mesna and Retroperitoneal-Neoplasms

Between 1985 and 1989, 36 consecutive male patients with advanced germ-cell tumors, who had failed to be cured with either the cisplatin, vinblastine, bleomycin (PVB) or the cisplatin, etoposide, bleomycin (PEB) combinations, entered either of two modified salvage therapy regimens consisting of cisplatin, etoposide, and ifosfamide (PEI) or cisplatin, vinblastine and ifosfamide (PVI). All patients had evidence of active disease. Ifosfamide was given at the dosage of 2.5 gr/m2 (with mesna protection) on days 1 and 2; etoposide and cisplatin were given at the dosage of 100 mg/m2 and 40 mg/m2, respectively, on days 3 to 5. In the PVI schedule, vinblastine 6 mg/m2 was given on day 3. Overall, 20 (56%, C.I. 39 to 72) patients entered complete response (CR) or achieved disease-free status (NED) with post-chemotherapy surgery. After a follow-up of 2 to 7 years, 15 patients (42%, C.I. 24 to 58) remain alive and free of disease. None of the 9 patients unresponsive to the first-line therapy and/or with extragonadal primaries entered CR or achieved the NED status, versus 20 (74%, C.I. 58 to 91) of the 27 patients with primary testicular tumors who were responsive to the first-line therapy (p less than 0.001). PEI was used in 20 of these 27 patients, with excellent results (90% CR and 70% continuously NED) independently of primary therapy, PVB or PEB. By contrast, only 2 of the 7 patients treated with PVI following PEB entered CR. Toxicity was not life-threatening. Nine (25%) patients suffered granulocytopenic fever and 3 (8%) required platelet transfusions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Cisplatin; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug Administration Schedule; Etoposide; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Ifosfamide; Male; Mediastinal Neoplasms; Mesna; Middle Aged; Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal; Retroperitoneal Neoplasms; Testicular Neoplasms; Vinblastine

Retroperitoneal synovial sarcomas are very rare. The authors describe a 39-year-old male with a primary retroperitoneal synovial sarcoma showing a monophasic pattern. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells were positive for cytokeratin AE1/AE3, epithelial membrane antigen, vimentin, S-100 protein, CD99 and calretinin. The differential diagnosis, clinical evolution and principles of treatment are shortly discussed.

Topics: Adult; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Dacarbazine; Doxorubicin; Humans; Ifosfamide; Male; Mast Cells; Mesna; Mitosis; Retroperitoneal Neoplasms; Sarcoma, Synovial; Thoracic Neoplasms

The definition of malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) was modified and simplified in the new WHO-Soft Tissue and Bone Tumor Classification published in 2002. We reviewed the clinical courses of 7 patients with MFH of the retroperitoneum treated in our hospital from 1985 to 2005 and reexamined their pathological diagnoses according to the new classification. All pathological specimens were reviewed again by an expert pathologist (TH) and were confirmed as MFH. Median follow-up was 5 months (0.5 to 44 months). Five patients were diagnosed as having the pleomorphic type, and 2, the inflammatory type. The tumor was located in the retroperitoneal space in 6 patients and around the left spermatic cord in 1. Radical surgery was the primary treatment for 6 patients. The disease recurred locally in 5 patients and distant metastasis developed in 3. The lung and liver were the principal locations of distant metastases. The 2-year disease-specific survival rate was 30% and 2 patients have been alive for more than 3 years. Our experience and those of others reported in the literature suggested that the factors for long-term survival in MFH are pleomorphic-type histology, superficial location, small tumor size and intensive wide excision, although most patients with MFH might have a poor prognosis. Because the tumor size of MFH tended to be large, especially that in the retroperitoneal cavity, wide excision with sufficient tumor-free margin is hard to guarantee.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Dacarbazine; Doxorubicin; Drug Administration Schedule; Female; Histiocytoma, Malignant Fibrous; Humans; Ifosfamide; Male; Mesna; Middle Aged; Retroperitoneal Neoplasms

To evaluate the activity of two cycles of high-dose ifosfamide, carboplatin, and etoposide (ICE) with autologous hematopoietic progenitor cell support (aHPCS) in patients with poor-prognosis, chemotherapeutically sensitive germ cell cancer.. Twenty patients with germ cell tumor who had persistent disease or relapse from standard-risk or high-risk presentation were entered on this pilot study. The entry criteria included relapsed gonadal and extragonadal germ cell cancer unlikely to be cured by standard salvage therapy but without proven refractoriness to chemotherapy. Treatment consisted of two cycles of ICE chemotherapy with mesna uroprotection and aHPCS. On the first cycle, ifosfamide (IFX), 2 gm/m2; carboplatin, 400 mg/m2; and etoposide, 20 mg/kg, were administered on days -6, -5, and -4. On the second cycle, the doses and schedule of carboplatin and etoposide were identical, and patients with normal renal function received additional IFX, 2 g/m2 on day -3 and 1 g/ m2 on day -2. Mesna, 600 mg/m2 every 6 hours, was given until 24 hours following the final dose of IFX on each cycle, and autologous bone marrow and/or peripheral stem-cells were infused on day 0.. All twenty patients are assessable for toxicity and current disease status. Two patients received only one cycle of therapy, one because of the development of active hepatitis C following cycle 1, and one because of renal insufficiency. No patient died as a result of protocol therapy, and no patient developed debilitating peripheral neuropathy, symptomatic hearing loss, or severe renal insufficiency requiring dialysis. The median time to recovery of > or = 500 neutrophils/microL and platelets > or = 50,000/microL was day +11 and day +15, respectively. The median maximum creatinine was 1.6 mg/dL on each treatment cycle, and there was no other significant organ toxicity. With a median follow-up of 45 months, nine patients are alive and disease-free following protocol chemotherapy. One patient with embryonal cancer developed progressive pulmonary metastases 3 months after completing high-dose therapy, underwent complete resection of lung metastases, and remains disease-free at 63+ months. Eight patients are continuously disease free at 23+ to 70+ months after protocol therapy. Eleven patients died of progressive disease between 4 and 23 months following completion of treatment.. These results compare favorably to other studies in similarly selected patients undergoing salvage therapy with one or two cycles of chemotherapy containing high-dose carboplatin and etoposide with or without cyclophosphamide (CTX) or IFX. The excellent safety and tolerability profile of this regimen and its encouraging activity in poor-prognosis patients make it worthy of further study as part of initial therapy in randomized protocols for high-risk disease and early in the treatment of relapsed germ cell cancer.

Topics: Adult; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Carboplatin; Combined Modality Therapy; Etoposide; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Germinoma; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; Humans; Ifosfamide; Male; Mediastinal Neoplasms; Mesna; Middle Aged; Ovarian Neoplasms; Pilot Projects; Retroperitoneal Neoplasms; Testicular Neoplasms