Tehran University Medical Journal

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To determine if pre-operative combined chemoradiation therapy increase sphincter preservation in the treatment of low-lying rectal cancer, 15 patients were treated with pre-operative chemoradiation: 5FU plus mitomycin C plus 4500-5000 Rad concurrent external beam radiotherapy between Jan 1997 and Jan 1999. There were 10 men and 5 women (Mean age: 49 y) with the diagnosis of invasive resectable primary adenocarcinoma of distal rectum limited to pelvis. Median tumor distance from anal verge was 3.3 cm (Range 0-5 cm) and half of the patients were absolute candidate for abdominoperineal resection. After 4-6 weeks, all patients were undergone proctectomy and eventually sphincter preservation surgery was done on 9 patients with colonal anastomosis. Function of sphincter was excellent in 6 of them (66%) and good in 3 patients (33%). There was no case of incontinence. Complications of surgery were minimal: One case of stricture (10%) and one case of partial rupture of anastomosis (10%). Complete pathologic response was achieved on one patient (6.6%) and combined pre-operative chemoradiation has changed the plane of surgery from abdominoperineal resection to sphincter saving in 69.2% of patients.

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Parasitic infections, especially opportunistic ones are important problems of immune deficient patients. These groups of patients can encompass a broad spectrum of cancer patients. Patients receiving immune suppressive chemotherapeutic agents and those who receive radiotherapy. This group of patients has much more susceptibility to infections and suffers more complications. The objective of this study is to determine the incidence of intestinal parasitic infestations in patients receiving immune suppressive anti-cancer agents. Stool sample of 261 patients under treatment with chemotherapeutic agents were collected and sent to parasitologic laboratory of Shahid Beheshti medical school. Every sample was evaluated with direct smears formalin and ether concentration technique, shitter dilution, zeil-nelson strip stain, culture on strip of filtration paper according to Hadamvory method and on agar plates. Thus, the incidence of intestinal parasitic infestations was evaluated. In this study 34% (89 samples) of patients, who had receive immunosuppressive medicine, had intestinal parasitic infestation. 31.4% of patients with intestinal parasitic infestation were under 20 years of age, 31.6% were between 21-50 years and 36.5% were above 51 years old. Statistical method did not show significant difference between the incidence of intestinal parasitic infestation and the 2 variables of age and sex. The rate of intestinal parasitic infestations in cancer patients with 1-4 courses of treatment was 34.5% and after more than 5 courses was 33.6%. Statistical analysis with X² test did reveal significant differences. Considering the above studies, we recommend: 1) Stool exam of all chemotherapy patients for intestinal parasites before chemotherapy treatment. 2) Five to seven stool exam is necessary for high-risk group. In other patients one stool examination is enough. 3) Repeated stool examination is recommended during chemotherapy. 4) More specific method is needed for detection of high-risk patients and suspected cases.

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Informations regarding 152 patients of cancer of tongue in cancer institute from 1978 to 1998 was collected and analyzed. From these cases, 53.3 percent were male with a mean age of 54.49 years (SD=16.23) and the mean age of female was 2.5 years more than of male. Positive lymphadenopathy in men was positive and significantly more than that of female (P<0.05). The physical appearance of the tumor was ulcerative (66.7 percent). Most of the referrals were in the range of T1 (62.8 percent) and were operated. Information from 88 patients was evaluated and it was found that 23.9 percent of the patients has died. One year survival was 92.05 percent and 3 years survival 83.3 percent and it was confirmed that advanced stage of the illness decreases the survival rate (P<0.001).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Informations regarding 152 patients of cancer of tongue in cancer institute from 1978 to 1998 was collected and analyzed. From these cases, 53.3 percent were male with a mean age of 54.49 years (SD=16.23) and the mean age of female was 2.5 years more than of male. Positive lymphadenopathy in men was positive and significantly more than that of female (P<0.05). The physical appearance of the tumor was ulcerative (66.7 percent). Most of the referrals were in the range of T1 (62.8 percent) and were operated. Information from 88 patients was evaluated and it was found that 23.9 percent of the patients has died. One year survival was 92.05 percent and 3 years survival 83.3 percent and it was confirmed that advanced stage of the illness decreases the survival rate (P<0.001).

