Management of gastrointestinal lymphoma

A study was made of 65 patients with primary gastrointestinal (GI) lymphoma. The occurrence was 40 (62%) in stomach, 15 (23%) in the small intestine, and 10 (15%) in colorectum. The majority of patients had their histology classified according to Rappaport's classification. Diffuse histiocytic type had the worst prognosis (median survival 13.8 months), and nodular histology had the best prognosis. A modified staging system proposed by Blackledge et al. was used. Patients who had their disease confined to one viscus (Stage I) or with spread to regional lymph nodes (Stage II) had an excellent prognosis, with a 5-year survival of 87 and 67%, respectively. However, those who had distant nodal involvement (Stage III, e.g., para-aortic nodes) or spread to adjacent organs within the abdomen (Stage IV) had worse prognosis, with 5-year survival of 40 and 13%, respectively. In Stage I, radiotherapy alone was as effective as surgical resection. None of the 11 patients treated by radiotherapy alone had perforation or bleeding. The 5-year disease-free survival was 51%.

Carcinoma of the tonsillar area treated with external radiotherapy alone

Seventy patients with carcinoma of the tonsillar area were treated with radiation therapy alone, all with a minimum follow-up of 3 years. Seventeen patients with stages I and II developed six recurrences and three were salvaged by surgery. Fifty-three patients with stages III and IV developed 24 recurrences, and only three could be salvaged by surgery. We conclude that radiation therapy is adequate for stages I and II carcinoma of the tonsillar area. Local control rate is satisfactory and surgical salvage is acceptable. Patients with advanced disease, Stages III and IV, have a poor survival rate with radiotherapy alone. Local recurrence is high and surgical salvage is inadequate. We have decided to offer selected patients with stages III and IV tonsillar carcinoma planned combined radiotherapy and surgery, in an effort to improve the survival rate.

The clotting and staining of methylcellulose cultures of human hemopoietic cells

We describe a technique for clotting, fixing and staining methylcellulose cultures of human hemopoietic progenitor cells. The entire cellular population of a 1-ml culture in a 35-mm plastic petri dish can be recovered and preserved permanently with this method. The technique also provides the opportunity for distinguishing between pure erythroid and mixed colonies, for examining cellular morphology without tediously picking individual colonies, and for terminating cultures on the appropriate day without the necessity of scoring on that same day.

Proximal gastric vagotomy, truncal vagotomy with drainage, and truncal vagotomy with antrectomy for chronic duodenal ulcer. A prospective, randomized controlled trial

The relative merits of proximal gastric vagotomy (PGV), truncal vagotomy with drainage (TV + D), and truncal vagotomy with antrectomy (TV + A) in the treatment of chronic duodenal ulcer were evaluated and compared in 152 patients in a prospective, randomized and controlled clinical trial. One death occurred after TV + A, resulting in an operative mortality of 2% after gastrectomy and 0.7% for the entire series. After one to six years, stomal and duodenal ulcers proven by endoscopy occurred in eight patients after PGV (16%) and in six patients after TV + D (11.8%); the difference was not statistically significant (p greater than 0.5). One additional patient developed a gastric ulcer nine months after PGV. There was so far no ulcer recurrence after TV + A. Majority (13 patients) of the recurrent ulcers were discovered within three years after surgery. Patients after PGV experienced significantly less unwanted side effects than those after either TV + D or TV + A; particularly, dumping, epigastric fullness, and diarrhea. When the functional status was graded according to a modified Visick system that excluded ulcer recurrence, significantly more PGV patients were placed in the near-perfect grade (82.1%) than TV + A patients (58%). Patients after TV + D fared better than patients after TV + A; but the differences were not significant. However, when ulcer recurrence was included in the functional assessment, the advantage of PGV was lost.

Progressive isolated segmental anhidrosis

A patient had progressive segmental anhidrosis, which proved after extensive neurologic and autonomic workup to be an isolated abnormality. Intradermal acetylcholine produced localized sweating in areas of thermoregulatory anhidrosis five months after the onset of symptoms but failed to do so at two years. These findings are consistent with a preganglionic sympathetic lesion affecting a functionally defined subset of sympathetic cells and/or fibers. The alteration of the sudomotor response to intradermal acetylcholine during the course of the illness suggests that the diagnostic utility of pharmacologic sweat tests may be time dependent, limited to a relatively early period following onset of anhidrosis.

