Hodgkin's disease
Article Abstract:
Seventy-five percent of patients who are diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease in 1992 will be cured. Hodgkin's disease is a cancer of the white blood cells (WBC), or cells of the immune system, that originate in the lymph nodes. The cause of Hodgkin's disease is unknown, but it may be a response to viral infections or exposure to toxic chemicals and may have a genetic component. Hodgkin's disease is diagnosed on finding Reed-Sternberg cells, cells that are large with two or more nuclei, in the patient's blood. CT scanning is often used to locate tumors and stage, or plan treatment, of the disease. Patients with early-stage disease are treated with radiation therapy, and those with advanced disease are treated with chemotherapy. Patients who have recurrences are treated with either chemotherapy or radiotherapy, and some have chemotherapy combined with bone marrow transplantation. Many Hodgkin's patients survive, but treatment for the disease can cause complications such as bacterial infections, infertility, heart disease and lung disease. They may also develop secondary cancers.
Publication Name: The New England Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0028-4793
Year: 1992
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The effects of treatment with interleukin-1 alpha on platelet recovery after high-dose carboplatin
Article Abstract:
Interleukin-1 alpha can reverse the drop in blood platelets (thrombocytopenia) that often occurs during chemotherapy. Forty-three cancer patients were included in a study of the effect of interleukin-1 alpha on thrombocytopenia caused by carboplatin chemotherapy. Eight patients in the control group were treated with carboplatin only. Ten were treated with low-dose interleukin-1 alpha, 10 with moderate-dose interleukin-1 alpha and 15 with high-dose interleukin-1 alpha. In each dosage group, approximately half the patients were treated before carboplatin chemotherapy and half were treated after. Carboplatin caused thrombocytopenia in all patients in the control group as well as those who received interleukin-1 alpha before treatment. Fifteen of the patients who received interleukin-1 alpha after treatment experienced no thrombocytopenia or thrombocytopenia that quickly reversed. High-dose interleukin-1 alpha caused severe but reversible side effects.
Publication Name: The New England Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0028-4793
Year: 1993
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Complete molecular remissions induced by patient-specific vaccination plus granulocyte-monocyte colony-stimulating factor against lymphoma
Article Abstract:
A cancer vaccine against a tumor-specific antigen in lymphoma patients successfully cleared all malignant cells in the blood of 8 out of 11 patients. The patients also had evidence of tumor-specific CD8+ and CD4+ cells in their blood. They remained in remission following the treatment.
Publication Name: Nature Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 1078-8956
Year: 1999
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