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The evaluate the diagnostic value of image guided Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA) in breast lesions, the cytologic results of 401 patients were studied. All patients had either unpalpable masses or lesions who were hardly possible to localize by palpation and FNA was performed by single radiologist under ultrasound guide in all cases. The cytologic results were divided into four categories (inconclusive, benign, suspicious and malignant. Pathologic results were also divided into two categories (benign, malignant) and additional statistical analysis was conducted to find te cut-off point between benign and malignant cytologic results. Following cytologic results were obtained: 7.98 percent inconclusive, 67.83 percent benign, 10.97 percent suspicious, 13.22 percent malignant. Of the patients undergone breast operation after image guided FNA, the surgical pathology of 128 cases were found. In this study the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of image guided FNA were calculated as 94.34 percent, 82.67 percent and 87.5 percent respectively. Person's coefficient analysis revealed significant correlations between FNA diagnosis and surgical pathology (P<0.001, r=0.66). Thus, image guided FNA of breast lesions can be a reliable substitute for the excisional biopsy breast operation in many patients.

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Ovarian cancer is second prevalent cancer among gynecologic malignancies and the most common type of ovarian cancer is epithelial form (85-90 percent). To detect the risk factors for the epithelial ovarian cancer, a case-control study was conducted in Valieasr hospital in 1988. In this study, 118 cases with epithelial ovarian cancer (according histological records) and 240 controls without any gynecological cancer in gynecologic clinic had been interviewed. For data analysis, T-test, Chi2 test and logistic regression have been used at a =0.05 as level of significance. The mean age in cases was 50±13 and in controls was 49.9±12 years, without significant different. The mean number of pregnancies and parity in cases was less than controls, significantly (P<0.03). The mean months of breast feeding in cases was less than controls (54.9±71.2 versus 82.4±62.7) (P<0.001). The cases had a lower mean age of menarch than controls (P=0.03). 58 percent of cases and 21.3 percent of controls hadn't used any contraception methods (P=0.00001). The mean years of contraception was significantly less in cases versus controls (P<0.001). The odds ratio for epithelial ovarian cancer was 0.24 (95 percent CI: 0.13-0.48) in OCP users, 0.47 (95 percent CI: 0.005-0.43) in TL method, and was 0.41 (95 percent CI: 0.22-0.76) in other contraception methods, relative to women who hadn't used any contraception methods. This study reveals that epithelial ovarian cancer risk increases significantly with earlier menarch, decreasing number of pregnancy, deliveries duration of breast feeding and use of contraception methods. Use of contraception pill and tubal ligation method decreases risk of epithelial ovarian cancer.

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Tumor angiogenesis shown by Microvessel Count (MVC) or Microvessel Density (MVD), is assessed by several studies as prognostic factor in some types of tumors, and also in colorectal carcinoma. This article is payed to correlation between clincopathologic factors and tumor angiogenesis. In this study, immunohistochemical techniques are used for vascular evaluation in specimens from twenty-nine colorectal carcinoma, and stained for Factor VIII-Related Antigen (F8RA) by using monoclonal antibody. Uni and multivariate analysis disclosed that total MVC was higher in tumor [76.3±33 (×100=2.5 mm²/field) and 29.8±11 (×200=0.785 mm²/field)] than in normal tissue [37.7±15.8 (×100) and 17.6±7.8 (×200)], (P=0.022, P=0.000009). Microvessel quantification was significantly higher in stage D (115±36.6, ×100 and 26.7±6.4, ×200, P=0.002 and P=0.04). In this study MVD has correlation with vascular invasion (P=0.024, ×100 and P=0.007, ×200), the mean tumor vessel count although was increased with clinicophatologic findings such as age<60 years, male, right colon involvement, infiltrating type, mucinous carcinoma, transmural penetration, grade III, lymphatic and perineural invasion, but was not statistically significant. Lymph node and hematogenous metastasis and size of tumor also, was not important. As a conclusion, MVD was increased in tumor and has shown correlation with metastasis, and vascular invasion. Resulting angiogenesis increase risk of metastasis.

