Background: CHOP regimen was the standard treatment for patients with diffuse large and mixed cells Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) even in comparison with second and third generation regimen. Recently Rituximab –CHOP is considered the standard treatment for aggressive B-cell NHL while CHOP (alone) is so for aggressive T-cell NHL, yet more than one study investigates another regimen which is VACOP-B and some showed its superiority over CHOP. Prior to the introduction of Rituximab, we used VACOP-B in the treatment of high &intermediate grade NHL in adult Iraqi patients as an alternative to CHOP.
Patients and Methods:We performed a prospective analysis of 20 adult patients who, between April 2000 and October2005, received VACOP-B chemotherapy for high and intermediate grade NHL. The weekly regimen consisted of: doxorubicin50 mg/m2 i.v. weeks 1,3,5,7,9,11; cyclophosphamide350 mg/m2 i.v. weeks 1, 5, 9; etoposide 100mg/m2iv, weeks 3,7,11; vincristine1.4 mg/m2 i.v. (2 mg max.) weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, 10;bleomycin 10 mg/m2 i.v.(max. 15 mg) weeks 2,4, 6,8, 10; methotrexate12.5 mg intratheical was given in selected patients.; prednisolone 60mg p.o.daily for 2 weeks, reduced to 60 mg every other day for 10weeks.The patients treated were aged 25-50 years, 8(40%) had high grade (Working Formulation )NHL; 12 (60%) had intermediate grade NHL;seventeen patients(85%) had Stage III/IV disease; and 3 (15%) had stage II,bone marrow involvement seen in 3(15%)patients .patients distribution regarding age adjusted international prognostic index(aaIPI)was 8(40%)with aaIPI 0,1and 12(60%)with 2,3. Follow-up time from completion of VACOP-B chemotherapy ranged from 6 months to 40 months (median 22).
Results: VACOP-B induced a complete response (CR) and partial response (PR) in 70% and 15% respectively, whilst one patient had no response to treatment and died due to progression of the disease, 2 patients died due to treatment related toxicity. The three year disease free survival (DFS) was 78%, where 4 patients relapsed, one of them in the central nervous system. This study showed 3-year overall survival (OS) 100% for those with a IPI 0-1and 48% for those with aa IPI 2-3. Tolerance to treatment was measured by WHO toxicity scores. The hemoglobin (Hb) toxicity median score for all patients was grade 1 (Hb 9.5-10.9 g/dl), and the white cell count (WCC), toxicity score was grade 2(WCC 2.0-2.9 x 109/1). No platelet toxicity was observed. Ten per cent of patients suffered grade 3 severity infections requiring antibiotics and there was two treatment related death.
Conclusions: VACOP-B chemotherapy is an effective regimen for high and intermediate grade NHL, with an encouraging result in patients with aaIPI 0, 1. although chemotherapy was given weekly, the tolerance to treatment was acceptable. Studies comparing VACOP-B vs. CHOP chemotherapy to decide the exact role of the first in treating high grade &intermediate grade NHL, in the absence of Rituximab, are still needed.
