EC is active and well tolerated in patients with early breast cancer. The addition of LND or G-CSF does not improve DFS or OS.

These results unquestionably confirm the validity of BCT, provided certain prerequisites are fulfilled.

The cases of 42 patients with malignant ascites treated with a peritoneal venous shunt over a 5-year period are reviewed to establish the incidence of surgical and postsurgical complications. Although the yield of malignant cells found in the peripheral blood was increased after shunting, no new hematogenous metastases were observed after the operation. No evidence of disseminated intravascular coagulation was observed after shunt placement. While the shunt effectively relieved the discomfort due to abdominal distention and respiratory impairment, no restoration of cutaneous hypersensitivity was observed in the nine patients who were anergic prior to surgery. The median survival of patients with breast and gynecological cancer, after surgery, was significantly longer than the survival of patients with primary gastrointestinal neoplasma. In conclusion, peritoneal venous shunt appears to be an effective and safe method to improve the quality of life of patients with malignant ascites.

Immunohistochemical (IHC) assays using the monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) B72.3 and B6.2, recognizing two distinct and independently expressed breast tumor-associated antigens (BTAAs), recently have been shown to significantly improve the accuracy of cytodiagnosis of breast nodules by fine-needle aspiration (FNA). To evaluate whether the same method may be useful diagnostically in distinguishing gynecomastia from breast cancer in men, a retrospective avidin-biotin immunoperoxidase assay study was performed on 50 cases of gynecomastia and 30 cases of breast carcinoma in men, using a panel of five MoAbs known to recognize different BTAAs. The results of this study demonstrated that MoAbs B1.1, HMFG2, and MBr1 displayed a strong reactivity with gynecomastia and carcinoma, but MoAbs B72.3 and B6.2 separated benign and malignant lesions in a high percentage of cases. When used in combination, the latter two reagents reacted with 96% of the carcinomas that were analyzed but labeled only 67% of gynecomastia cases. Thus, the conjoint use of these two reagents may enhance the use of FNA biopsy as a valuable tool in the presurgical diagnosis of breast nodules in men.

No abstract