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Opioids are increasingly being recognized as the primary treatment for cancer pain management. Optimal treatment of cancer pain involves assessing its characteristics, considering different management strategies, evaluating side effects and adverse drug reactions and establishing the most appropriate therapeutic regimen. This study was designed to review the current status of pain management for advanced cancer cases using opioid analgesics.
Materials and Methods: A questionnaire was used to collect data on demographics, disease characteristics, and opioids use indicators in 700 cases of advanced cancer patients.
Results: A total of 700 cancer cases, 42 percent females and 58 percent males, between 17-80 years age range (Mean age of 57.25) were studied retrospectively. Cancers of breast (21 percent), colorectal (12 percent), lung (7 percent), stomach (7 percent) and bone either primary or metastatic (6 percent ) in women and stomach (17 percent), lung (12 percent), colorectal (11 percent), prostate (9 percent ), and bone (8 percent ) in men were the most common causes of opioids prescription in study group respectively. Advanced primary cancer (in 52 percent), bone metastasis (in 32 percent), and treatment complications (in 7 percent ) were considered as physical basis for pain in patients. Morphine (by injection), Opium (by oral intake) and methadone (injection and/or oral) were the most common opioids prescribed. Using equianalgesic conversion chart, the daily dosages and therapeutics schedules of morphine administration were as follows:
43 percent received 21-30 mg. in 2-4 divided doses
27 percent received >30 mg. in 3-5 divided doses
21 percent received 11-20 mg. in 2-3 divided doses
9 percent received 5-10 mg. in 1-2 divided doses
Conclusion: Pain management of cancer patients is not adequate and opioid use is not rational. New educational and managerial strategies are needed to optimize cancer pain treatment in routine medical practice. To overcome current barriers, WHO stepwise model for cancer pain control and palliative care is recommended. Publishing Standard Treatment Guidelines for different levels of health care system is another recommended approach to optimize cancer pain.

 

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Background: Long term use of immunosuppressive therapy in transplant recipients in order to prevent acute and chronic rejection increases the long term risk of cancer. This study evaluates the incidence of different organs’ cancer after renal transplantation and immunosuppressive therapy.
Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of malignant tumors in renal graft recipients with more than one year graft survival. Patients were assessed according to their age, sex, diagnosis of cancer, immunosuppressive drugs, donors and period of dialysis before transplantation.
Results: Evaluating all existing files in selected private clinics in Isfahan 350 patients were reviewed and 289 of them had entrance criteria. A total of 186 men and 103 women (mean age: 42.17±13.09 years) were included. They were followed up over a mean period of 52.46±33.24 months. A total of six cases (2.1%) of cancer were diagnosed in six recipients: All patients with cancer were male with a mean age of 51.17±14.7 years (range: 26-68 years). Tumor presented at a mean time of 51 months (rang: 15-82 months) after transplantation. There were two patients with BCC, two patients with SCC and two patients with lymphoma. Two patients died of progressive malignant disease. Age, period of dialysis before transplantation, and using immunosuppressive and anti-rejection drugs had no significant impact on development of post transplant malignancy.
Conclusion: The frequency of tumors in these patients is lower than what reported by other centers, probably due to short period of follow up and low incidence of cancer in our general population. The risk of malignancy was 28 fold higher among transplant recipients than in general population. High risk of cancer in this group, confirms the necessity of routine examination for organ transplant recipients both before and after transplantation.

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Background: Access to a safe and efficient chemotherapy regimen for improving the survival and live quality is a goal in ovarian carcinoma. Despite surgery is the base treatment of ovarian cancer, but in most patients chemotherapy is used due to progression of their disease. This study designed to compare two important chemotherapy regimens.
Methods: This historical cohort study compared two chemotherapy regimen cisplatin (75mg/m2)+ cyclophosphamide (750mg/m2), versus taxol (175mg/m2)+ carboplatinium (GFR+25)AUC between 1998-2005 in valiasr hospital. In this study toxicities of two regimes were compared. The survival function in these two groups were analysed with Kaplan-Meire curve.
Results: Gastrointestinal and mucosal toxicity were significantly higher in CP group compared TC group (p=0.02). Also there were no significant relation between decrease of serum CA125 and patient remission length in CP group but in other group with decrease of CA125 in lower than three cycle we had an increase in patient remission period. (P=0.02). Disease free interval in cisplatin group was longer versus taxol group (p<0.05), there was no significant difference in overall survival in two group.
Conclusion: This study revealed that cisplatin plus cyclophosphamide regimen can yet be used as a chemotherapy treatment in ovarian cancer. In this study there was no significant benefit in taxol regimen compared CP. In the adjuvant therapy of epithelial ovarian carcinoma.

