[Possible use of parameters of tumor cell ploidies and carcinoembryonic antigen levels in the prognostication of epidermoid lung cancer]. / Vozmozhnost' ispol'zovaniia parametrov ploidnosti kletok opukholi i urovnia rakovo-émbrional'nogo antigena dlia prognozirovaniia ploskokletochnogo raka legkogo.

Whether the DNA index (DNAI) of tumor cells and serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) may be used to make prognosis in 78 patients with epidermoid lung cancer at the stage of T1-3 N(o) Mo was studied. There was a direct correlation between tumor ploidy and CEA levels. The two-year relapse- free survival among the operated-on patients at the stage T1-2 N(o) Mo was not shown to be associated with DNAI. At the same time in the T1-3 M1-2 Mo patients radically operated on, the two-year survival correlates with DNAI: it is significantly (p < 0,05) higher in patients with diploid tumors (DNAI = 1.0) than in those with aneuploid cancer (DNAI > 1.05). The patients with low preoperative CEA levels ( < 10 micrograms/l) have a more favourable prognosis after radical surgical treatment.

[High-dose ifosfamide in the treatment of patients with soft tissue sarcoma]. / Primenenie vysokikh doz ifosfamida u bol'nykh sarkomami miagkikh tkanei.

The increasing doses of 2.4-3.5 g/m2 ifosfamide, i/v, dropwise, were administered for 40 min, on days 1-5 each week, for 3 weeks, in 4 courses. Simultaneously, MESNA was given in a dose two-thirds of that of ifosfamide. The maximum single tolerable dose of ifosfamide was 3.2 g/m2. The dose of 3.5 g/m2 proved neurotoxic causing encephalopathy. The other toxic effects were stage III-IV neutropenia (47%), nausea and vomiting (91%) and weakness (33%). No clinical evidence of renal failure was attributed to the high dosage of the drug in the course of assays of biochemical components of the blood, blood- and urine-beta-2-microglobulins, N-acetyl-D-hexoaminidase (NAG) level in urine, creatinine clearance and complex renoscintigraphy data. On days 3-5, ifosfamide treatment was followed by increase in NAG and beta-2-microglobulin levels in urine which pointed to the toxic effect exerted on the epithelium of renal tubules. The antitumor effect was apparent in 5 (29%) patients for 6 months, which testifies to the high effectiveness of ifosfamide treatment for soft-tissue sarcoma.

[Determining the level of the tumor marker--neuron-specific enolase in patients with neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases]. / Opredelenie opukholevogo markera--neirospetsificheskoi enolazy u bol'nykh s opukholevymi i neopukholevymi zabolevaniiami.

Radioimmunoassay was employed to measure serum levels of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) in 38 lung cancer patients, 20 patients with noncancer pulmonary lesions and 10 healthy donors. An average NSE level (92.8 +/- 18.7 micrograms/l) in small cell carcinoma (10 patients) was significantly higher (p less than 0.01) than in control, nonmalignant pulmonary diseases, squamous cell and adenocarcinoma. Sensitivity and specificity of the tumor marker to small cell carcinoma reached 80 and 95%, respectively. NSE serum test may serve an additional tool in differential diagnosis of small cell carcinoma of the lung.

[Radioimmunologic analysis in the differential diagnosis of cancer of the thyroid gland]. / Radioimmunologicheskii analiz v differentsial'noi diagnostike raka shchitovidnoi zhelezy.

Investigations using a radioimmunoassay in 92 patients with nodular goiter, thyroid adenoma and cancer have shown that changes in the levels of T4, T3 and TSH cannot be used in differential diagnosis of tumors. A high level of thyroglobulin (TG) in 70-75% of patients in the absence of antibodies to it and the presence of a "cold node" on a scan is suggestive of differentiated types of thyroid cancer. In these cases TG can serve as a tumor marker. A moderate level of Tg in 25-30% of cases against a background of a high level of antibodies to it does not permit its use as a tumor marker in such patients even in the postoperative period. High levels of TG and TSH despite the use of thyroid drugs in patients, operated on for differentiated types of thyroid cancer, may be suggestive of a possible manifestation of a recurrence or metastatic spreading.

[Characteristics of hormonal homeostasis in children with thymus enlargement syndrome]. / Osobennosti gormonal'nogo gomeostaza u detei s sindromom uvelicheniia vilochkovoi zhelezy.

Hormonal homeostasis was examined in 104 children aged 1 to 14 years with thymus enlargement. There was a significant growth of somatotropic hormone in children of the first 3 years of life, characterized by thyroid dysfunction and hypofunction increase with age, by a tendency towards ACTH and hydrocortisone lowering under 6 years of age, and a significant decrease of those parameters in children over 6 years. The children with thymus enlargement also showed other disorders of hormonal homeostasis.

[Use of combined radionuclide tests in the differential diagnosis of different forms of thyroid cancer]. / Ispol'zovanie kompleksnykh radionuklidnykh testov v differentsial'noi diagnostike razlichnykh form raka shchitovidnoi zhelezy.

The levels of TSH, T4, T3, calcitonin (CT), PTH, TGA and TG were determined in 96 persons (87 patients and 9 healthy persons) before and after operation; 46 patients had papillary carcinoma, 15 follicular cancer, 24 medullary carcinoma, 2 undifferentiated cancer. There was no common clinicomorphological approach to the studied problem therefore it was impossible to compare the data of different researchers. Radionuclide tests were employed to specify the importance of different methods in clinical practice. Elevated levels of TG, TSH, PTH, T4 and a lowered level of CT were revealed in differentiated thyroid carcinomas; elevated levels of CT, TSH, PTH, T4 and a lowered level of TG were revealed in medullary carcinoma. A decrease in T4 and T3 levels was noted after operations in patients with differentiated thyroid cancers necessitating the use of substitution therapy and thyroid hormones.

