Reviews on Recent Clinical Trials - Volume 6, Issue 1, 2011

Breast conservation surgery followed by whole breast irradiation has been established as a standard of care for the treatment of early stage breast cancer and is associated with excellent local control and overall survival. As most inbreast recurrences occur in the area surrounding the primary breast cancer, it has been hypothesized that selected breast cancer patients may be adequately treated with accelerated partial breast Read More

Introduction and Aim: Prostate cancer (Pc) is a major public health problem, affecting 679,000 men and causing 221,000 deaths every year. Over the past decade, there has been a marked decline in Pc mortality corresponding to the introduction of prostate specific antigen (PSA) test as a screening tool (1986). Despite this clear result, the screening recommendations of various organizations differ. Recently, a large number Read More

The Clinical Pathway (in its complete definition Diagnostic, Clinical and Therapeutic Pathway - Percorso Diagnostico Terapeutico Assistenziale - PDTA), originally started to deal with the newly diagnosed hypertensive patient, developed also recommendations for the first-line drugs in case of specific indications/contraindications and organ damages. It has been developed by a working group of specialists in cardiology, nephrol Read More

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a central component within a complex intracellular signaling network that regulates various processes including cell growth, proliferation, metabolism, and angiogenesis. A hyperactive PI3k/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway is found in many human cancers and alterations in this pathway are associated with the development and progression of cancer. Drugs that target and in Read More

Psoriasis is a common skin condition seen in pediatrics. Treatment modalities used to treat psoriasis in children are different from those prevailing in the adult population and require adequate testing in pediatric subjects. This article reviews the published evidence on the different treatment modalities for pediatric psoriasis over the past 5 years.

Platinum-based chemotherapy, with or without the antiangiogenetic drug bevacizumab, is the standard first-line therapy for patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) gefitinib has been recently approved as treatment of patients with EGFR mutated tumors (including first-line). Three agents are approved for treating non-selected patients w Read More

This review will address the current understanding of the relationship between hyperprolactinemia and antipsychotic drugs. Hyperprolactinemia is a frequent but often neglected side effect of typical, but also of many atypical antipsychotics. Release of PRL from lactotrope cells is influenced by several factors, such as stress, physical and sexual activity and food assumption. PRL secretion is regulated by hypothalamic-pituitary po Read More

While most newly-diagnosed prostate cancers are well-differentiated tumors that have high probability of cure, there is a subset of patients that present with aggressive malignancies that have significant potential for recurrence and metastasis. Single-modality treatment approaches have demonstrated relatively high failure rates, and multimodality therapy (radiation therapy and hormonal ablation therapy) has become sta Read More

ACE inhibitors have proven to be effective blood pressure lowering agents with an excellent tolerability profile. The family of these drugs is still expanding, necessitating the definition of selection criteria in order to choose the “right drug”. In this article the ACE inhibitors available in the United Kingdom (UK) are scored by means of the SOJA method. The System of Objectified Judgement Analysis (SOJA) method is a model Read More