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Cervical cancer is the second most common gynecologic cancer. A steady 70% annual decline in mortality from cervical cancers has been observed since the mid 20th century after the introduction of widespread papanicolaou cytological screening. But also cervical cancer continues to be an important world health problem for women. Cervical cancer is one of the best- understood neoplasm given its well known viral cause of persistent infection with high risk human papillomavirus (HPV). To date, two manufacturers have developed HPV vaccines composed of noninfectious, recombinant HPV viral-like particles (VLPs). This article presents current advances and perspectives on HPV vaccines.The vaccine is administered by intramuscular injection, and the recommended schedule is a 3-dose series with the second and third doses administered 2 and 6 months after the first dose. The recommended age for vaccination of females is 11-12 years. Vaccine can be administered as young as age 9 years. Catch-up vaccination is recommended for females aged 13--26 years who have not been previously vaccinated. Vaccination is not a substitute for routine cervical cancer screening, and vaccinated females should have cervical cancer screening as recommended.

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Background: Thyroid cancer is a rare disease which includes less than 1% percent of all human cancers. The aim of this study is to evaluate the demographic characteristics and risk factors among patients with thyroid malignancy at the Cancer institute and Imam Khomeini hospital in Tehran Iran.
Methods: This is a retrospective descriptive study of the charts of 320 patients admitted with the diagnosis of thyroid malignancy based on pathologic reports in the above- mentioned hospitals from 1992 to 2002.
Results: From the 320 patients diagnosed with thyroid malignancy 68.1% were papillary cancer, 10.9% were follicular cancer, 10.6% were anaplastic cancer, 9.06% were medullary cancer and 1.2% were lymphoma. The average of the patients was 50.2 years, ranging from 12 to 98 years 60.6% were female and 39.4 %were male 22.8% of the patients had histories of thyroid nodule and 5% had received radiation therapy. From the anatomic point of view 57.5% of the cancers were in the right lobe of thyroid, 38.1% were in left lobe and 4.4% in the isthmus. None of the patients had positive family history of thyroid malignancy.
Conclusion: Thyroid malignancy is more prevalent in the fifth decade of life and more common among females. Therefore, among patients in this group, alarming symptoms, such as anterior neck mass, thyroid nodule and voice change, should be evaluated more seriously.

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Background: Hypothyroidism is a well-documented complication after treatment of laryngeal cancer and is particularly significant among patients undergoing laryngectomy. We investigated the frequency of hypothyroidism in patients treated with total laryngectomy for laryngeal cancer. We also evaluated the effect of neck radiotherapy on thyroid function after total laryngectomy for laryngeal cancer.
Methods: In a cross-sectional study, we evaluated 31 patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (mean age 53.6 years). Among these patients, 14 were treated with surgery only and 17 were treated with surgery plus radiotherapy. Laboratory evaluation included levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free T4, free T3, and antithyroid antibodies both preoperatively and postoperatively at the first day, as well as one and six months after surgery.
Results: All patients had normal thyroid function before treatment however, after 6 months, five patients (16.1%) were hypothyroid. Of these, three patients (9.6%) had subclinical symptoms, including elevated thyroid-stimulating hormone with normal free T4, and two patients (6.5%) showed clinical symptoms of hypothyroidism. Radiotherapy and neck dissection were significantly associated with higher incidences of hypothyroidism.
Conclusion: Our data suggest that hypothyroidism occurs in a substantial proportion of patients undergoing surgery for laryngeal cancer. The results indicate that thyroid function studies should be routinely performed in the follow-up care of laryngeal cancer patients, especially if radiotherapy and neck dissection were part of the treatment. We suggest that this approach will improve the patient's quality of life and diminish the co-morbidity associated with this kind of surgery.

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Background: The aim of this study was to compare the outcome of treatment for ovarian cancer patients who have been treated by gynecologist oncologists and patients who have been treated by general gynecologists or general surgeons.

Methods: We enrolled in this cohort retrospective study all patients diagnosed with primary ovarian cancer in Vali-e-Asr Hospital, Tehran, Iran, between April 1999 and January 2005. A total 157 consecutive patients with ovarian cancer were available for analysis. Of these, 60 patients were treated by gynecologist oncologists and 95 by general gynecologists, and two patients were treated by general surgeons.

Results: The number of patients who underwent optimal cytoreductive surgery (residual tumor <1 cm) was higher in the gynecologist oncologist group, than in the general gynecologist group (P<0.001). Repeated surgeries were required for a majority of patients in the general gynecologist group, while only a few patients in the gynecologist oncologist group needed a second operation (P<0.0001). The interval between the initial surgery and the beginning of chemotherapy was significantly longer in the gynecologist oncologist group compared to that of the general oncologist group (P=0.001). Overall survival and disease-free survival was considerably greater in the gynecologist oncologist group. Optimal cytoreductive surgery and stage of disease are prognostic factors in patients with ovarian cancer. We can therefore conclude that patients with ovarian cancer who are treated by gynecologist oncologists have a better outcome.

