Tongue carcinoma in an adult Down's syndrome patient: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cancer of the oral cavity is rare and unusual in Down's syndrome patient. The over all risk is similar to that in adult population.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>This case report describes a 27 years old male with Down's syndrome, non-smoker, who developed a poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue. The patient underwent a hemiglossectomy without neck dissection followed by a postoperative locoregional radiation therapy to a total tumor-bed dose of 56 Gy and 45 Gy to the neck. Three months later, the patient presented with local tongue recurrence and was treated by Docetaxel and Carboplatin chemotherapy with no significant response. The patient died one month later, 9 months after his initial diagnosis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>To our knowledge, this is the first case of tongue carcinoma arising in a patient with Down's syndrome. This unique case might not be sufficient to make a significant conclusion on the prognosis and survival of these patients but will increase the awareness about this possibility and will help in the appropriate management of Down's syndrome patients.</p

Targeted therapies in non-small cell lung carcinoma: what have we achieved so far?

The search for innovative therapeutic agents in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has witnessed a swift evolution. The number of targeted drugs that can improve patient outcomes with an acceptable safety profile is steadily increasing. In this review, we highlight current drugs that have already been approved or are under evaluation for the treatment of patients with NSCLC, either in monotherapy or combined therapy for both the first- and second-line settings. Experience with drugs targeting the vascular endothelial growth factor and its receptor, as well as the epidermal growth factor receptor is summarized. Moreover, we provide an overview of more novel targets in NSCLC and initial experience with the respective therapeutic agents

Sequential Therapy with Gemcitabine and Carboplatin Followed by Paclitaxel as First Line Treatment for Advanced Urothelial Cancer

Objective: Gemcitabine and platinum-based compounds represent the new standard combination therapy for bladder cancer. In this study, we evaluate the efficacy and safety of gemcitabine and carboplatin followed sequentially by paclitaxel in 27 patients with advanced transitional cell carcinoma.Methods: This phase II multicentre study was based on the doublet gemcitabine 800 mg/m2 and carboplatin area under the concentration-time curve 2 on days 1 and 8 every 21 days for 4 cycles, followed sequentially by paclitaxel 60 mg/m2/w for 12 consecutive weeks. The disease was assessed after each sequence.Results: Primary tumor was localized in the bladder and renal pelvis in 25 and 2 patients, respectively. Twenty patients completed all 4 cycles of the gemcitabine and carboplatin sequence. Mean number of cycles was 3.5 (range 1 to 4). Toxicities were mainly hematologic, including Grade 3 neutropenia and anemia in 3 patients. Objective response was noted in 11 pts (40.7%), including 1 complete response (CR) and 10 partial responses (PR). Three patients had stable disease and 11 progressed. Among the 20 patients, 14 received the second sequence. Mean number of paclitaxel injections was 7 (range 2 to 12). Toxicities were limited to diarrhea and neurotoxicity in 1 patient each. Objective response was documented in 6 patients (30%) (3 CR and 3 PR), including the improvement of PR into CR in 2 patients. Median duration of response was 6 months. After a median follow-up of 7 months, 21 patients died and 6 remained alive, including 2 who maintained CR and 1 PR.Sixteen patients had locally advanced disease and 11 had metastatic disease, better prognostic was noticed with patients with locally advanced disease.Conclusion: the sequential approach of treatment for advanced urothelial cancer using gemcitabine and carboplatine followed by paclitaxel seems to be a safer alternative to the combined triplet, but due to the limited number of patients this study failed to improve outcome. Further investigations with larger population are required.</p

Expression, prognostic and predictive impact of VEGF and bFGF in non-small cell lung cancer.

Despite major advances in cancer therapeutics, the prognosis for lung cancer patients is still poor and the median survival for patients presenting with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is only 8-10 months. Angiogenesis is an important biological process and a relatively early event during lung cancer pathogenesis. Anti-angiogenic agents are used in treating patients with NSCLC, and their molecular biomarkers are also being assessed to predict response. A better understanding of the biology of angiogenesis in NSCLC may reveal new targets for treating this malignancy. In this article, we review the expression and prognostic impact of the angiogenic growth factors, vascular endothelial growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor, in NSCLC.Journal ArticleReviewSCOPUS: re.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe