Sequential brain scanning in radiation therapy of malignant tumors of the brain

Drug-induced reactive oxygen species-mediated inhibitory effect on growth of Trypanosoma evansi in axenic culture system

Trypanosoma evansi, an extracellular haemoflagellate, has a wide range of hosts receptive and susceptible to infection, in which it revealed highly inconsistent clinical effects. Drugs used for the treatment of trypanosomosis have been utilized for more than five decades and have several problems like local and systemic toxicity. In the present investigation, imatinib and sorafenib were selected as drugs as they are reported to have the potential to cause reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated effect in cancer cells. Both have also been reported to have potential against T. brucei, T. cruzi and Leishmania donovani. To date, imatinib and sorafenib have not evaluated for their growth inhibitory effect against T. evansi. Imatinib and sorafenib showed significant (p < 0.001) inhibition on parasite growth and multiplication with IC₅₀ (50% inhibitory concentration) values 6.12 μM and 0.33 μM respectively against T. evansi. Both the drug molecules demonstrated for the generation of ROS in T. evansi and were found up to 65% increased level of ROS as compared with negative control in the axenic culture system. Furthermore, different concentrations of imatinib and sorafenib were found non-toxic on horse peripheral blood mononuclear cells and Vero cell lines. Also, in conclusion, our results demonstrated that imatinib- and sorafenib-induced generation of ROS contributed inhibitory effect on the growth of Trypanosoma evansi in an axenic culture system.

Diagnosis of intracranial space-occupying lesions with DTPA-Sn-99mTc

DTPA-Sn-99 mTc is an excellent radionuclide for brain scintigraphy procedures with a rapid blood clearance through glomerular filatration. No previous preparation of the patient is necessary. We have studied forty nine patients with primary or metastatic brain tumours as well as calvarium metastases. There have been five false negatives. We have found three types of scintigraphic patterns depending on whether the lesion is better visualized in early or late images, or does not change throughout the study. The sequential brain study, obtaining views at five minutes, and at one and two hours post-injection allows for an adequate morphological characterization of the lesion and occasionally, a histological diagnosis.

Value of sequential postoperative brain scans in patients with anaplastic gliomas

The authors analyze the postoperative course of 30 patients with anaplastic supratentorial gliomas to evaluate the usefulness of sequential brain scanning as an adjunct to clinical neurological examinations in the early detection of tumor recurrence. The correlation between sequential scanning and clinical evaluation was excellent; no examples of divergent resu;ts were seen. With the exception of scans made very early in the postoperative period or when postoperative scalp flap infections were present, initial postoperative scans were easily interpreted in terms of both the superficial (postcraniotomy) and parenchymal changes. The specific type of postoperative therapy (radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or both) could not be correlated with whether scan or examination ultimately changed first. However, analysis of original tumor location revealed that while sequential postoperative scanning offered no advantage over repetitive neurological examinations in the detection of recurrent tumor in the neurologically dominant left hemisphere, scan changes preceded examination changes in eight of 17 cases involving tumors of the neurologically nondominant right hemisphere.