Conclusions: We suggest that patients requiring cytoreductive surgery for ovarian cancer be referred to a gynecologist oncologist rather than having a less specialized physician care for such cases.

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Background: Depending on the lung volume in radiotherapy fields, breast cancer radiotherapy has documented side effects on pulmonary function, which can be determined by pulmonary function tests. Central lung distance (CLD), the distance from the chest wall to the edge of the field at the central axis, is an indicator of lung volume within the radiotherapy fields. In this study, we aim to detect the relationship between CLD and pulmonary function tests.

Methods: In this study we included 50 patients with breast cancer receiving postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy at Imam Hossein Hospital, Tehran, Iran. The patients received radiotherapy with a total dose of 4800-5000 cGy. For all patients, the central lung distances were measured using simulation of tangential fields, in addition to determination of pulmonary function, including force vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) determined before radiotherapy, one month and three months after radiotherapy.

Results: There is no significant statistical difference between the FEV1 and FVC values before radiotherapy and those measured one month after radiotherapy however there was a significant statistical decrease in the FEV1 and FVC before radiotherapy and those measured three months after radiotherapy (P<0.001 and P<0.006, respectively). There is a positive statistical correlation between the change in the FEV1 three months after therapy and the CLD (r=0.71, p<0.01) and that of the FVC three months after therapy and the CLD (r=0.59, p<0.01). Linear regression for the prediction of FEV1 and FVC three months after radiotherapy was designed according to the CLD, FEV1 and FVC values before radiotherapy.

Conclusions: Three months after breast radiotherapy, the FEV1 and FVC values decrease, and the CLD is a proper predictor of these changes.

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Background: Nonlethal genetic damage is the basis for carcinogenesis. As various gene aberrations accumulate, malignant tumors are formed, regardless of whether the genetic damage is subtle or large enough to be distinguished in a karyotype. The study of chromosomal changes in tumor cells is important in the identification of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes by molecular cloning of genes in the vicinity of chromosomal aberrations. Furthermore, some specific aberrations can be of great diagnostic and prognostic value. Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) is used to screen the entire genome for the detection and/or location chromosomal copy number changes.

Methods: In this study, frozen sections of 20 primary breast tumors diagnosed as invasive ductal carcinoma from the Cancer Institute of Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran, Iran, were studied by CGH to detect chromosomal aberrations. We compared histopathological and immunohistochemical findings.

Results: Hybridization in four of the cases was not optimal for CGH analysis and they were excluded from the study. DNA copy number changes were detected in 12 (75%) of the remaining 16 cases. Twenty-one instances of chromosomal aberrations were detected in total, including: +1q, +17q, +8q, +20q, -13q, -11q, -22q, -1p, -16q, -8p. The most frequent were +1q, +17q, +8q, -13q, similar to other studies. In three cases, we detected -13q, which is associated with axillary lymph node metastasis and was reported in one previous study. The mean numbers of chromosomal aberrations per tumor in metastatic and nonmetastatic tumors was 1.5 and 1, respectively. No other association between detected chromosomal aberrations and histopathological and immunohistochemical findings were seen.

Conclusion: Since intermediately to widely invasive carcinomas are more likely to have chromosomal aberrations, CGH can be a valuable prognostic tool. Furthermore, CGH can be used to detect targeting molecules within novel amplifications which holds the potential for a new therapeutic approach for intractable cancer.

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Background: Cardiac herniation is a fatal post pneumonectomy complication. We report the signs, clinical findings, diagnosis and management of a patient with post pneumonectomy cardiac herniation.

Case report: A 34-year-old man with lung cancer underwent left pneumonectomy with partial pericardiectomy in the right lateral decubitus position. At the end of the surgery, cardiovascular collapse, severe bradycardia, desaturation and elevated airway pressure occurred just after repositioning the patient to the supine position. This patient survived as we returned him to the right lateral decubitus position and avoided the use of positive pressure ventilation.

Conclusions: Attention to the acute complications of pneumonectomy, diagnosis and rapid therapeutic interventions is essential in post pneumonectomy care.

