Summary
Forty‐seven patients with locally advanced cervical cancer at high risk of relapse received three cycles of chemotherapy with PVB (cisplatin, vinblastine and bleomycin) before definitive local treatment with either radical surgery or radiotherapy. Thirty‐one of the 47 patients (66%) responded to initial chemotherapy, and 11 of them have relapsed compared with 13 of the 16 non‐responders. Median time to recurrence was 31 weeks for PVB non‐responders but has not yet been reached for PVB responders. After a median follow‐up of 128 weeks, 14 of the 31 responders (45 %) are alive and disease free compared with 3 of the 16 non‐responders (19%). There was a positive correlation between response to chemotherapy and subsequent response to radiotherapy. PVB was in general well tolerated although one death is probably attributable to chemotherapy. A randomized study comparing radiotherapy alone with initial PVB chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy is in progress.
In a consecutive series of 163 patients referred with malignant ovarian tumours there were 24 (14.7%) who developed major bowel complications; 21 patients were operated upon for bowel obstruction and had a mean survival time of 8.1 months; 8 of the 24 patients are alive with cancer and 4 are alive without evidence of residual tumour. It is concluded that laparotomy is indicated when bowel complications occur in patients with ovarian carcinoma.
A case is presented of massive haemoperitoneum resulting from spontaneous rupture of a uterine varix in late pregnancy. A review of the literature indicates that this is associated with a high maternal and fetal mortality. The condition warrants special attention so that the diagnosis is not made too late.
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.