Our aim was to systematically evaluate the benefits of degarelix as antagonist versus agonists of gonadotropin-releasing hormones (GnRH) for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer (PC). This comparison was performed either in terms of biochemical or oncological or safety profiles. To this end we, carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature.We selected only studies directly and prospectively analyzing the two treatments in the same population (randomized phase III studies). We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and meta-analyses process for reporting studies.After we eliminated studies according to the exclusion criteria, 9 publications were considered relevant to this review. These articles described 5 clinical trials that were eligible for inclusion. The follow-up duration in all trials did not exceed 364 days. This meta-analysis and review comprised a total of 1719 men, 1061 randomized to degarelix versus 658 to GnRH agonists treatment for advanced PC. Oncological results were evaluated only in 1 trial (CS21:408 cases) and they were not the primary endpoints of the study. Treatment emerging adverse events were reported in 61.4% and 58.8% of patients in the degarelix and GnRH agonists group, respectively (odds ratio, OR = 1.17; 95% confidence interval, 95% CI: 0.78–1.77, P > 0.1). Treatment related severe cardiovascular side effects were reported (trial CS21-30-35) in 1.6% and 3.6% of patients in the degarelix and GnRH agonists group, respectively (OR = 0.55, 95% CI: 0.26–1.14, P > 0.1).Our analysis evidences relevant limitations in particular for the comparative evaluation of the efficacy and the oncological results related to degarelix.
PURPOSE. We verified whether prostate adenocarcinoma produces specific modifications in DC subsets count. METHODS. Twenty-one untreated prostate adenocarcinomas were divided on the basis of clinical stage in localized and metastatic disease. As control we used a population of 18 healthy male subjects. For DCs enumeration, peripheral blood (PB) samples were obtained in all cases. A single-platform flow cytometric assay based on Tru-COUNT was used for the enumeration of the two DCs subsets, myeloid (mDCs) and plasmacytoid (pDCs). RESULTS. We showed a statistically significant reduction in pDCs count in prostate cancer population when compared to healthy controls (P ¼ 0.002). Comparing each clinical stage with healthy controls, significant differences were found between controls and the metastatic group in both pDCs and mDCs (P ¼ 0.005 and P ¼ 0.023 respectively) but not between controls and the localized group (P ¼ 0.055 and P ¼ 0.829 respectively). CONCLUSIONS. We showed that DCs count in PB is significantly affected by prostate adenocarcinoma progression in a metastatic disease.
Endometriosis consists of extra-uterine functional endometrial tissue. It is usually located in the pelvis, but it can also be found in other sites. Cutaneous endometriosis is a rare condition and it develops in the most of cases above gynecological or obstetric scars, although it may also appear spontaneously. We present a 39-year-old woman with umbilical and abdominal dermal nodules retracting the surrounding cutis as a clinically characteristic form of spontaneous cutaneous endometriosis. The patient had no signs and symptoms of pelvic endometriosis. The histopathological and immunohistochemical examinations confirmed the clinical diagnosis.
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