Type Of Local Therapy Research Articles

Stillbirth: a personal experience

Background/Aim: Although omitting whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) during the treatment of few brain metastases more popular, many patients receive local therapies plus WBRT. WBRT may be less reasonable for patients with poor overall survival (OS), particularly if they are older. This study aimed to identify predictors of OS in these patients. Patients and Methods: One-hundred-and-two older patients receiving a local therapy (surgery, radiosurgery, simultaneous integrated boost) and WBRT for 1-3 brain metastases were evaluated. Type of local therapy, WBRT-regimen, age, gender, performance status, primary tumour type, number of brain metastases, extra-cerebral metastasis, and interval from tumour diagnosis to treatment of brain metastases were analysed for OS. Results: Absence of extra-cerebral metastasis was significantly associated with increased OS on univariate analysis (p=0.001) and Cox regression analysis (risk ratio=2.13, p=0.002). Conclusion: Extra-cerebral metastasis is an independent predictor of OS and can be helpful when assigning a treatment to older patients with few brain metastases.

A case of swimming pool granuloma in Australia.

SUMMARY This would appear to be the first case of swimming pool granuloma recognized and reported in Australia. An organism identified as mycobacterium balnei was isolated from the lesion. Wide excision and split skin graft has given a satisfactory result and at present no sign of relapse of the disease can be found. Adequately wide excision and the technique of surface occlusion of the infected skin lesion prior to surgery may have helped to prevent relapse of the lesion. A new type of local therapy, which however has not been applied in this case, namely the application of heat therapy to the diseased skin, has been suggested for future cases which do not show spontaneous remission within a reasonable period, and the rationale of this new treatment has been discussed. Although most overseas reports have been of epidemics caused by gross infection of swimming pools, such sporadic cases, as the one reported here, must occur. The awareness of such an entity will facilitate the recognition of further cases.

Chronic discoid lupus erythematosus complicated by superimposed squamous cell epithelioma; report of a case.

M. K., a woman aged 48 years, a graduate nurse by profession, first consulted a dermatologist at the age of 25 because of a lesion on the left cheek. This was diagnosed at that time as chronic discoid lupus erythematosus and "confirmed by biopsy." She received, over a period of 20 years, various forms of conventional therapy for this condition, including injections of gold, bismuth, and liver extract, as well as various types of local therapy, including application of solid carbon dioxide. Her condition fluctuated in its severity, with periods of quiescence lasting several years, interrupted by flare-ups. She stated that these exacerbations were characterized by increased erythema and itching, with some scaling, but that at no time was there any elevation of the lesion above the surface of the skin. The usual appearance until the onset of the present complication was described by her as a flat

CONTACT DERMATITIS DUE TO N-ETHYL-O-CROTONOTOLUIDE OINTMENT (EURAX®)

In the past few years eurax® ointment containing 10% N-ethyl-o-crotonotoluide in a polyethylene glycol (carbowax®) base has been used as a scabicide and more recently as an antipruritic ointment. The literature reveals one report¹of sensitization to the active ingredient and several instances of sensitization to the base.²Recently I observed a case of contact dermatitis from eurax® ointment which was due to the active principle, and because of the rarity of this finding I felt that it should be reported. REPORT OF A CASE M. C., the wife of a physician, had suffered from a pruritic recurrent eczema of the external auditory canals for many years. She had received various types of local therapy and considerable x-ray therapy in the past. During an exacerbation of her eczema, she applied curax® ointment to the external ears and to the skin around the ears

ERYTHROPLASIA OF QUEYRAT IN A NEGRO

Erythroplasia is a comparatively rare disease if the number of cases reported in this country is taken as a criterion. There are no reports in the literature relative to its occurrence in the Negro. Since it is recognized as a precancerous dermatitis, its presence in a Negro enhances interest in the case under consideration because, as is a matter of common knowledge, the incidence of malignant processes of the cutis in the Negro is extremely low. REPORT OF CASE W. M., married, a full-bloded Negro aged 77, was born in the state of Virginia but had resided in New York for the past sixty-eight years. He entered the clinic in September 1934, complaining of a genital lesion that had had its inception four years before and had resisted all types of local therapy. The subjective symptoms were comparatively mild. The patient experienced an occasional sharp twinge