Intravenous chemotherapy and, independently, intrathecal chemotherapy improve survival in breast cancer patients with LM. Radiotherapy has a positive impact on the quality of life due to the alleviation of neurological symptoms. The role of radiotherapy in prolonging survival is questionable.
The aim of the study was to define biological subtypes of breast cancer that have the propensity to metastasize to the leptomeninges and to assess factors influencing survival from detection of leptomeningeal metastatis (LM). One hundred and eighteen consecutive breast cancer patients with LM were treated in one institution, between the years 1999 and 2009; 40.5 % of patients had triple-negative subtype, 37.5 % had luminal A subtype and 22 % had HER2-positive subtypes (luminal B and HER2). Of patients with LM, 35 % had lobular cancer. Median survival from the detection of LM was 18 weeks, and 1-year survival was 16 %. Cox multivariate analysis revealed that performance status and systemic treatment statistically significantly influenced survival of patients with LM. Triple-negative biological subtype and lobular histological type of breast cancer had the propensity to metastasize to the leptomeninges. Performance status and systemic treatment ordered after detection of LM statistically significantly influenced survival.
A total of 49 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia were immunized with a purified subvirion trivalent influenza vaccine (Wyeth-USA) and monitored for hemagglutination inhibition (HI) and neuraminidase inhibition (NI) antibodies before vaccination, and then three weeks and six months after vaccination. Results for HI antibodies were evaluated as geometric mean titre (GMT), mean fold antibody increase (MFI), protection and response rates and those for NI antibodies as geometric mean titre (GMT) and mean fold antibody increase (MFI). Six months after vaccination GMT for hemagglutinin 1 (H1) was much higher than previous values. GMT for hemagglutinin 3 (H3) and hemagglutinin B (HB) was lower than three weeks after vaccination, but much higher than the original values. In the control group GMT for H1 was on a low level all the time and for H3 and HB it was lower when compared with the original values. The proportion of vaccines to antibodies > or = 40 ranged between 45% and 88%. Six months after vaccination GMT for neuraminidase 1 (N1) increased when compared with the second sampling; for neuraminidase 2 (N2) and neuraminidase B (NB) it was slightly lower. In the control group GMT for all antigens was on a low level all the time. The results point to a significant seroconversion for both components after vaccination when compared with the control group.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.