No abstract available.
Signal Transduction*

There has been a dramatic change in the chemotherapy of colorectal cancer over the years. It has been clearly demonstrated that chemotherapy of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer is associated with survival prolongation and relief of tumor-related symptoms. The optimal use of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in combination with folinic acid (FA), the new drugs such as irinotecan and oxaliplatin, and the oral fluoropyrimidines UFT and capecitabine increased therapeutic options and improved outcome of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Combination of irinotecan or oxaliplatin and 5-FU/FA is more active than 5-FU/FA. The oral agents capecitabine and UFT/FA seem to have a comparable activity to intravenous bolus 5-FU/FA with improved patients' tolerance. By the early 1990s, the role of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in stage III colon cancer had been firmly established. 5-FU-based chemotherapy has been shown to reduce recurrence and improve survival in patients with stage III colon cancer. However, the use of adjuvant therapy is still debated in stage II colon cancer. At present, 6 months, treatment of 5-FU/FA is the standard adjuvant drug combination. New drugs that have been shown to be active in metastatic colorectal cancer, such as irinotecan, oxaliplatin, and oral fluoropyrimidines, hold promise and are being tested in adjuvant settings. New agents acting on novel molecular targets such as epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors are expected to play a unique role in the treatment of colorectal cancer in the future.
Capecitabine ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Colonic Neoplasms ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Drug Therapy* ; Fluorouracil ; Humans ; Leucovorin ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor ; Recurrence

No abstract available.
Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors*

PURPOSE: This study was undertaken to evaluate the treatment outcome and side effects of accelerated radiotherapy (RT) using concomitant boost for stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: Between April 1991 and December 1994, 102 patients with stage III NSCLC who had the favorable prognostic factors by CALGB criteria, were treated with concomitant boost radiotherapy. Patients were treated with standard large fields to 54 Gy in 6 weeks. The boost treatment was administered concomitantly during the last 2 weeks with a dose of 13 Gy in 10 fractions. The interfraction interval was at least 6 hours. The total tumor dose was 66-70 Gy, given over 6 weeks. RESULTS: With 30 months median follow-up period for survivors, median survival was 15 months with 2 and 3-year overall survival rates of 34% and 19%, respectively. Thirty patients (29%) who had achieved complete remission after RT showed significantly better 2-year survival rates than those without complete remission (58% vs 22%, p 0.001). Local failure and distant metastases as the first or only failure occurred in 40 (44%) and 13 (14%), respectively, and ultimate local and distant failure rates were 45% and 29%, respectively. Although Grade IV esophageal complication of T-E fistula was observed in one patient, most patients with pulmonary complication showed mild, transient radiation pneumonitis. CONCLUSION: This result suggests that the treatrnent of stage III NSCLC with concomitant boost RT may improve survival rates without enhanced radiation induced toxicity compared with conventional RT. Further investigation of dose escalation by conformal radiotherapy of combining chemotherapy and accelerated RT is warranted.
Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; Drug Therapy ; Fistula ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Radiation Pneumonitis ; Radiotherapy* ; Radiotherapy, Conformal ; Small Cell Lung Carcinoma* ; Survival Rate ; Survivors ; Treatment Outcome

No abstract available.

Lymphomatous involvement of the gallbladder is rarely identified and manifests mostly as a local involvement of disseminated disease. There have been reported only about 20 primary malignant lymphomas of the gallbladder without involvement of other sites. A 63-year-old woman presented with jaundice, epigastric pain, and weight olss of two months duration. There was no systemic lymphadenopathy elsewhere. Abdominal computed tomograph revealed a focal thickening of the gallbladder wall. The removed gallbladder contained a well circumscribed, 5x3 cm-sized, slightly elevated firm area with accentuated mucosal papillary excrescences near the neck protion. The lesion involved whole thickness of the wall, and was made up of diffuse atypical lymphoid cell infiltrates of variable size accompanying plasmacytoid differentiation in areas. Some large tumor cells were pleomorphic and contained prominent nucleoli. To our knowledge, this is the first case of primary malignant lymphoma of the gallbladder in Korean literature.
Female ; Humans

No abstract available.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Cisplatin* ; Drug Therapy* ; Head* ; Neck*

No abstract available.
Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor* ; Granulocytes* ; Humans* ; Macrophages* ; Methotrexate*

No abstract available.
Plasma* ; Prostate* ; Prostatic Neoplasms* ; Stomach Neoplasms*

No abstract available.
Colorectal Neoplasms* ; Fluorouracil* ; Humans ; Interferon-gamma*