Anesthesia providers' perspectives on abortion provision: deductive findings from a qualitative study.

INTRODUCTION: A clinician's willingness to provide abortion care is complex. Anesthesia providers' experiences in providing anesthesia for abortion are not well studied. We aimed to explore anesthesia providers' perspectives on abortion provision. METHODS: We conducted semi-structured, qualitative interviews with currently practising anesthesia providers in the southeastern United States. Participants were recruited from scientific meetings of two regional anesthesiology organizations and via snowball sampling. A semi-structured interview guide included domains of standardized second trimester abortion cases and personal abortion attitudes. Data were coded and analyzed iteratively using both inductive and deductive approaches with MAXQDA software. Deductive results are presented. RESULTS: Fifteen participants completed interviews from February 2018 to February 2019, at which point thematic saturation occurred. Participants represented a range of provider type, years of experience, workplace setting, and prior abortion experience. Participants demonstrated varied personal abortion attitudes, with greater acceptability of maternal or fetal health indications than social or financial indications for abortion. Most participants were willing to provide anesthesia for abortion in specific clinical scenarios. CONCLUSIONS: Southeastern United States anesthesia providers hold a spectrum of personal views on abortion and are willing to provide anesthesia for second trimester abortion in specific clinical scenarios. Findings may inform future research or professional development activities, which are important efforts toward improving multidisciplinary abortion care.

Chemotherapy of intermediate- and high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphomas with a high-dose doxorubicin-containing regimen.

Forty-seven previously untreated patients with intermediate- or high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were treated with four courses of a regimen that consisted of high-dose (120 mg/m2) Adriamycin (doxorubicin; Adria Laboratories, Columbus, OH), vincristine (2 mg), cytarabine (3 gm/m2), and dexamethasone (50 mg intravenously [IV] on day 1 and 20 mg/day orally on days 2 to 5) (AVAD), which was administered every 3 to 4 weeks. The median age of the patients was 58 years; 72% were Ann Arbor stage IV, 49% had "B" symptoms, 62% had masses larger than 7 cm, 40% had masses at least 10 cm in diameter, and 49% had serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) greater than 250 U/L. Overall, 72% of the patients (89% of diffuse large-cell lymphoma [DLCL] patients) attained complete (CR) or probable complete responses (PCR), and relapses occurred in 32%. There were no episodes of clinical congestive heart failure, but one patient developed recurrent ventricular arrhythmias. Fever during neutropenia occurred with 65% of treatment courses. Three deaths were attributed primarily to complications of therapy. The lymphoma-free survival of all entered patients is 51% (24 of 47), with a follow-up of 30 to 67 months (median, 58 months). These results confirm that high CR/PCR and long-term survival rates can be achieved in patients with aggressive histologies of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, even in groups with poor prognostic factors, using high-dose anthracycline-containing chemotherapy regimens delivered over a short period of time. However, the apparently higher relapse rate in comparison to our previous study leads us to speculate that consolidation with noncross-resistant agents may be helpful in increasing even further the cure rate in this group of patients.

Low doses of prophylactic cranial irradiation effective in limited stage small cell carcinoma of the lung.

PURPOSE: Prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) for the prevention of brain metastasis in small cell lung cancer remains controversial, both in terms of efficacy and the optimal dose-fractionation scheme. We performed this study to evaluate the efficacy of PCI at low doses. METHODS AND MATERIALS: One hundred and ninety-seven patients were referred to our institution for treatment of limited stage small cell carcinoma of the lung between June 1986 and December 1992. Follow-up ranged from 1.1 to 89.8 months, with a mean of 19 months. Eighty-five patients received PCI. RESULTS: Patients receiving PCI exhibited brain failure in 15%, while 38% of untreated patients developed metastases. This degree of prophylaxis was achieved with a median total dose of 25.20 Gy and a median fraction size of 1.80 Gy. At these doses, acute and late complications were minimal. Patients receiving PCI had significantly better 1-year and 2-year overall survivals (68% and 46% vs. 33% and 13%). However, patients with a complete response (CR) to chemotherapy and better Karnofsky performance status (KPS) were overrepresented in the PCI group. In an attempt to compare similar patients in both groups (PCI vs. no PCI), only patients with KPS > or = 80, CR or near-CR to chemotherapy, and treatment with attempt to cure, were compared. In this good prognostic group, survival was still better in the PCI group (p = 0.0018). CONCLUSION: In this patient population, relatively low doses of PCI have accomplished a significant reduction in the incidence of brain metastasis with little toxicity. Whether such treatment truly improves survival awaits the results of additional prospective randomized trials.

Small-cell lung carcinoma: an analysis of 194 consecutive patients.

