No abstract

Libido, sexual activity and perceptions of masculinity deteriorate during ONPhase. Of the sexually active men at baseline half will resume sexual activity despite 9 months of androgen deprivation therapy.

SummaryKasabach-Merritt syndrome involves thrombocytopenia, which is usually severe, in association with haemangiomata. We describe two newborn infants who developed life-threatening Kasabach-Merritt syndrome but who were successfully treated. Both had failed to respond adequately to corticosteroids and a-interferon. They subsequently received emergency radiotherapy. Both patients had an improvement in their platelet counts. The first infant's haemangioma gradually faded during the first 3 years of life, whereas the second infant's haemangioma had resolved 2 months after radiotherapy. No significant late effects of the radiotherapy have been noted at the 8 and 5 years follow up respectively. Radiotherapy remains an important treatment method in Kasabach-Merritt syndrome when patients fail to respond to other treatments.

The survival of this group of historically poor prognosis patients is encouraging. Durable local control was achieved in a majority of patients having chemoradiotherapy and toxicity was not severe. Although most patients still succumbed to disease, treatment delayed onset of progression. Conformal radiotherapy should be considered as an integral component in new investigative approaches to treatment in this rare cancer.

Neoadjuvant gemcitabine, when added to docetaxel, after epirubicin and cyclophosphamide, did not reach the pre-specified expectations for pCR rate in HER2-negative tumours. Excess neutropenia was observed, requiring growth factor support. Addition of gemcitabine to docetaxel in this schedule cannot be recommended. Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (www.anzctr.org.au) registration number ACTRN12606000191594.