[Docetaxel in combination with epirubicin as the first-line chemotherapy for advanced and recurrent breast cancer: a multicenter phase II study].

This study examined the efficacy and tolerability of docetaxel(DOC)in combination with epirubicin(EPI)as the first-line treatment for patients with advanced and recurrent breast cancer. A total of 56 female patients with metastatic breast cancer not previously treated for metastatic disease received DOC(60mg/m²)and EPI(60mg/m2)on day 1 every 3 weeks. The patient characteristics included a median age of 53 years. Advanced disease was present in 86% of patients, and recurrent disease was found in 14%; 3 or more metastatic sites had been diagnosed in 38% of patients, and 59% patients were ER+. The median number of courses administered was 6. The median dose intensity was 18. 7mg/m²week for DOC and EPI, and the relative dose intensities were 93. 5%and 93. 3%, respectively. The clinical responses included a complete response in 5%, a partial response in 54%, and stable disease in 33% of patients, with a disease control rate of 92%. The progression-free survival was 78. 3%, and the overall survival was 91. 9% at 1 year. Grade 3/4 toxicities included neutropenia in 82%, leukopenia in 71%, febrile neutropenia in 16%, anorexia in 9%, and anemia in 7%of the patients. Neither congestive heart failure nor toxic death occurred. The D and E combination with doses of 60mg/m2 is an active and generally well-tolerated regimen that can be used as first-line chemotherapy for patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Clinical outcomes of FOLFOX/FOLFIRI for the Japanese patients with far-advanced or recurrent colorectal cancer.

PURPOSE: Oxaliplatin, Irinotecan, 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin are commonly used to treat advanced colorectal cancer in Western countries. Here, we investigated the efficacy and safety of FOLFOX/FOLFIRI in Japanese colorectal cancer patients. METHODS: FOLFOX4, modified FOLFOX6 and FOLFIRI was administered to a total of 23 patients with far advanced or recurrent colorectal cancer in our institute. Tumor response rate and toxicity were analyzed with these patients. RESULTS: Partial response and stable disease was observed in 28.6% of patients, respectively. There was no therapy-related death. Neutropenia was observed in 12 cases (52.2%), anemia was in 12 cases (52.2%) and thrombocytopenia was in 6 cases (26.1%), respectively; among them, 9 patients (39.1%) experienced a Grade 3 of bone marrow suppression. Fatigue was observed in 8 cases (34.8%), nausea/vomiting was in 4 cases (17.4%), diarrhea was in 4 cases (17.4%) and neurotoxicity was in 8 cases (34.8%), respectively. All nonhematological toxicities were Grade 1 or 2. CONCLUSION: FOLFOX/FOLFIRI can contribute to efficacy and safety in cases of advanced colorectal cancer. In order to evaluate the long-term clinical results in Japanese patients, prospective controlled studies are urgently called for.

[A case of aged recurrent breast cancer with multiple lung metastases responding to examestane monotherapy].

An 85-year-old woman suffering from an angina attack was admitted to our hospital, and diagnosed with multiple lung metastases by CT scan. Because she was extremely aged with a long disease-free period of over 12 years, and without any life-threatening state despite multiple lung metastases, she received hormonal therapy. Examestane was considered one of the most-effective hormonal drugs for metastatic breast cancer. The efficacy of the treatment was definite: the multiple metastatic lesions showed a partial response after 5 months'treatment, and reached a complete response after 10 months'treatment. After 8 months in the complete response state, CT scan revealed progressive disease. Fortunately, the lung metastatic lesions were only slowly progressive, and she has no symptoms now. There was no side effect except for complication of subdural hematoma. Examestane is considered highly effective for metastatic breast cancer and well tolerated by an aged patient like this case.

Neoadjuvant epirubicin/docetaxel (ET) concomitant chemotherapy for primary breast cancer with tumor diameter >=3.1 cm: results of the Kyushu ET therapy phase II trial.

AIM: Neoadjuvant epirubicin/docetaxel (ET) combination chemotherapy was administered to breast cancer patients in order to investigate their clinical and pathological response. Moreover, the breast-conserving surgery (BCS) rate, disease-free (DFS) and overall survival (OS), safety profile and the correlation of biological markers were investigated. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Out of the 46 enrolled patients, 45 patients were analyzed for clinical response, and 40 patients were examined for pathological response. Estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PgR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor type2 (HER2) expression were examined immunohistologically. RESULTS: The median tumor size was 4.5 cm in diameter. Complete (CR) and partial responses were seen in 3 and 30 patients, respectively. A pathological CR was achieved in 4 patients and correlated with ER and PgR negativity. Moreover, BCS was performed on 16 patients. The 5-year cumulative DFS was 60.7% and OS was 91.8%. CONCLUSION: ET therapy is clinically effective with a pathological CR rate of 10% for patients with a large tumor, and should be considered as a neoadjuvant treatment option.

Removal of siloxane from digestion gas of sewage sludge.

This paper studies the way to remove siloxanes from digestion gas of sewage sludge by adsorbents. Many adsorbents were tested by using the model gas of siloxane in nitrogen. The adsorption ratio was 0.056-0.192 for the activated carbons, 0.004-0.077 for the molecular sieve and 0.104 for the silica gel. An observed tendency was that the activated carbons showed high adsorption ratio, and that the adsorption ratio was increased when BET surface area was higher, and the pore volume was higher and the pH value was higher. Finally, we found a few kinds of activated carbons with the superior ability of adsorption, and we tested the ability of them by using the real digestion gas. All of the siloxanes were found to be removed in the 1000 h test.