The present study aims at assessing the effects of chronic kidney disease (CKD) on thyroid hormone and leptin by evaluating the level of: leptin hormone along with thyroid hormone in CKD patients. The study has been conducted on 70 subjects, 50 patients with an age range between 20-50 years (25 males and 25 females) who were diagnosed to have CKD stage-5, and 20 normal controls whose ages ranged between 20-48 years (10 males and 10 females), who attended the Nephrology and Transplant Center in Medical City of Baghdad- Iraq from April 2018 to July 2018. The study showed a highly significant (P<0.01) increase in TSH level in CKD patients in comparison with controls. While T3 and T4 levels observed highly significant decrea
... Show MoreBackground: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease. It is one of the major causes of disability in developed and developing countries. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) as part of immune system has a role in the disease process.Objectives: To investigate whether there is an association between HLA class II-DRB and OA.Methods: A case control study with 26 patients with osteoarthritis and 22 apparently healthy obese control persons matching in ethnicity were enrolled in this study during the period between October 2012 till March 2013. Direct interview was done with each patient and HLA typing was done by molecular method using Sequence Specific Primer (PCR-SSP) method using One Lambda Kit-USA. Results: The results showed that fem
... Show MoreThis study was conducted to investigate thyroid function and Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) in (Chronic kidney disease) CKD patients by evaluating their levels in CKD patients, 50 patients were diagnosed to have CKD stage-5, their ages ranged between 20-50 years (25 males and 25 females) who attended the Nephrology and Transplant Center in Medical City of Baghdad- Iraq, they were recruited from April 2018 to July 2018 and were enrolled into the study. The control group consisted of 20 healthy individuals, their ages ranged between 20-48 years (10 males and 10 females). The study showed non-significant (p>0.05) increase in AMH level in CKD patients compared to the control group. On the other hand, TSH was recorded a highly significant (
... Show MoreBackground: Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is the most common form of cyanotic congenital heart disease and the catheterization and angiography still considered (in most centers) as essential preoperative diagnostic step. This retrospective aimed at evaluating the catheterization and angiographic finding in our Iraqi patients with diagnosis of TOF
Patients and methods: The catheterization and angiographic study of200 patients with TOF-' referred to Ibn Al-Bitar Cardiac Center had been reviewed.
Results: There were 126 males and 74 females and their ages ranged from 11 months to 37 years. The catheterization data showed that 88% of the patients had equal LV and RV pressure. The evaluation of pulmonary artery pressure showed that all pati
In this study the activities of alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) were evaluated, in addition to total protein and albumins in sera of sixty one subjects whose ages were ranged between(4-16) years. These subjects were, twenty eight major thalassemic patient (12 with splenectomy and 16 non splenectomy ) and fifteen with minor thalassemia. eighteen healty subjecte as control. The result revealed a significant elevation in the activities of both aminotransferases enzymes (AST and ALT) in the sera of all the alassmic patient groups compared with control. Also a significant increase in the activity of ALT in sera of non-splenectomy compared to splenectomy major thalassemic patient , which could be an indicative of th
... Show MoreBack ground: Psoriasis is a chronic relapsing disorder with no life long cure, many systemic and topical modalities are available, one of these topical modalities is the vitamin D analogue
(calcipotriene) which is widely used recently to treat psoriasis and many other skin problems.
Aim of the study: Is to compare the safety, the efficacy and the tolerability of tolerability of topical calcipotriene, topical clobetasol and both of them in combination in treating Iraqi patients with psoriasis vulgaris. (The first study in Iraq that uses calcipotriene ointment in treating psoriasis and comparing it with other known topical treatments that were commonly used to treat this problem).
Patients and methods A to
The second most commonly diagnosed cancer is colorectal cancer (CRC) is in female. The levels of progranulin, obestatin and liver enzymes including ALT, AST and ALP were measured in forty five sera in female patients suffering from CRC before chemotherapy initiation treatment as G1, G2 after first chemotherapy cycle and G3 after second chemotherapy cycle compared with thirty female as a healthy control G4. Results showed a high significant increased in progranulin concentration and a high significant decrease in obestatin in G2 than other groups. The correlation between progranulin and ALP was a significant negative (-ve) relation while obestatin with AST gave a significant positive (+ve) correlation in G. The results also showed non signif
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Faces of the individual in his life many stressful events, which includes expertise undesirable, and events may involve a lot of sources of tension and the risk factors and threats in all areas of life, and this would make the stressful events play a role in the genesis of many diseases physical.
The high blood pressure is one of the most Actual manifestations of mental stress in the present scale physical disorders which may frequently in men relative to women, which may be caused by spasms in the blood vessels.
Background: Acute abdominal pain classically refers to pain within the abdomen that has been present for less than 7 days from the time of presentation. The use of CT scan in the evaluation of acute abdominal pain has increased to a large extent due to high accuracy of CT in the diagnosis of specific diseases like appendicitis and diverticulitis, especially with the use of multidetector CT scanners. It has been shown that the use of intravenous contrast media increases the diagnostic accuracy of CT scan examination, with a positive predictive value of 95% in the cases of acute appendicitis. The accuracy of CT scan imaging in patients with acute abdominal pain was not affected by the lack of entral contrast material.
Objectives: To eva