Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a fatal malignancy with steadily increasing incidence and poor prognosis. Since most CCA cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage, systemic therapies, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy, play a crucial role in the management of unresectable CCA. The recent advances in targeted therapies and immunotherapies brought more options in the clinical management of unresectable CCA. This review depicts the advances of targeted therapies and immunotherapies for unresectable CCA, summarizes crucial clinical trials, and describes the efficacy and safety of different drugs, which may help further develop precision and individualization in the clinical treatment of unresectable CCA.
Humans ; Cholangiocarcinoma/drug therapy* ; Immunotherapy/methods* ; Bile Duct Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Molecular Targeted Therapy/methods*

Objective To investigate the clinical effects, the therapy reactions,the living qualities of three treatments in advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods From Jan 2001 to Jun 2002, 120 patients pathologically confirmed NPC who firstly underwent radiotherapy were divided into two groups: radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy group(RC, n = 60, 5 fractions per week, one time per day, 200 cGy per day to a total dose of 7 000 ～ 8 000 cGy. cisplatin and 5-Fu two cycles in the first and fourth week during radioation); radiotherapy with AiDi injection group(RAD, n = 60, radiotherapy was the same as that of RC. Continuously injecting AiDi for 10 days 50 ml per day was one cycle which was repeated 3 cycles every alternation of 7 days); another 60 patients who contemporaneity reciceved radiotherapy alone (radiotherapy was the same as that of RC) because of some reasons and were comparable in clilical materials were regarded as the third group (R) to compare with the above two groups. The life quality, 3-year survival rate, and acute or chronic radiation reactions in the three groups were observed. Results All patients were followed up for more than 3 years: the 3-year survival rate in RC (73.3%),which was homologous as that in RAD(65.0 %, P =0.347), was higher than that in R group(53.3%,P = 0.028), and the local recurrent was inverse(10.0%,26.7%,P = 0.033 6). The acute and chronic radiation reactions in RC was highest whereas that in RAD group is lowest(P

A patent cardiac support system which is used as a bridge treatment for acute myocardial infarction has been designed and tested in vitro and in two dogs in vivo. This is an easy-to-use intelligentized pulsatile flow cardiopulmonary bypass device to replace the function of heart. The device consists of two identical pumps and perfusion chambers, a sensing and control system, a gas exchanger between the vein and pump, two one way valves between pump and veins or arteries. Arterial pressure and EKG feedback mechanisms are used for maintaining blood pressure and coordinating the pumping activity with heart contraction. A prototype of the device was built to perform hydraulic in vitro tests with aims of verifying the new device's pumping behavior. Functional evaluation of the device was carried out by using it in a model circuit made with standard CPB components plus a mock hydraulic pipeline. This system demonstrated easy manipulation, good controllability, and provided a 65+/-2ml x beat(-1) flow volume. There was a linear correlation between peak pressure value and pulsatile frequency. In the two in vivo experiments, the primary objective was to determine whether the device could work well in dog, whether physiologic pulsatility could be achieved and whether the blood supply to heart should be sufficient during asystole status by drugs. The results suggest that all the goals have been achieved.
Animals ; Cardiopulmonary Bypass ; Computer-Aided Design ; Dogs ; Equipment Design ; Heart-Assist Devices ; Materials Testing ; Myocardial Infarction ; therapy