Post-operative management of primary glioblastoma multiforme in patients over 60 years of age.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Optimal treatment for elderly patients with glioblastoma multiforme is not well defined. We evaluated the efficacy of post-operative radiotherapy with or without concomitant and/or adjuvant temozolomide in patient, aged > or = 60 years to assess survival and identify prognostic factors of survival. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of overall survival and progression-free survival in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme aged > or = 60 years treated with post-operative radiotherapy with or without temozolomide chemotherapy was conducted at our institutions. Prognostic factors were determined by univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: Of 75 study participants (54.7% male; median age at first diagnosis, 65.1 years), 29 (38.7%) underwent gross total resection, whereas others underwent partial resection or biopsy only. All but 1 patient received radiotherapy. Twenty patients received concomitant temozolomic e only. Adjuvant temozolomide (1-50 cycles) was administered in 42 patients; 16 received > or = 6 cycles. Median overall survival was 10.3 months. One- and 2-year overall survival rates were 42.6% and 6.7%, respectively. Median progression-free survival was 4.1 months. Radiochemotherapy was generally well tolerated. Median overall survival was 15.3 and 29.6 months for patients who received 6-12 cycles and >12 cycles of adjuvant temozolomide, respectively. There were no significant differences in overall survival between age groups (60-64, 65-69, and > or = 70 years). Adjuvant temozolomide, Karnofsky performance status > or = 70, and additional surgery after progression were significant prognostic factors of longer overall survival (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Radiochemotherapy, including > or = 6 cycles of adjuvant temozolomide, was safe and prolonged survival of glioblastoma patients aged > or = 60 years. Aggressive therapy should not be withheld from patients aged > or = 60 years with good performance status because of age.

[The situation of geriatric medicine in Hungary today]. / A geriátria helyzete ma Magyarországon.

There is no systematic geriatric supply service and active geriatric wards are very rarely found in Hungary. That is why these wards need to be established in every leading county hospital as a regional system. The reasons for this lack are that active geriatric wards do not exist in the financing agreements, and, on the other hand, there is no sufficient number of geriatric specialists to fulfil the minimum personal conditions of a geriatric ward. The hospitals do not operate geriatric wards in lack of specialists, hence management pathways cannot be built in the system, therefore, no colleagues choose this subspecialty. Undoubtedly, the educational system does not support the training of geriatricians and, as a consequence of European Union regulations, secondary geriatrician subspecialization is not supported any more. The situation is extremely disadvantageous, most of the hospitals do not realize the importance of geriatrics, hence they do not work on establishing a care pathway between active care (internal medicine, surgery, gynecology, neurology, etc.), active geriatrics and chronic care. There is no geriatric outpatient service, daytime hospital system, their existence and operation are contingent. Finally, no geriatric consultant system (mobile, county, territorial) has been established. Orv Hetil. 2023; 164(23): 891-893.

Malignancies in autoimmune rheumatic diseases - a mini-review.

Paraneoplastic symptoms, caused by a malignancy, but not directly related to invasion by the tumor or its metastases, are the result of a wide variety of tumor-derived biologic mediators like hormones, peptides, antibodies, cytotoxic lymphocytes, autocrine and paracrine mediators. Systemic inflammatory rheumatic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma or dermatomyositis, may increase the risk for the development of malignancies, predominantly lymphoproliferative disorders. Immunosuppressive drugs and biological agents may also be carcinogenic. However, sustained inflammatory activity seems to be the primary risk factor for malignancies in autoimmune diseases. Tumor-associated antigens may be produced by inflammatory cells and their production may be increased in rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.

Association of systemic and thyroid autoimmune diseases.