The management of carcinoma of the nasal vestibule

Forty-two patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the nasal vestibule were reviewed. The patients were treated at either the Southern California Permanente Medical Group or the UCLA Medical Center. Thirty-eight patients (90%) had early lesions and 4 (10%) had late disease (involving the nodes or bone). The following conclusions were formed from this study: (1) Patients without bone destruction or lymph node metastases will do well with either irradiation or surgery. Those with bone destruction or lymph node metastases will do poorly in spite of radical treatment. (2) Early lesions can often be cured with either partial rhinectomy or irradiation. (3) A surgical recurrence following partial rhinectomy can be salvaged with irradiation. (4) A radiation recurrence of an early lesion can be salvaged with surgery. (5) The routine use of total rhinectomy for early carcinoma or radiation failure is unwarranted. (6) Other primary cancers are not uncommon when followup is extended to the 5- to 10-year interval.

Hereditary antithrombin III deficiency in an English family

A family including four members with decreased antithrombin III (ATIII) measured by a biological and an immunological method is described. Immunologically measured levels of other coagulation inhibitors were normal. In the antithrombin III deficient family members there was a history of thrombotic disease. Turnover of 125I-antithrombin III in a deficient individual showed the lower plasma levels probably to be due to a deficiency in the rate of synthesis rather than to an increased catabolic rate.

Trichilemmoma

Trichilemmoma is an uncommon cutaneous neoplasm that originates in the outer hair sheath. We are reporting two cases, one of lobular pattern, the other a massing of cells of the follicular infundibulum. In each case, the clinical appearance was nonspecific and the mistaken clinical diagnosis was basal-cell carcinoma.

The natural history of papillary transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder and its treatment in an unselected population on the basis of histologic grading

Between 1950 and 1965, 365 patients were treated for transitional cancer of the bladder at our hospitals. A retrospective study was done, using clinical records and a histopathologic review to determine the long-term natural history of this population when treated conservatively. The natural history of 3 separate patient populations was discovered, based solely on the grading of the transurethrally resected fragments. Based on the grade on initial presentation these patients were divided into grades I, II and III. Of the patients 5 per cent in grade I, 16 per cent in grade II, 28 to 35 per cent in grade III not involving muscle and 83 per cent in grade III involving muscle died of bladder cancer. Ninety-seven patients (26 per cent) died of bladder cancer, 110 (31 per cent) died of other causes and 158 (43 per cent) have been alive more than 5 years (104 more than 10 years). Grade I tumors that progressed to a higher grade did so within 2 years of the initial diagnosis. Of the bladder cancer deaths 83 per cent occurred within 2 years of the initial diagnosis. Of 64 patients dying more than 5 years after presentation only 7 died of bladder cancer.

The usefulness of pretreatment DNCB in 85 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the upper aerodigestive tract

Pretreatment DNCB skin testing and absolute lymphocyte counts were studied in 85 consecutive head and neck cancer patients. All patients were treated primarily with radiation therapy alone or combined radiation plus surgery. The results of DNCB testing and absolute lymphocyte counts were not sufficiently predictive of outcome, (no evidence of disease after 2 years) to be useful in making treatment decisions on an individual patient. This applied to the good prognosis (T1, T2, N0-N3) and poor prognosis (T3, T4, N0-N3) groups.

Evaluation of radiation therapy for bone metastases: pain relief and quality of life

The records of 158 patients irradiated for bone metastases were reviewed to evaluate the effectiveness of pain relief and to judge the effect of treatment on overall quality of life. Within 3 months 73% of the sites treated had pain relief, with 55%-65% having sustained relief up to 1 year or death. Of patients surviving more than 3 months, 63% maintained a satisfactory quality of life and were able to take care of most personal needs. The median survival of all patients was 1 year from initial treatment for bone metastasis. Radiation dose and the primary tumor site do not seem to be significant prognostic factors for initial pain relief or quality of life.

The management of extramedullary disease in acute leukemia with therapeutic radiations

The authors reviewed 181 patients who received local radiation therapy for the prevention or control of extramedullary disease resulting from acute leukemia. 126 had acute lymphocytic leukemia and 55 had acute granulocytic leukemia. They were treated over a 18-year period of time with different forms of chemotherapy. Most had not received prophylactic CNS radiation therapy. Patients were evaluated for local control until death or hematologic relapse intervened. More than 80% of patients with clinical ALL meningeal leukemia had a successful response to doses over 1000 rads. This same response was not apparent in AML. More than 80% of clinical non-CNS extra medullary leukemia was controlled with doses of 600 rads or greater. Only one patient with extra-medullary relapse is still alive. The authors feel that lower preventative doses of radiation to the CNS are compatible with similar control rates, based on their own data and other suggestive data.