Domenico Agostino

Effect of prolonged coumadin treatment on the production of pulmonary metastases in the rat

To evaluate the effect of prolonged anticoagulant treatment using Coumadin (warfarin sodium) on the production of pulmonary metastases, 455 rats with Walker 256 carcinosarcoma were given either water or Coumadin solution ab lib in addition to their chow. Administration of Coumadin for 10 days resulted in a significant decrease in metastases from 85.8% of the control group to 9.8% of the Coumadin‐treated animals (P < 0.001). The survival of these animals also was increased from 3.8% to 42.6% at 9 weeks. No excessive bleeding occurred in any of these animals though the prothrombin time was prolonged more than twice the average value observed in the normal rat.

Preoperative X-Ray Therapy in a Simulated Colon Carcinoma in the Rat

X-ray treatment may be of some value in slowing, at least temporarily, the cancerous invasion of a fast-growing tumor so that its total removal by surgery is greatly facilitated. The experiment to be described was designed to determine the effect of preoperative x-ray therapy on a simulated colon carcinoma in the rat (1). Methods and Materials For this experiment 2-mm. bits of Walker 256 carcinosarcoma were implanted in the cecal appendix in 200 female Wistar rats (Charles River Farms) having an average weight of 200 gm., by a method previously reported (1). The tumors of 100 of the rats were irradiated with an exposure dose of 200 r for four successive days, starting two weeks after implantation. The remaining 100 rats were kept as controls. The radiation source was a General Electric Maxitron operated at 250 kevp and 30 ma, emitting a beam having a half-value layer of 1 mm. Cu (0.38 mm. Cu filtration added). The target-source distance was 100 cm. During irradiation the rats were restrained in dorsal rec...

Decrease of metastases of carcinosarcoma Walker 256 with irradiation and heparin or fibrinolytic agents.

Cancer cells in the circulating blood of patients with malignant tumors were first demonstrated by Ashworth (4) almost one hundred years ago (1869). Pool and Dunlop (19) in 1934 observed unusual cells in the peripheral blood in cases of advanced malignant disease, and in 1955 Engell (12) reported the presence of cancer cells in the peripheral blood of patients with resectable and unresectable neoplasms. There have been many more recent reports. With this evidence and the observation that venous invasion frequently is dcmonstrated in microscopic sections of malignant tumors (5, 11), it has been presumed that cancer cells may be spilled from the primary lesion into the circulating blood. An increase in the number of cancer cells in the venous blood draining the tumor may be noted (6, 22) at the time of examination (17), at biopsy (23), and during surgical procedures (10). Not all of these cancer cells become metastases. Some may lie dormant in the tissues for years (13), while others are destroyed in the ci...

Irradiation and Anticoagulant Therapy to Prevent Pulmonary Metastases of the V2 Carcinoma in Rabbits

Dissemination of cancer may occur by way of the lymphatics and by the venous blood. Spread by the blood stream is the more serious and is the method about which the least is known. It is presumed that the cancer cells enter the blood stream by invasion of blood vessels and circulate in the blood until they are destroyed or caught in the small vessels. When the cells become fixed, they may pass through the vessel walls and begin to grow (24, 25), or may become fixed by fibrous tissue and be destroyed. It is possible that the majority of the malignant cells released into the circulation are destroyed by lytic properties of the blood (5) or continue to circulate until they are no longer viable. Others may lodge and remain dormant for years (12), and still others will produce obvious early metastatic cancer (6). It has long been known that cancer cells may be found in the circulating blood of patients with cancer (4, 8, 11, 18, 19). During operative manipulation both in man (22) and in laboratory animals (6) ...

Capsule implantation: method for establishing simulated colon carcinoma in rats.

Conclusion A method is presented for implantation of Walker carcinosarcoma 256 into the tip of the cecum of the rat. The technic results in 100% take of the tumor and this tumor parallels many of the characteristics of a human colon carcinoma.

Prevention of traumatic bleeding by ellagic acid in rats.

Summary Intravenous injection of ellagic acid causes marked statistically significant decrease in bleeding after amputation of the tail in the rat.

The treatment of malignant effusions with radioactive colloidal gold (AU198): A review of sixty-six cases

Abstract 1.1. In our survey 66 patients were observed. Good palliation was achieved in 63.6 per cent of the patients, moderate palliation was achieved in 21.2 per cent, and no palliation was achieved in 15.1 per cent (Figs. 1 and 2). 2.2. Approximately 70 per cent of the patients experienced relief from the subjective symptoms. 3.3. There is no correlation between survival time and administration of Au 198 .

Prolonged Coumadin Treatment as an Adjuvant to Surgery in an Experimental Colon Carcinoma

The effect of prolonged Coumadin treatment of tumor cells and metastases was studied using an experimental colon carcinoma of the rat. In vivo Coumadin induced significant changes in the number of circulating tumor cells and in the formation of hepatic metastases. These metastases were reduced from 31 % of the control animals to 15% of the Coumadin treated group. Prothrombin time, although prolonged to approximately double control values, did not cause severe hemorrhage. No deaths were reported in the anticoagulated animals, although some oozing from the surgical wound was detected. This oozing subsided following termination of treatment with coumadin.