Nasopharyngeal carcinoma. A study examining Asian patients treated in the United States.

From 1972 to 1991, 126 Asian patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma underwent definitive radiation therapy for locoregional disease: 86 men, 40 women. Median age was 50. All patients received external-beam irradiation with cobalt 60 or 4-18 MV x-rays. Local recurrence, regional recurrence, and distant metastases were 22%, 11%, and 23%, respectively. Local recurrence progressively increased with increasing T stage, but doses in those who recurred did not differ from the group as a whole. Regional recurrence was not associated with T or N stage or dose. Patients with N2 disease had the highest distant metastatic rate. The 5- and 10-year overall survival rates were 54% and 38%, respectively. Of age, gender, and histology, only age less than 50 was found to be favorably prognostic. No severe long-term complications were observed, and acute reactions were acceptable. Our survival results are comparable with results found both in Asia and North America. Nonetheless, altered fractionation techniques and/or other radiation modalities should be further explored to improve locoregional control.

An open study of pivampicillin (Pondocillin) as a treatment for acute lower urinary tract infection.

In a multicentre general practice study 158 females with acute, uncomplicated urinary tract infection received a 5-day course of pivampicillin 500 mg twice-daily (Pondocillin). Significant bacteriological cultures were obtained from forty-one patients before treatment and the original organism was eradicated in thirty-eight of these patients (93%). The mean symptom score was reduced from 7.33 to 1.18. Eleven patients (7%) reported side-effects. One patient ceased treatment after 4 days due to a rash. Pivampicillin, in a convenient twice-daily regimen, was confirmed as an effective treatment for acute lower urinary tract infection.