This is an important series, as no patient received adjuvant therapy, and represents the natural history of surgically resected stage I EOC.

No abstract

Object. The purpose of this paper was to assess the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia (TN) with the higher than normal dose of 90 Gy. Methods. Forty-two patients with typical TN were treated over a 3-year period with gamma knife radiosurgery. Every patient received a maximum dose of 90 Gy in a single 4-mm isocenter targeted to the root entry zone of the trigeminal nerve. Thirty of 42 patients had undergone no prior treatments. The median follow-up period was 14 months (range 2–30 months). Thirty-one patients (73.8%) achieved complete relief of pain. Nine patients (21.4%) obtained good pain control. Complications were limited to increased facial paresthesia in seven patients (16.7%) and dysgeusia in four patients (9.5%). Conclusions. The authors conclude that the use of 90 Gy is a safe and effective dose for the treatment of TN.

The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) remains a commonly measured indicator of disease, but is subject to several non-disease influences. The haemoglobin concentration (Hb) and ESR were measured in 1249 consecutive patients (492 men, 757 women) from primary care practices. An inverse correlation was found between Hb and ESR throughout the range of measured Hb, and in particular there was a significant difference in the median ESR of patients in the highest and lowest quartile for non-anaemic Hb (P< 0.001). These results indicate that correct clinical analysis of an ESR result should take into account the Hb, both in anaemic and in non-anaemic patients. Interpretative difficulties due to external influences on the measured ESR could be resolved by replacement of this test with plasma viscosity estimation.