The treatment of small-cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) requires the careful combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. To understand the factors involved in the outcome of these patients, the authors undertook a study of patients treated for limited stage SCLC. The charts of 194 consecutive patients treated at our facilities between 1986 and 1994 were reviewed. All patients underwent thoracic radiation therapy (TRT), 50% received prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI), and all but one received chemotherapy. The probability of survival at 5 years was 14%, and the disease-free survival (DFS) was 17%. Patients receiving a combination of platinum and etoposide (PE) and Cytoxan (Bristol-Myers, Evansville, IN, U.S.A.), Adriamycin (Adria Laboratories, Dublin, OH, U.S.A.), and Vincristine (Eli Lilly, Indianapolis, IN, U.S.A.) (CAV) experienced a DFS at 3 years of 31%, versus 14% for CAV only and 18% for PE only (p = 0.004). In a multivariate survival analysis, only PCI (p = 0.001), having received PE and CAV (p = 0.01), and response to treatment (p = 0.001) were significant. Radiation dose and field size did not influence outcome. The combination of PE and CAV chemotherapy produced the best results in our series. Unanswered questions regarding the optimal TRT dose, field size, and timing of TRT await the results of ongoing randomized trials.

Differing modulation of protein kinase C by bryostatin 1 and phorbol esters in JB6 mouse epidermal cells.

Bryostatin 1 (Bryo), a macrocyclic lactone, stimulates some but not all of the biologic effects which are induced by phorbol esters (PEs). In vitro, it competes with PEs for binding to whole cells and activates the calcium/phospholipid-dependent protein kinase, PK-C. To examine whether Bryo, like PEs, is able to stimulate the nonadherent growth of cells, we used the mouse epidermal cell line JB6, which is stimulated by PEs to grow in soft agar. Like PEs, Bryo stimulates both the adherent and nonadherent growth of these cells, but Bryo (0.001-1 microM) is less active than equivalent concentrations of PEs. To attempt to explain the biologic differences between these two agents, we examined the modulation of PK-C by both PEs and Bryo. In a phosphotransferase assay using partially purified PK-C from JB6 cells, Bryo (1-0.001 microM) stimulated less phosphorylation of histone substrate than did PMA. Also, when whole cells were treated with equal concentrations of Bryo or PMA, Bryo stimulated a decreased loss of PK-C from the cytosol. Using purified isozymes of PK-C from rat brain, Bryo demonstrated identical competition to PMA for binding to forms alpha and gamma but decreased binding to form beta. Hydroxylapatite chromatography of JB6 cytosol demonstrated that these cells contain largely peak 2, or beta-PK-C. Although Bryo more weakly activates PK-C from JB6 cells, prolonged exposure of JB6 cells to either 1.0 or 0.01 microM Bryo caused a more rapid loss of immunologically detectable PK-C than did similar concentrations of PEs. We conclude that Bryo is capable of stimulating both the nonadherent and the adherent growth of JB6 cells in a similar fashion to phorbol esters. The differences in biologic effects of Bryo and PMA may be partially explained by Bryo's modulation of PK-C.

Black widow spider bite in a child.

An 8-year-old boy who was bitten by a black widow spider was seen in the emergency department twice, as well as by his private family physician, within a 24-hour period of time before being admitted to the hospital. This patient should have been observed for a longer period of time in the emergency department or admitted to the hospital on the day of presentation for observation with conservative management. The current literature is reviewed with special emphasis on the pediatric patient, and management guidelines are recommended.

Oral dolasetron mesylate in patients receiving moderately emetogenic platinum-containing chemotherapy. Oral Dolasetron Dose Response Study Group.

PURPOSE: This double-blind, dose-response study was conducted to assess the safety and efficacy of four oral doses of dolasetron mesylate for preventing acute emesis in cancer patients receiving their first course of moderately emetogenic platinum-containing chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients were randomized to receive a single oral dose of 25, 50, 100, or 200 mg dolasetron 30 minutes before receiving IV carboplatin (275-400 mg/m2)- or cisplatin (20-50 mg/m2)-containing chemotherapy, then monitored for nausea and vomiting for 24 hours. RESULTS: Three hundred seven cancer patients from 32 sites completed the study. There was a statistically significant dose response across the four doses for complete response (no emetic episodes or rescue medication): 44.7%, 71.3%, 73.2%, and 82.5% for the 25, 50, 100, or 200 mg doses of dolasetron, respectively. Patients' nausea severity and patient satisfaction visual analogue scale scores also showed a statistically significant trend with dose. All doses of dolasetron were well tolerated. The most common adverse events were headache (17.6%) and dizziness (2.0%). DISCUSSION: This study demonstrates the safety and antiemetic efficacy of oral dolasetron mesylate in patients receiving moderately emetogenic platinum-containing chemotherapy with the highest antiemetic activity observed at 200 mg.