Purpose. The aromatase inhibitor letrozole effectively treats breast cancer by decreasing estrogen levels in postmenopausal women. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the effect of letrozole on plasma lipids, triglyceride lipase (TGL), and estradiol levels in women with metastatic breast cancer (MBC).Materials and Methods. Fifty-two postmenopausal women with MBC received letrozole, 2.5 mg/day. Blood samples for assessment of plasma levels of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and highdensity lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, TGL, and estradiol were taken at baseline and after 3, 6, and 12 months of treatment.Results. A nonsignificant increase was found in TC and HDL cholesterol levels after 3 months, which returned to baseline levels after 6 months (p ‫؍‬ .794 and p ‫؍‬ .444, respectively). LDL cholesterol increased nonsignificantly after 6 months and returned to baseline thereafter (p ‫؍‬ .886). The mean estradiol level was suppressed from 44 pmol/l before treatment to <18 pmol/l after 6 months (p ‫؍‬ .014). No difference was found in the estradiol suppression rate whether baseline levels were >40 or <40 pmol/l. Conclusion. Letrozole has a safe effect on the lipid and TGL profiles of postmenopausal women with MBC. Estradiol levels were maximally suppressed within 6 months of treatment. The increased levels of TC during treatment were reversible and returned to normal levels after 3 months.

Breast tumors in women with recent FDT exposure present with poor prognostic features and share similarities with PABC. Survival is stage dependent.

Thirty-seven patients were enrolled in a phase II study to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of neoadjuvant radiotherapy concurrent with weekly paclitaxel and carboplatin in locoregionally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The study was also designed to evaluate the operability following concurrent chemoirradiation. The following response rates to chemoirradiation were obtained: complete response (CR) 5 of 37 (13.5%), partial response 14 of 37 (38%), stable disease 12 of 37 (32.5%) and PD 6 of 37 (16%). Twenty patients underwent surgery, and in 19 patients the tumor was totally resected. There was pathologic CR in 4 patients. Moderate/severe esophagitis developed in 16 patients (43%); hematologic toxicity was mild. There was one case of postoperative mortality. Nine patients are alive without evidence of disease at 5+ to 39+ months. Median survival is 22 months. It is concluded that neoadjuvant radiotherapy concurrent with weekly paclitaxel/carboplatin is effective and well tolerated in patients and feasible for patients with locally advanced NSCLC, allowing complete tumor resection in 56% of the cases.

Seventy-one patients with mycosis fungoides (MF) were treated by Total skin electron irradiation (TSEI) using either a modified Christie Hospital translational technique (44 pts) or a six dual-field Stanford technique (27 pts). There was no statistical difference in response rate, disease-free survival and overall survival between the two irradiation techniques. However, the Stanford technique was significantly less toxic than the modified Christie Hospital technique.