The authors reviewed the radiographs and medical records of 134 consecutive patients who underwent chemonucleolysis and automated percutaneous lumbar discectomy(APLD) between March 1990 and December 1994 at our institute. Among the 34 consecutive patients, 90 patients underwent chemonucleolysis and the other remaining patients underwent APLD using a nucleotome. The results are summarized as follows: 1) In both groups, predominent patients were of young age and males. 2) The most common lesion was in L4-5 interspace in both groups 3) The posteior lateral type showed high incidence in APLD group. 4) The results were better in the younger age group and when spinal CT demonstrated posterior lateral type in both groups. 5) The results showed relatively good success rate of 84.4% in chemonucleolysis group and 88.6% in APLD group. 6) Better results can be anticipated when patients are carefully selected and operated on with a higher skillful technique.
Diskectomy* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Intervertebral Disc Chemolysis ; Male ; Medical Records ; Spine*

BACKGROUDN: Docetaxel is a highly effective chemotherapeutic agent with proven efficacy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, myelosuppression can be a substantial concern when docetaxel is administered every 3 weeks. Weekly administration of low-dose docetaxel has demonstrated a comparable efficacy together with a distinct toxicity profile with reduced myelosuppression. We conducted a phase II study of weekly administration of docetaxel and cisplatin or carboplatin in patients with advanced NSCLC to evaluate efficacy and safety. METHODS: Twenty-nine patients with advanced or metastatic NSCLC who had not received prior treatment were enrolled in the study. The patients received intravenous infusions of docetaxel (35 mg/m2 on days 1, 8, 15) and cisplatin (75 mg/m2 on day 1) or carboplatin (AUC 6), followed by a week of rest. RESULTS: Twenty-six patients were assessable for efficacy and all patients were assessable for toxicity determination. The overall response rate of the regimen was 44.8%. The median survival was 11.3 months, and the 1-year survival rate was 37%. Of the hematologic toxicities, grade 3/4 neutropenia were observed in 12.6% of the patients, but there were no episodes of neutropenic fever. Non-hematologic toxicities were mild. CONCLUSIONS: With this weekly dosing regimen, although efficacy is comparable, myelosuppression is substantially less, and the overall tolerability profile is better than with dosing every 3 weeks.
Carboplatin ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung* ; Cisplatin ; Fever ; Humans ; Infusions, Intravenous ; Neutropenia ; Platinum* ; Survival Rate