EUROPEAN ONCOLOGY & HAEMATOLOGY – VOLUME 7 ISSUE 1 – SPRING 2011

Radiation therapy is a mainstay of cancer therapy. As recent progress allows more frequently for recovery or at least prolonged survival, late treatment toxicity is of increasing concern. Irradiation of frequent childhood tumours such as medulloblastoma and ependymoma is frequently associated with late neurocognitive and neuroendocrine dysfunction. To learn more, read the excellent article by […]

Docetaxel is effective against numerous tumours, mainly in metastatic breast cancers; however, it can lead to other conditions, in particular cutaneous reactions, such as onycholysis and hand–foot syndrome. The ungual toxicity of docetaxel is well-known and occurs in 40–50% of cases. The mechanism of this toxicity is of neurogenic origin. Local symptoms are due to […]

Squamous cell cancers of the head and neck (SCCHN) include a range of diseases consisting of cancers of the lip, gums, tongue, salivary glands, other oral cavity sites, nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses, pharynx and larynx. Locally advanced (LA) SCCHN tumours are at a stage at which they have locally spread from the primary site but […]

Breast cancer is an important public health problem, as it is the leading cause of death from cancer in women and the leading cause of death in 35–55-year-old women in the EU. Well-known risk factors are a previous breast carcinoma, atypical ductal hyperplasia, atypical columnar hyperplasia, lobular lesion in situ, papillomatosis or atypical papillary lesion, […]

Mediastinal staging in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is crucial for correct prognosis and therapeutic choices. When no distal metastases are present, mediastinal involvement is the most important prognostic factor;1 therefore, mediastinal exploration represents an important resource-consuming step in patient evaluation. Ruling out mediastinal nodal involvement allows the patient to be considered for surgery; otherwise, complementary […]

Despite many years of continuous effort, pancreatic carcinoma remains a highly lethal disease and a challenge to the medical community. Most patients will be diagnosed in an advanced stage of the disease and will be candidates for oncological palliative therapy or supportive care only. These patient groups have a life expectancy of only a few […]

Radiation therapy as a means to improve outcome for a patient suffering from medulloblastoma was first used by Cushing in the 1920s. In 1953 Patterson and Farr reported their success on 27 medulloblastoma patients treated with craniospinal irradiation.1 As technology has improved, radiation oncologists have developed techniques to deliver higher-energy radiation beams that are more […]

New contrast-enhancing lesions discovered on routine follow-up brain imaging at or near the site of previously treated primary or metastatic brain tumours represent a challenge for radiologists and oncologists, as radiation-induced injuries may have an appearance that is virtually indistinguishable from that of recurrent disease. With standard magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) modalities, a reliable distinction […]

Philadelphia-chromosome-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), including polycythaemia vera (PV), primary myelofibrosis (PMF) and essential thrombocythaemia (ET) are defined as clonal haematopoietic stem cell disorders. They are characterised by increased proliferation of terminally differentiated myeloid cells.

Primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), until recently referred to as idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), is an acquired autoimmune disorder defined by isolated thrombocytopenia (platelet count 450×109/l). In phase II of the same trial, 21 patients were randomly assigned to receive six weekly subcutaneous injections of romiplostim (1, 3 or 6μg/kg) or placebo. However, the highest-dose cohort […]

Patients with haemophilia are subject to recurrent bleeding episodes. Those with severe haemophilia have a reduced life expectancy, with liver disease/hepatocellular carcinoma and intracranial haemorrhage being the primary causes of death.1 Some patients with haemophilia develop antibodies against the replaced coagulation factors, commonly denoted inhibitors, because they inactivate the biological activity of the replaced factors.2 […]

Patients with haemophilia experience a spectrum of bleeding manifestations that occur either spontaneously or after minimal trauma. Examples of bleeding range from life-threatening bleeding such as intracranial haemorrhage to less severe bleeds such as easy bruising or mucosal bleeding. Joint haemorrhage or intra-articular bleeding (haemarthrosis) accounts for >90% of all bleeding events in patients with […]

In the field of thrombosis a distinction has traditionally been maintained between venous and arterial thrombosis in terms of both the composition of the thrombus (fibrin- and cell-rich red thrombus in the veins versus platelet-rich white thrombus in the arteries) and risk factors. Venous thrombosis has been associated with hypercoagulability and/or reduced blood flow, whereas […]