99 research outputs found
Susceptibility of Fibromatosis Cells in Short-Term Culture to Ifosfamide: A Possible Experimental Treatment in Clinically Aggressive Cases
Purpose. Deep fibromatoses are large, often rapidly growing
but benign soft tissue tumours. Although surgery is the mainstay of treatment, in
unremitting and aggressive cases the use of cytotoxic chemotherapy may produce
objective tumour responses. Fresh tumour samples from four patients with fibromatosis
were investigated as part of a study of drug resistance in soft tissue tumours
A Phase I/II Study of a 72-h Continuous Infusion of Etoposide in Advanced Soft Tissue Sarcoma
Purpose. The study was performed to assess the antitumour activity and toxicity of a 72-h continuous infusion of
single-agent etoposide as second-line treatment for patients with locally advanced or metastatic soft tissue sarcoma (STS),
following reports of substantial activity using this schedule of etoposide administration as first-line treatment in
combination with ifosfamide
Symptom Burden, Survival and Palliative Care in Advanced Soft Tissue Sarcoma
Introduction. The symptom burden and role of palliative care (PC) in patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma (STS) are not well defined. Methods. This study retrospectively reviewed both symptoms and PC involvement in patients known to an STS referral centre who died in one calendar year. Results. 81 patients met inclusion criteria of which 27% had locally advanced disease and 73% metastases at initial referral. The median number of symptoms was slowly progressive ranging from 2 (range 0–5) before first-line chemotherapy (n = 50) to 3 (range 1–6) at the time of best supportive care (BSC) decision (n = 48). Pain and dyspnoea were the commonest symptoms. Median overall survival from BSC decision was 3.4 weeks. 88% had PC involvement (either hospital, community, or both) with median time from first PC referral to death of 16 (range 0–110) weeks. Conclusions. Patients with metastatic STS have a significant symptom burden which justifies early PC referral. Pain, including neuropathic pain, is a significant problem. Dyspnoea is common, progressive and appears to be undertreated. Time from BSC decision to death is short, and prospective studies are required to determine whether this is due to overtreatment or very rapid terminal disease progression
A Case of Ovarian Fibromatosis and Massive Ovarian Oedema Associated With Intra-Abdominal Fibromatosis, Sclerosing Peritonitis and Meig's Syndrome
Purpose:To discuss a case of ovarian fibromatosis/massive ovarian oedema, intra-abdominal fibromatosis, sclerosing
peritonitis and Meig's syndrome. To review the reported therapeutic options
Targeting the Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 Receptor in Ewing's Sarcoma: Reality and Expectations
Ewing's sarcoma family of tumours comprises a group of very aggressive diseases that are potentially curable with multimodality treatment. Despite the undoubted success of current treatment, approximately 30% of patients will relapse and ultimately die of disease. The insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) has been implicated in the genesis, growth, proliferation, and the development of metastatic disease in Ewing's sarcoma. In addition, IGF1-R has been validated, both in vitro and in vivo, as a potential therapeutic target in Ewing's sarcoma. Phase I studies of IGF-1R monoclonal antibodies reported several radiological and clinical responses in Ewing's sarcoma patients, and initial reports of several Phase II studies suggest that about a fourth of the patients would benefit from IGF-1R monoclonal antibodies as single therapy, with approximately 10% of patients achieving objective responses. Furthermore, these therapies are well tolerated, and thus far severe toxicity has been rare. Other studies assessing IGF-1R monoclonal antibodies in combination with traditional cytotoxics or other targeted therapies are expected. Despite, the initial promising results, not all patients benefit from IGF-1R inhibition, and consequently, there is an urgent need for the identification of predictive markers of response
A Case of Ovarian Fibromatosis and Massive Ovarian Oedema Associated With Intra-Abdominal Fibromatosis, Sclerosing Peritonitis and Meig’s Syndrome
Symptom Burden, Survival and Palliative Care in Advanced Soft Tissue Sarcoma
Introduction. The symptom burden and role of palliative care (PC) in patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma (STS) are not well defined. Methods. This study retrospectively reviewed both symptoms and PC involvement in patients known to an STS referral centre who died in one calendar year. Results. 81 patients met inclusion criteria of which 27% had locally advanced disease and 73% metastases at initial referral. The median number of symptoms was slowly progressive ranging from 2 (range 0-5) before first-line chemotherapy (n = 50) to 3 (range 1-6) at the time of best supportive care (BSC) decision (n = 48). Pain and dyspnoea were the commonest symptoms. Median overall survival from BSC decision was 3.4 weeks. 88% had PC involvement (either hospital, community, or both) with median time from first PC referral to death of 16 (range 0-110) weeks. Conclusions. Patients with metastatic STS have a significant symptom burden which justifies early PC referral. Pain, including neuropathic pain, is a significant problem. Dyspnoea is common, progressive and appears to be undertreated. Time from BSC decision to death is short, and prospective studies are required to determine whether this is due to overtreatment or very rapid terminal disease progression
Symptom Burden, Survival and Palliative Care in Advanced Soft Tissue Sarcoma
Introduction. The symptom burden and role of palliative care (PC) in patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma (STS) are not well defined. Methods. This study retrospectively reviewed both symptoms and PC involvement in patients known to an STS referral centre who died in one calendar year. Results. 81 patients met inclusion criteria of which 27% had locally advanced disease and 73% metastases at initial referral. The median number of symptoms was slowly progressive ranging from 2 (range 0-5) before first-line chemotherapy (n = 50) to 3 (range 1-6) at the time of best supportive care (BSC) decision (n = 48). Pain and dyspnoea were the commonest symptoms. Median overall survival from BSC decision was 3.4 weeks. 88% had PC involvement (either hospital, community, or both) with median time from first PC referral to death of 16 (range 0-110) weeks. Conclusions. Patients with metastatic STS have a significant symptom burden which justifies early PC referral. Pain, including neuropathic pain, is a significant problem. Dyspnoea is common, progressive and appears to be undertreated. Time from BSC decision to death is short, and prospective studies are required to determine whether this is due to overtreatment or very rapid terminal disease progression
Late widespread skeletal metastases from myxoid liposarcoma detected by MRI only
Background
Myxoid liposarcoma is the second most commonly occurring sub-type of liposarcomas. In contrast to other soft tissue sarcomas, it is known to have a tendency to spread toward extrapulmonary sites, such as soft tissues, retroperitoneum, and the peritoneal surface. Bony spread, however, is not as common.
Case presentation
We report an unusual case of diffuse skeletal metastases from myxoid liposarcoma occurring 13 years after treatment of the primary tumour in the left lower limb. The skeletal spread of the disease was demonstrated on MRI only after other imaging modalities (plain radiography, CT and TC99 bone scans) had failed to detect these metastases.
Conclusion
MRI is an extremely sensitive and specific screening tool in the detection of skeletal involvement in these types of sarcomas, and therefore, should be a part of the staging proces
Sliding Mode Control of Two-Level Quantum Systems
This paper proposes a robust control method based on sliding mode design for
two-level quantum systems with bounded uncertainties. An eigenstate of the
two-level quantum system is identified as a sliding mode. The objective is to
design a control law to steer the system's state into the sliding mode domain
and then maintain it in that domain when bounded uncertainties exist in the
system Hamiltonian. We propose a controller design method using the Lyapunov
methodology and periodic projective measurements. In particular, we give
conditions for designing such a control law, which can guarantee the desired
robustness in the presence of the uncertainties. The sliding mode control
method has potential applications to quantum information processing with
uncertainties.Comment: 29 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Automatic
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