Health-related quality of life in elderly cancer patients, elderly non-cancer patients and an elderly general population

Health-related quality of life (QoL) is a major topic within the care for cancer patients (CP). Compared with the general population (GP), QoL of CP is worse in most dimensions; however, only few data comparing QoL of CP with that of other patients have been provided so far. We determined QoL with the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30 questionnaire in hospitalized patients aged 60 years and older: 195 CP and 130 patients treated for other medical disorders (MP). In addition, data were compared with an age- and gender-stratified German GP. Explorative statistical analyses were performed. The CP aged >or=70 years compared with those aged 60-69 years had decrea…

A phase-II study of low-dose cyclophosphamide and recombinant human interleukin-2 in metastatic renal cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma.

Recent preclinical and clinical studies that have demonstrated antitumor activity of high-dose recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2), and animal models that demonstrated a synergistic effect of low-dose cyclophosphamide, led us to study rIL-2 (Cetus Corp., Emeryville, Calif) in a phase II clinical trial in combination with low-dose cyclophosphamide in 32 patients, 18 with malignant melanoma and 14 with renal cell carcinoma. rIL-2 was given once daily at 3 x 10(6) U/m2, as a 30-min infusion for 14 days in cycle I and for 2 x 5 days in cycles II and III respectively; if tolerated, the dose was increased to a maximum of 6 x 10(6) U m-2 day-1; the cycles, separated by 1 week treatment-free interval…

Chemotherapy with Idarubicin, Ara-C,VP-16, Amsacrine, Followed by G-CSF and Maintenance Immunotherapy with Interleukin-2 for Patients with High-Risk Acute Myeloid leukemia: a 3-Years Follow-Up

To improve the complete remission (CR) rate and to prolong CR duration in patients with advanced MDS, AML evolving from MDS, and secondary AML, a phase-III trial of aggressive chemotherapy followed by G-CSF was initiated in January 1992. Pts. achieving a CR were randomized to receive either high-dose or low-dose IL-2 to evaluate the potential of this cytokine to eliminate residual leukemic cells and to prolong the CR duration.

Das Qualitätssicherungsprogramm der Deutschen Krebsgesellschaft

Effect of Treatment with rhGM-CSF and Low-Dose Cytosine Arabinoside on Leukemic Blast Cells in Patients with Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Treatment of patients having myelodysplastic a syndromes (MDS) with approaches such as differentiation induction, single cytostatic agents or supportive care only has, up to now, been rather unsuccessful. Aggressive chemotherapy followed by bone marrow transplantation is only suitable for a very small proportion of patients. Thus, there is a need for new therapeutic alternatives.

Intensive chemotherapy with idarubicin, ara-C, etoposide, and m-AMSA followed by immunotherapy with interleukin-2 for myelodysplastic syndromes and high-risk Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)

Intensive chemotherapy followed by treatment with interleukin-2 (IL-2) was evaluated in a prospective, randomized, multicenter trial including 18 patients with refractory anemia with excess of blasts in transformation (RAEB-T), 86 patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) evolving from myelodysplastic syndromes, and six patients with secondary AML after previous chemotherapy. Median age was 58 years (range: 18-76 years). Forty-nine patients (45%) achieved a complete remission (CR) after two induction cycles with idarubicin, ara-C, and etoposide, 52% of them aged/=60 years and 35% aged60 years (p=0.06). After two consolidation courses, patients were randomized to four cycles of either high-…