[Diagnostic value of Diamed AG latex gel kit for detection of diphtheria toxin]. / Opredelenie diagnosticheskoi tsennosti lateksnogo gelevogo diagnostikuma firmy "Diamed AG" dlia vyiavleniia difteriinogo toksina.

ID-PaGIA diphtheria toxin polymer particle diagnostic agent manufactured by DiaMed AG, Switzerland, was tried at bacteriological laboratory of Institute of Childhood Infections in St. Petersburg. The trials were carried out using two methods, direct and capture, which differ by the duration of incubation of the studied C. diphtheriae cultures. Ouchterloney's immunoprecipitation test in agar was the control method. Ninety-seven toxigenic strains were tested by direct test and 76 by capture test; in addition, 19 nontoxigenic strains were tested. The results coincided with control tests in 100% cases. The advantages of each method are defined and the possibility of their utilization at bacteriological laboratories of infectious hospitals and State Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance is evaluated.

[Methods of autologous peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) mobilization in oncological and hematological patients]. / Metody mobilizatsii autologichnykh stvolovykh kletok perifericheskoi krovi (SKPK) u onkologicheskikh i gematologicheskikh bol'nykh.

The potential of peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) mobilization with granulocyte (G-CSF) and granulocyte-macrophage (GM-CSF) colony-stimulating factors of chemotherapy has been assessed in patients with tumor or hematological disease. The study was intended to aid PBSC transplantation. It was shown that G-CSF administration increased the number of leukocytes in leukemia patients dramatically while mononuclear cell and colony-forming unit levels in G-CSF-mobilised PBSC were significantly higher than those collected with GM-CSF or chemotherapy.

[The transplantation of hemopoietic cells in patients with solid tumors]. / Transplantatsiia gemopoéticheskikh kletok u bol'nykh s solidnymi opukholiami.

AIM: Evaluation of efficiency of bone marrow and peripheral stem cells transplantation in patients with solid tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 38 patients aged 30-40 years with stage III or IV solid tumors (15 cases of breast cancer, 5 cases of Ewing's sarcoma, 4 cases of osteogenic sarcoma, ovarian or testicular tumors, 3 cases of soft tissue sarcoma) underwent high-dose polychemotherapy with autologous hematopoietic rescue. All the patients were resistant to the first line chemotherapy or were in relapse of the disease. 21, 11 and 6 patients were transplanted bone marrow, peripheral blood stem cells and both bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cells, respectively. RESULTS: The only factor which influenced overall survival of the patients was the stage of the disease at the moment of the transplantation. 66% of patients in complete or partial remission survived 3 years versus 16.6% of those in progression or relapse of the disease. Other parameters such as the patients' age, the source of hemopoietic cells, number of chemotherapy courses were not essential for the survival. 2 patients died after transplantation. The main cause of death was relapse or progression of the disease after the transplantation. CONCLUSION: Transplantation of hemopoietic cells is a promising therapy of patients with solid tumors sensitive to chemotherapy.

[The transfusion aspects of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation]. / Transfuziologicheskie aspekty allogennoi transplantatsii kostnogo mozga.

AIM: Analysis of transplantations of allogenic bone marrow (BM) for determination of transfusiological problems arising in various types of donor's and recipient's blood ABO incompatibility. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 46 allogenic BM transplantations from relative donors are analysed. The following types of ABO incompatibility were identified: significant (12 donor-recipient pairs), insignificant (10 pairs), combined (2 pairs). RESULTS: The proposed methods of BM fractionation provided the yield of nucleated cells in minimal admixture of red cells. This allowed to minimize loss of stem cells at fractionation and to prevent acute hemolysis at infusion of BM suspension in cases of ABO group-different BM allotransplantations. CONCLUSION: The proposed modification of the "shelf" method enabled effective fractionation of small BM volumes obtained from children-BM donors with high yield of nucleated cells and small admixture of incompatible red cells. Reinfusion of erythrocytic mass obtained at fractionation of donor BM fractionation used as replacement therapy makes allogenic blood transfusion unnecessary in 66% of BM donors.

[Analysis of the work of an analgesia service in an outpatient clinic]. / Analiz raboty poliklinicheskogo protivobolevogo kabineta.

The management of patients with chronic pain syndrome in out-patient clinics is a new form of specialized therapy. 347 cancer patients were treated using a modified "analgetic staircase" technique (14% of them at home), with an analgetic effect achieved in 60-70% of cases. The patients with pain syndrome were managed using sacral, epidural and subarachnoidal neurolysis blockades.