OBJECTIVE: There are few large cohort studies available on the association of systemic and thyroid autoimmune diseases. In this study, we wished to determine the association of Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) and Graves' disease (GD) with systemic autoimmune diseases. METHODS: One thousand five hundred and seventeen patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic sclerosis (SSc), mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD), Sjögren's syndrome (SS) and polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM) were included in the study. The HT and GD were diagnosed based on thorough clinical evaluation, imaging and fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). The frequency of HT and GD in these diseases was assessed. In addition, 426 patients with HT or GD were assessed and the incidence of SLE, RA, SSc, MCTD, SS and PM/DM among these patients was determined. Prevalence ratios indicating the prevalences of GD or HT among our autoimmune patients in comparison to prevalences of GD or HT in the general population were calculated. RESULTS: Altogether 8.2% of systemic autoimmune patients had either HT or GD. MCTD and SS most frequently overlapped with autoimmune thyroid diseases (24 and 10%, respectively). HT was more common among MCTD, SS and RA patients (21, 7 and 6%, respectively) than GD (2.5, 3 and 1.6%, respectively). The prevalences of HT in SLE, RA, SSc, MCTD, SS and PM/DM were 90-, 160-, 220-, 556-, 176- and 69-fold higher than in the general population, respectively. The prevalences of GD in the same systemic diseases were 68-, 50-, 102-, 76-, 74- and 37-fold higher than in the general population, respectively. Among all thyroid patients, 30% had associated systemic disease. In particular, 51% of HT and only 16% of GD subjects had any of the systemic disorders. MCTD, SS, SLE, RA, SSc and PM/DM were all more common among HT patients (20, 17, 7, 4, 2 and 2%, respectively) than in GD individuals (2, 5, 5, 1, 2 and 1%, respectively). CONCLUSION: Systemic and thyroid autoimmune diseases often overlap with each other. HT and GD may be most common among MCTD, SSc and SS patients. On the other hand, these systemic diseases are often present in HT subjects. Therefore it is clinically important to screen patients with systemic autoimmune diseases for the co-existence of thyroid disorders.

Microscopic colitis: a retrospective study of clinical presentation in 53 patients.

AIM: To evaluate the relationship between symptoms and microscopic colitis (MC) subtypes: to test whether collagenous colitis (CC) and/or lymphocytic colitis (LC) might be related to both constipation and diarrhea. METHODS: A cohort of patients with independently confirmed typical histopathological changes was investigated. Fifty-three patients with histologically proved MC (46 with CC, 7 with LC) were included. The existence of diarrhea or constipation and the co-existence of autoimmune diseases were also investigated and all data were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: Twenty-three (43.39%) of MC patients had chronic constipation (20 in CC, 3 in LC patients). Twenty-four (45.28%) of MC patients had autoimmune disease and the diagnosis of autoimmune disease was always prior to MC. Sjögren's syndrome was associated only with the constipation subgroup. CONCLUSION: The Janus face of MC resembles the subgroups of irritable bowel syndrome. The co-existence of autoimmune diseases and MC is confirmed in both the constipation and diarrhea subgroups.

Inhibition of arachidonic acid release from human peripheral mononuclear cells by heat shock treatment and geldanamycin.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of heat shock (HS) treatment and geldanamycin (GA) on the release of arachidonic acid (AA) from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), monocytes and lymphocytes. Mononuclear cells prepared from blood of healthy subjects were preincubated with (3)H-AA. The release of (3)H-AA incorporated into the membrane was studied after pretreatment of cells by HS (43 degrees C, 1 h) and GA. The activation of AA producing enzymes was achieved by the addition of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) or by the combination of PMA+calcium ionophore A-23187. Treatment of cells by HS inhibited the release of AA. Furthermore, the release of AA by PBMC was dose dependently inhibited by GA. The combination of treatments by HS and GA augmented the inhibition of AA release. The HS response involves a diminished release of AA from PBMC. The inhibitory effect of GA on the AA release is a new element in the antiinflammatory pharmacological ability of this drug.

Hypothyroidism and thyroiditis after therapy for Hodgkin's disease.

During the follow-up of thyroid function of 151 patients with Hodgkin's disease in complete remission for at least 1 year, 26 cases of subclinical, 12 cases of manifest clinical hypothyroidism and 2 cases of hyperthyroidism (Graves-Basedow disease) were confirmed. Thyroid dysfunction was more frequent in patients who had undergone mantle or neck radiotherapy. Hypothyroidism was most often revealed from the 6th year on following radiotherapy. Thyroid autoantibody positivity was found to be more frequent in patients with thyroid dysfunction, and conversely, thyroid dysfunction was more frequent among the 28 patients with autoantibody positivity. Ultrasound examination and fine needle aspiration cytology of the thyroid confirmed thyroiditis in 96% of the patients with antibody positivity. No relationship was found between thyroiditis and the form of treatment for Hodgkin's disease. We have found that both neck irradiation and thyroiditis may play a role in the increased number of thyroid dysfunction in patients treated for Hodgkin's disease. Thyroiditis is not caused by neck radiotherapy but may be the result of immune regulation disorders in Hodgkin's disease. For substitution or isohormone therapy, levothyroxine is suggested for use. We suggest that examination of the thyroid should be performed at least once a year during the follow-up of Hodgkin's disease patients.