[Interrelation of the clinical picture of hypothyroidism with the calcium-regulating function of the thyroid in its diffuse enlargement]. / Vzaimosviaz' klinicheskoi kertiny gipotireoza kal'tsiireguliruiushchei funktsii shchitovidnoi zhelezy pri ee diffuznom uvelichenii.

Analysis was made of the correlation between the clinical manifestations of hypothyrosis and thyroid calcium-regulating activity. In diffuse enlargement of the thyroid gland the employment of mathematical analysis of hypothyrosis symptoms and thyrotropin-releasing hormone test promoted the early diagnosis of hypothyrosis and helped to reveal its pathogenesis (primary, hypophyseal, hypothalamic). In primary hypothyrosis, when the basal level of thyrotropin and its reaction to TRH was increased, depressed levels of parathormone and thyroxin-binding globulin were observed. A tendency towards elevation in the production of calcitonin was recorded in all mild forms of the disease.

[Disorder of thyroid function in patients with cancer of the gastrointestinal tract]. / Narushenie tireoidnogo statusa u bol'nykh rakom organov zheludochno-kishechnogo trakta.

A quantitative assessment of T3 pool was performed in patients with malignant tumors of the esophagus, stomach, pancreatic head, rectum and colon as well as in patients with chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer and benign stomach tumors. A high T3 pool deficiency was noted in patients with malignant GIT tumors. It was assumed that such a deficiency was indicative of profound disorder of hormone supply of tissues which could be regarded as an endogenous factor of predisposition to the development of malignant neoplasms.

[Labeling index in colonic cancer, polyps and polyposis and nonspecific colitis]. / Indeks metki pri rake, polipakh, polipoze tolstoi kishki i nespetsificheskikh kolitakh.

Thymidine historadiography was employed to study labelling index in tumors and grossly-unaltered mucosa of large bowel in 34 cases of colorectal cancer and 67 patients with single polyps, polyposis and villous tumors of large bowel and suffering from nonspecific colitis. Mean labelling index in tumor tissue was established at 5.49, in normal mucosa of large bowel of healthy subjects--1.19, and in colitis, polyps and villous tumors--2.32, 4.24 and 5.84%, respectively. Labelling index increased with the degree of pathologic changes in mucosal epithelium of large bowel. Thymidine historadiography should be used in formation of groups at risk for large bowel cancer.

The antitumor activity of oxoplatinum.

A coordination complex cis-dichlorodiamminedihydroxoplatinum (IV) (oxoplatinum) was first synthesized in the USSR by Chugaev and Khlopin in 1927 [3]. Its marked antitumor properties were revealed by one of the authors of this article at the All-Union Cancer Research Center of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR. The paper gives data on the antiblastic and side effects of oxoplatinum and also on the results of pharmacokinetic studies of the drug. Particular attention was paid to the similarity and differences of biological properties of oxoplatinum and cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum(II) (DDP) which has found wide use in oncological practice. It has been established that, on principle, oxoplatinum differs from DDP in action on the body and tumors. The new drug is 10 times less toxic than DDP. Oxoplatinum has a wide spectrum of antineoplastic action resulting in marked inhibition of growth of solid and ascitic forms of transplantable tumors. The drug has a longer duration of antitumor effect after the end of the therapeutic course. An important property of oxoplatinum is its high therapeutic index. The new drug manifests high antitumor activity with different ways of its administration into the body. Oxoplatinum in therapeutic doses does not produce necrotic lesions in the kidneys. The new drug exerted no cross-resistance with DDP and the alkylating antitumor agent sarcolysin. At the present time oxoplatinum is undergoing preclinical investigation.

[Determination of the labeling index in stomach tumors (preliminary report)]. / Opredelenie indeksa metki v opukholiakh zheludka (predvaritel'noe soobshchenie).

The results of measurement of labelling index in tumor tissues and the so-called "normal" gastric mucosa, used as a cell kinetics parameter, were compared in 21 cases of stomach cancer. A procedure of double labeling DNA-synthesizing cells with different concentrations of 3H-thymidine was applied. Tumor tissue samples and specimens of gastric mucosa obtained at a distance of 5-10 cm from the visible boundary of tumor were labeled simultaneously, and a significant difference in labeling index in the tissue samples was observed. Mean labeling index in tumor tissue was 29.66% +/- 1.32, while in normal mucosa - 5.76% +/- 0.76. The procedure may be recommended for early diagnosis of cancer.

[Antitumor action of cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum(II) and the effectiveness of a combination with sarcolysine]. / Protivoopukholevoe deistvie tsis-dikhlorodiaminplatiny (II) i éffektivnosti kombinirovaniia s sarkolizinom.

Therapeutic properties of cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum (II) were studied on 12 strains of transplantable tumors and leukemias in mice. The compound is characterized by a wide spectrum of antitumor action. The greatest effect was gained in adenocarcinoma of the lage intestine (strain AKATOL), proventricular cancer (strain PRG) and adenocarcinoma of the mammary gland (strain Ca-755). The terms of survival in mice with leukemia (strain La and L-1210) and ascites hepatoma 22 are increased considerably. In some L-1210 animals the complete cure was noted. Cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum (II) may be effectively combined with sarcolysin. Much greater antitumor effect was obtained on 3 tumor strains (AKATOL, Ca-755 and sarcoma 37) with the combined therapy than with each drug used separately. The histological study of Ca-755 during chemotherapy indicated that immunocompetent cells of the organism play an important role in the mechanism of antitumor action of the platinum complex. This is manifested in the development of intensive lymphohistiocytic reaction around and inside the tumor. A damage to the convoluted tubules of the kidney and intestinal villi is one of the main adverse side-effects of the combination.