seems to be a significant treatment of choice. However, chemotherapy for patients with biliary tract cancer should be indicated for those with unresectable, locally advanced disease or distant metastasis, or for those with recurrence after resection. That is why making the diagnosis of unresectable disease should be done with greatest care. As a rule, pathological diagnosis, including cytology or histopathological diagnosis, is preferable. Chemotherapy is recommended in patients with a good general condition, because in patients with general deterioration, such as those with a performance status of 2 or 3 or those with insufficient biliary decompression, the benefit of chemotherapy is limited. As chemotherapy for unresectable biliary tract cancer, the use of gemcitabine or tegafur/gimeracil/oteracil potassium is recommended. As postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, no effective adjuvant therapy has been established at the present time. It is recommended that further clinical trials, especially large multi-institutional RCTs (phase III studies) using novel agents such as gemcitabine should be performed as soon as possible in order to establish a standard treatment

Prognosis of High-Grade Carcinoid Tumors using Dynamic Limited Memory Influence Diagrams

Contains fulltext : 35478.pdf (preprint version ) (Open Access)IDAMAP 200

Structure and Parameters of a Bayesian Network for Carcinoid Prognosis

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Helicobacter pylori-infectie en lymfoom van de maag

Contains fulltext : 22146___.PDF (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Eliciting test-selection strategies for a decision-support system in oncology

Contains fulltext : 56813.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Somatostatin receptor scintigraphy and chromogranin A assay in staging and follow-up of patients with well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors

Imaging- and therapeutic targets in neoplastic and musculoskeletal inflammatory diseas

Selecting treatment strategies with dynamic limited-memory influence diagrams

Contains fulltext : 112460.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access

A comparison of two recently developed health status instruments for patients with arthritis : dutch-aims2 and IRGL

Item does not contain fulltext8 p