Factors that increase endogenous estrogen production or reduce the binding of estradiol to SHBG may increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer later in life.

A method of clinical staging of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has been proposed which is based on the concept that CLL is a disease of progressive accumulation of nonfunctioning lymphocytes: stage O, bone marrow and blood lymphocytosis only; stage 1, lymphocytosis with enlarged nodes; stage II, lymphocytosis with enlarged spleen or liver or both; stage III, lymphocytosis with anemia; and stage IV:lymphocytosis with thrombocytopenia. Analysis of 125 patients. in the present series showed the following median survival times (in months) from diagnosis: stage 0, is greater than 150; stage I 101; stage II, 71; stage III, 19; stage IV, 19, The median survival for the entire series was 71 mo. The prognostic significance of the stage remained even after adjustment was made for age and sex. However, both sex and age were shown to be poor predictors of survival after adjustment for stage. The method of staging proved to be a reliable predictor of survival whether used at diagnosis or during the course of the disease. The proposed staging system was an equally accurate indicator for survival when applied to two other previously published studies of large series of patients.

To test the effectiveness of 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) in the treatment of Crohn's disease, we entered 83 chronically ill patients into a two-year double-blind study comparing 6-MP with placebo. Crossover data showed that improvement occurred in 26 of 39 courses of 6-MP (67%) as compared with three of 39 courses of placebo (8%) (P less than 0.001). Non-crossover data likewise confirmed the superiority of 6-MP. The drug was more effective than placebo in closing fistulas (31 vs 6%) and in permitting discontinuation or reduction of steroid dosage (75 vs. 36%) (P less than 0.001). The onset of response to 6-MP was often delayed, with 32% of patients taking longer than three months to respond, and 19% taking longer than four months. Adverse side effects to 6-MP occurred in 10% of patients and were uniformly reversible. We conclude that 6-MP is an effective and useful agent in the management of Crohn's disease.

Some 2,224 children given X-ray therapy for tinea capitis (ringworm of the scalp) have been followed for up to 50 years to determine cancer incidence, along with a control group of 1,380 tinea capitis patients given only topical medications. The study found a relative risk (RR) of 3.6 (95% confidence interval, 2.3-5.9) for basal cell skin cancer (BCC) of the head and neck among irradiated Caucasians (124 irradiated cases and 21 control cases), in response to a scalp dose of about 4.8 Gy. No melanomas of the head and neck have been seen, and only a few squamous cell carcinomas. About 40% of irradiated cases have had multiple BCCs, for a total of 328 BCCs. Although 25% of both the irradiated and control groups are African-American, only 3 skin cancers have been seen among them, all in the irradiated group, indicating the importance of susceptibility to UV radiation as a cofactor. Light complexion, severe sunburning and North European ancestry were predictive of BCC risk in the irradiated group, but chronic sun exposure was not. Children irradiated at young ages had the highest BCC risk. The RR for BCC risk is approximately constant with time since exposure, suggesting that risk will probably last for a lifetime.

No abstract