0000000000387490
AUTHOR
T. Westermeier
Response to initial treatment of multisystem langerhans cell histiocytosis: An important prognostic indicator
Background Reliable prediction of prognosis allowing risk-adapted therapy remains a major issue in the management of multisystem Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH). In a recent publication of the International LCH Study Group, response to initial therapy appears to be a reliable outcome predictor. The aim of this study is to test this observation in a cohort of patients treated with more intensive initial therapy. Furthermore, we compare the predictive value of response to initial therapy to some other well-established stratification systems. Procedure Response to initial combination chemotherapy (prednisolone, vinblastine, and etoposide) at 6 weeks and its prognostic value was evaluated r…
Applicability of the Poisson distribution to model the data of the German Children's Cancer Registry.
Since 1980 the German Children's Cancer Registry has documented all childhood malignancies in the Federal Republic of Germany. Various statistical procedures have been proposed to identify municipalities or other geographic units with increased numbers of malignancies. Usually the Poisson distribution, which requires the malignancies to be distributed homogeneously and uncorrelated, is applied. Other discrete statistical distributions (so-called cluster distributions) like the generalized or compound Poisson distributions are applicable more generally. In this paper we present a first explorative approach to the question of whether it is necessary to use one of these cluster distributions t…
Outcome of peripheral blood stem cell mobilization in advanced phases of CML is dependent on the type of chemotherapy applied
High-dose chemotherapy with autologous transplantation of in vivo purged PBSC is a novel investigational approach to treating chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) patients not responsive to conventional therapy with interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) and not eligible for allogeneic transplantation. PBSC mobilization using either '5+2/7+3'-type chemotherapy or 'mini-ICE/ ICE' chemotherapy was investigated in 43 patients with advanced phases of Philadelphia (Ph)-positive CML. Thirty patients were in late chronic phase (12 months post diagnosis) and 13 patients in accelerated phase (AP) or blast crisis (BC). Contamination with Ph-positive cells was evaluated in harvests from 37/43 patients. The outcom…