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Background: It is well known that, at the time of the initial presentation of patients with non-small cell lung cancer, N-status is very important in accurate staging and avoiding inappropriate surgical procedures. Also, if mediastinal lymph node metastasis (N2) of non-small cell lung cancer (stage IIIA) is present, neoadjuvant (preoperative) chemora-diotherapy is indicated therefore a quick and accurate N-status determination is critical before thoracotomy. We compared the usefulness and accuracy of touch imprint and frozen section analysis for this purpose.

Methods: During 2006, fifty eight mediastinal lymph node specimens from 27 patients with lung cancer were excised. After touch imprint preparation, half of each lymph node was sent for frozen section and finally permanent histology.

Results: Frozen section and touch imprint had only one and two false negative results, respectively, but neither had false positive reports. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the frozen section evaluation was 95.5%, 100% and 98.2%, respectively, and those of touch imprint were, 90.9%, 100% and 96.4%. The differences in the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy between the two methods were not significant (p>0.05).

Conclusion: Frozen section and touch imprint have similarly high accuracies for detecting mediastinal lymph node metastasis in lung cancer. However, since the touch imprint method is more rapid and simple, it maybe method of choice.

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Background: Nasogastric tube (NG tube) usage was first described in 1921 by Levin. Surgeons routinely use NG tube in most esophageal resections. Considering the numerous complications caused by this tube, the uncertainty about its usefulness and the scarcity of studies conducted on the subject, particularly in esophageal cancer patients, we investigated the necessity of the NG tube in these cases.

Methods: This clinical trial was performed at the Cancer Institute of Imam Khomeini Hospital. Esophageal cancer patients were randomized into groups either with or without postoperative NG tube the latter group was also prescribed metoclopramide. Postoperative obstruction was the exclusion criteria. The operation was done by a team of surgeons using the surgical techniques of McKeown or Orringer. All patients received ranitidine, heparin and antibiotics postoperatively. All patients received postoperative chest X-ray and chest physiotherapy. The NG tube was inserted or reinserted for those with abdominal distention and/or repeated vomiting. The NG tube was pulled out after return of bowel movements. The variables recorded for each patient included the first day of flatus, the first day of defecation, the first day of bowel sound (BS) upon auscultation, duration of post-operative hospitalization, nausea and vomiting, abdominal distension, pulmonary complications, wound complications, anastomotic leakage and the need for placing/replacing the NG tube. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS, v. 11.5.

Results: After randomization, the NG tube was inserted for 22 patients, and 18 patients had no NG tube. The incidence of anastomotic leakage was significantly higher in the NG-tube group. No significant differences between the two groups were found for other complications. The mean times until first passage of flatus, defecation and BS upon auscultation and the duration of post-operative hospitalization were not significantly different. The need for placing/replacing the NG tube was the same for both groups. There was no difference in the perioperative death rates between the two groups.

Conclusions: We conclude that the routine use of NG tubes after surgery is not recommended for all patients. NG tube should be used according to the specific needs of each patient. This protocol will protect patients from undesired complications.

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Background: Radiation to some parts of the heart is unavoidable in the therapeutic course of primary tumors in many kinds of cancer, including breast cancer. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of acute and subacute cardiac complications following radiotherapy in patients with left breast cancer.
Methods: In this study, we enrolled 53 patients with left breast cancer who underwent mastectomy or lumpectomy between September 2005 and September 2006 in Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, and subsequently underwent chemotherapy with anthracyclines (<450mg/m²) and Endoxan plus taxane/fFluorouracil followed by radiotherapy. In all patients, electrocardiography and echocardiography were performed before initiation of radiotherapy, immediately after radiotherapy and again three and six months later to check for radiotherapy-induced cardiac complications such as pericardial effusion, valvular lesions, left ventricular dysfunction, conduction system disturbances and other variables.
Results: Thirty-nine patients completed the follow-up period. Among these, 10 (25.6%) patients experienced cardiac complications following radiotherapy. Among these, mild pericardial effusion in seven (53.85%) patients, mild mitral regurgitation in three cases (23.08%) and Right Bundle Branch Block (RBBB) in two cases (15.38%) were the most common complications. We found no correlation between cardiac complication and tumor dose, dose fraction and type of chemotherapy protocol. We noted no cases of new or more serious complications, such as cardiomyopathies or coronary artery disease, nor any changes in ejection fraction by the end of the follow-up period.

Conclusion: In patients with left breast cancer, acute and subacute cardiac complications following radiotherapy are not serious and have no clinical significance. Further studies are needed for more assessments in this area.