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Non-recombinant urate oxidase (Uricozyme®)

recombinant urate oxidase (Rasburicase®)

urine alkalisation may induce calcium phosphate deposition

renal replacement therapy should be started on an emergency basis when hydration fails to produce a prompt metabolic improvement or when ARF develops

Up to 50% of patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma have renal failure and up to 10% require dialysis

renal ultrasonography remains the method of choice for investigating extra-renal obstruction

The relief of the obstruction, either by percutaneous nephrostomy or through a ureteral stent, is the cornerstone of treatment

TMA may be associated with the cancer itself, with cancer chemotherapy, or with allogeneic BMT

thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA)

it may be as high as 5%

Most of the cases occur in patients with solid tumours, the most common type being adenocarcinoma (stomach, breast and lung)

The pathophysiology of the TMA-malignancy association remains controversial, although many studies suggest an insult to the vascular endothelium

mitomycin C. Subsequently, TMA has been reported with many anti-cancer agents, including gemcita-bine, bleomycin, cisplatin, CCNU, cytosine arabinoside, daunorubicin, deoxycoformycin, 5-FU, azathioprine and interferon α

Plasma exchanges have been shown to improve prognosis in the general population of patients with TMA

Causative factors should be looked for and antihypertensive treatment given. Lastly, in the absence of guidelines, we believe that plasma exchange should be proposed in patients with severe cancer treatment-associated TMA

The most widely used protective measure is saline infusion to induce solute diuresis

During methotrexate infusion and elimination, fluids should be given to maintain a high urinary output and urinary alkalisation should be performed to keep the urinary pH above 7.5. Rescue with folinic acid (50 mg four times a day) should be started 24 hours after each high-dose metho-trexate infusion and serum methotrexate concentrations should be measured every day

cyclophosphamide and ifosfamide

The average age of FQ-induced tendinopathy is 64 years, with a male-to-female ratio of 2:1, and a 27-percent incidence of bilateral involvement

Although more than 95 percent of cases of tendinitis/rupture secondary to FQ involve the Achilles tendon, other reported sites of tendon involvement include the quadriceps, peroneus brevis, and rotator cuff

FQs demonstrate a 3.8-fold greater risk for development of Achilles tendinitis/rupture

a large population-based case control analysis, patients treated with FQs exhibited a substantially increased risk of developing tendon disorders overall (1.7-fold), tendon rupture (1.3-fold), and ATR (4.1-fold)

patients taking FQs with concurrent exposure to corticosteroids were found to experience a compounding effect on the risk of tendon rupture, specifically a 46-fold greater predisposition

Some authors have recommended that patients with a history of Achilles tendinitis and advanced age should not be prescribed FQ antibiotics

Approximately 50 percent of patients will recover within 30 days, with 25 percent of patients having symptoms persistent for longer than two months

The mean latency period between the start of FQ treatment and occurrence of tendinopathy has been reported to be a few hours to months, with a median onset of 6 days

The exact pathophysiology of FQ-induced tendinopathy remains elusive

it is possible that FQs have a direct cytotoxic effect on enzymes found in mammalian musculoskeletal tissue

It has been theorized that FQs disproportionately affect human tendons that have a limited capacity for repair, such as in older patients or structural compromise (i.e., pre-existing tendinopathy or trauma)

histopathological findings are similar to those observed in overuse conditions in athletes

Treatment with a FQ should be discontinued and physical therapy initiated

treatment should include rest and decreasing the physical load on the tendon.

Approximately 85 percent of patients present in less than one month

Because rupture can occur even late in the course of treatment or after discontinuation of FQ use, patients receiving a FQ should be counseled to seek medical attention immediately if symptoms, such as redness, pain, swelling, and stiffness, develop

FQs should be used cautiously in patients with risk factors associated with tendinitis, such as advanced age, history of tendon rupture, corticosteroid use, and/or acute or chronic renal dysfunction

The total bodily content of lead is called the body burden; in a steady state, about 90 percent of the body burden is bound to bone.2

n general, lead is excreted quite slowly from the body (with the biologic half-life estimated at 10 years). Since excretion is slow, accumulation in the body occurs easily.2

hronic toxicity is an insidious illness with protean manifestations.3,6 Symptoms may include arthralgias, headache, weakness, depression, loss of libido, impotence and vague gastrointestinal difficulties.

Late effects may include chronic renal failure, hypertension, gout and chronic encephalopathy.6

The utilization of PET/CT to assess response to therapy is increasing in the US related, in part, to the creation and subsequent favorable results of the National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR)

Changes in size as a result of therapy may take many months to develop and any opportunity to make early decisions about therapy success or failure is often unduly delayed or lost altogether

measures of changes in metabolic activity via FDG PET/CT can provide an alternate approach to assess response to therapy -- often very early in the course of treatment

Current recommendations are that tumor SUVs should be reported

The true tracer uptake in a patient is composed of two components: the first being the amount of tracer uptake (e.g. FDG) associated with the disease status (the signal of interest), which can be modified by the biophysiological status of the patient. One of the more important patient parameters is the blood glucose level, which has been shown to inversely-linearly affect SUVs

A prospective study by Crippa et al.30 in eight patients showed that as blood glucose levels were increased from 92.4 ±10.2 to 158 ± 13.8 mg/100 ml by glucose loading, the average SUV of 20 liver metastases decreased from 9.4 ± 5.7 to 4.3 ± 8.3

chemotherapy can result in impaired renal function, significantly reducing the clearance of plasma FDG through the kidney and thus increasing tumor SUV relative to an initial PET scan

The second component of the true tracer uptake is biological variability

The biological variability has been estimated in several test-retest studies7,32–35 at approximately 10% for scans repeated within a few days