[Characteristics and prognosis of malignant disease of the breast in women of very low age]. / Vlastnosti a prognóza zhoubného onemocnení prsu u zen velmi nízkého veku.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to describe characteristics of malignant diseases of the breast in women of very low age (thus with breast cancer diagnosed before 35th year of age) and compare those characteristics with the phenotype of "average" breast cancer in Czech female population. METHODS: 98 women diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 35 and treated between 2001 and 2010 in private medical center Medicon Praha s.r.o, were enrolled to this retrospective study. The control group of 100 women was constituted by random choice from patients older than 35 years at the time of diagnosis treated in the same time period. RESULTS: Size of the tumors at presentation were similar in both study groups. Tumors in younger group exhibited higher proliferative activity, higher grade and lower count of estrogen receptors. On the contrary, in the group of older women was significantly higher percentage of lobular type of cancer and also the proportion of in situ carcinomas. The number of multifocal tumors, positivity of HER-2/neu and progesterone receptors were all without statistically significant difference. In younger women neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been used more frequently. Prognosis of the disease did not differ in both groups. CONCLUSION: Tumors diagnosed in women younger than 35 years can be considered more aggressive. However, using adequate treatment makes the prognosis comparable in both age groups.

[Evaporation of selected cytotoxic drugs and permeation of protective gloves--research into the occupational risks of health care personnel handling hazardous cytotoxic drugs (CYTO project)]. / Studie evaporace vybraných cytostatik a propustnosti ochranných rukavic v rámci výzkumu profesní záteze zdravotnických pracovníku exponovaných cytotoxickým protinádorovým lécivum (projekt CYTO).

BACKGROUNDS: The CYTO project studies an important aspect of healthcare provision -long-term occupational exposure, both threshold and below-threshold, to chemical agents with carcinogenic and mutagenic properties, with the major focus on antineoplastic drugs.This contribution presents experimental results from the first stages of the project's experimental work, i.e. an evaluation of the physico-chemical characteristics of cytostatic agents (evaporation) and an investigation into protective glove permeation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In co-operation with IUTA (Institut für Energie- und Umwelttechnik e.V., Duisburg, Germany), the vapour pressure of paclitaxel, doxorubicin and dacarbazine was measured following OECD guideline No. 104: Vapour pressure curve--vapour pressure balance. Furthermore, the evaporation of cytostatic drugs was examined in actual laboratory conditions by monitoring the airborne concentration using the passive sampling technique. Besides the evaporation of selected drugs, the permeation of cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, 5-fluorouracil and paclitaxel through different types of gloves (vinyl, latex, nitrile) was assessed. RESULTS: Although our experiments showed relatively slow evaporation of the evaluated cytostatic drugs (the highest pressure in paclitaxel was 0.024 Pa), equilibrium concentrations may go up to milligrams per cubic metre. Nevertheless, analytical measurements of airborne contamination did not confirm these concentration levels. The glove permeation experiments with cytostatics showed good resistance of nitrile gloves (which were impermeable to all five drugs). Other materials should be avoided while handling cytostatic agents (e.g. maximum permeation of cyclophosphamide through latex was 19 microg/sq cm/hr). CONCLUSION: Although the volatility of cytostatic agents is low, it cannot be neglected considering the chronic character of exposure. However, in order to estimate actual occupational exposure, future research should focus on the development of sensitive analytical methods. Nevertheless, dermal uptake is supposed to be the major route of exposure and use of protective gloves is necessary to minimize potential risks. Our simulated time-dependent permeation experiments with cytostatic agents and different glove materials showed that good protection is provided only by nitrile gloves. The results obtained in this study will be used for the modelling of exposure doses and health risk assessment in the subsequent stages of the CYTO research project.