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Dive into the research topics where Geno Saccomanno is active.

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Featured researches published by Geno Saccomanno.


Cancer | 1988

Relationship of radioactive radon daughters and cigarette smoking in the genesis of lung cancer in uranium miners

Geno Saccomanno; Gerald C. Huth; Oscar Auerbach; Marvin Kuschner

The article documents the study of 383 cases of lung cancer in uranium miners and presents for the first time the relationship of radioactive radon gas and cigarette smoking. There is evidence that alpha radiation from radon gas at exposure levels above 465 working level months (WLM) is a strong contributor to the development of lung cancer. Cigarette smoking plays the most significant role in causing lung tumor; this is also noticed in nonminers who smoke cigarettes. A synergistic or additive effect of these two carcinogens is strongly suggested. The data indicate that small cell tumors develop in younger nonsmoking miners exposed to radon levels above 465 WLM. Lung cancers develop in smoking miners at lower levels of radon exposure than in nonsmoking miners. Based on an average mining experience of 15 years, there is substantial evidence that the present maximum allowable limit of 0.3 working levels (WL), or 4 working level months (WLM) per year, is safe, representing a margin of safety of approximately 10:1. Furthermore, a comparison of these data with the radon levels in some homes, averaging in the neighborhood of 0.025 WL, would indicate that health risks at these levels are negligible. It is suggested that 20 picocuries/liter, which equals 0.10 WL, be the maximum allowable level in homes.


Lung Cancer | 2000

Five year survival and later outcome of patients with X-ray occult lung cancer detected by sputum cytology

Joel J. Bechtel; Thomas L. Petty; Geno Saccomanno

BACKGROUNDnA cohort of 51 consecutive patients with roentgenographically occult lung cancer, identified by sputum cytology and confirmed by bronchoscopy was reported previously.nnnMETHODSnAll patients have now been followed beyond 5 years and the causes of death ascertained.nnnRESULTSnThe actual 5-year survival of 27 patients who were resected for cure was 74% including death for all causes. The 5-year survival of all patients who received either surgery or radiation in an attempt to cure was 54.3%. Twelve secondary cancers were found by sputum cytology; eight of these patients have died.nnnCONCLUSIONSnSputum cytology can be useful in the identification of early stage lung cancer in patients at high-risk where the chances of cure are favorable.


Cancer | 1978

Histologic findings in the tracheobronchial tree of uranium miners and non‐miners with lung cancer

Geno Saccomanno; Marvin Kuschner; R. Dawson Brown; Lawrence Garfinkel

The remaining tissue of the tracheobronchial tree from 210 men who died from lung cancer was studied to compare the histologic alterations leading to further sites of primary cancer. These men were uranium miners matched with nonminers for age and smoking habits. In the examination of a total of 28,928 cross‐sections carcinoma in situ was found in 96% of the miners and in 92% of the nonminers. The number of slides from miners showing degree 2 or 3 atypia in areas of carcinoma in situ was about double the number found from the nonminers. Although the difference was not statistically significant, 32% of the miners had at least one section showing early primary invasive carcinoma compared with 22% of the nonminers. The data indicate that the synergistic effect of the exposure to uranium dust along with cigarette smoking increases the risk of lung cancer and that in addition to a main tumor mass, other sites of tissue alterations leading to tumor development are frequently already present in the lung.


Acta Cytologica | 1999

Efficacy of two sputum collection techniques in patients with air flow obstruction

Timothy C. Kennedy; Susan Proudfoot; Steven Piantadosi; Lee Wu; Geno Saccomanno; Thomas L. Petty; Melvyn S. Tockman

OBJECTIVEnTo compare the efficacy of two sputum collection techniques in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in order to diagnose dysplasia or neoplasia.nnnSTUDY DESIGNnThis was a crossover study design comparing induced sputum with sputum collected at home. One hundred seven patients with COPD were enrolled. Fifty-six were randomized to collect induced sputum first followed by sputum collection at home. Fifty-one randomly assigned patients collected the sputum in reverse order.nnnRESULTSnThe second sputum collection technique for both random assignments gave the greatest yield of adequate sputum. There was no significant difference in efficacy between the collection of the two sputum collection techniques in the presence of the learning (period) effect.nnnCONCLUSIONnSputum collection is equally efficacious by the induced method and the home collection method. A learning effect was responsible for the increased yield of sputum abnormalities in the second collection session. Sputum collection at home may facilitate the amount of dysplasic and neoplastic bronchial epithelial changes in heavy smokers with COPD.


Health Physics | 1987

Concentrations of alpha-emitting isotopes of U and Th in uranium miners' and millers' tissues

Narayani P. Singh; David D. Bennett; McDonald E. Wrenn; Geno Saccomanno

The concentrations of alpha-emitting isotopes of U (234U, 235U, and 238U) and Th (228Th, 230Th, and 232Th) were determined in soft tissues and bones of three deceased U miners and two deceased U millers. The soft tissues generally included lung, liver, kidney, spleen, gonad and heart. The concentrations of U isotopes in the miners lungs varied up to a factor of 18, suggesting that the accumulations of U in lungs at the time of death varied drastically. The concentrations of 230Th in the miners lungs were similar to the concentrations of 234U and 238U. The concentrations of U isotopes and 230Th in millers lungs also differed by a factor of almost 10. The most noticeable difference between the concentrations of U isotopes (238U and 234U) and 230Th was in the skeleton of U miners and millers. The 230Th/234U concentration ratios were as high as 94 in bones of miners and as high as 23 in millers. These results suggest that the fraction of Th transferred from blood to bones is much higher than the fraction of U transferred, and that the residence time of Th in skeleton is much higher than the residence time of U as suggested in ICRP Publication 30.


Cancer | 1976

Serum alpha1‐antitrypsin in patients with lung cancer or abnormal sputum cytology

Curtis C. Harris; Martin H. Cohen; Robert J. Connor; Aron Primack; Geno Saccomanno; Richard C. Talamo

Serum alpha1‐antitrypsin Pi types and trypsin inhibitory capacity (TIC) were measured in 72 patients with lung cancer and in 196 patients with abnormal sputum cytology but no clinical evidence of lung cancer to determine if a genetic deficiency of alpha1‐antitrypsin (AAT) predisposes to lung cancer. The distributions of Pi types in these two groups of patients and healthy adults are similar. Serum TIC and AAT concentrations are elevated in lung cancer patients. However, patients with abnormal sputum cytology and no clinical lung cancer have normal levels of serum TIC and AAT. A genetic deficiency of AAT probably does not produce a state of increased susceptibility to the carcinogenic effects of respiratory carcinogens such as tobacco smoke.


Health Physics | 1986

An Epidemiological Analysis of the Relationship Between Exposure to Rn Progeny, Smoking and Bronchogenic Carcinoma in the U-mining Population of the Colorado Plateau-1960-1980

Geno Saccomanno; Coralee Yale; Wilfrid J. Dixon; Gerald C. Huth

This study investigates the relationship between exposure to radioactive Rn decay products during U mining and milling operations, cigarette smoking and age, on the incidence and mortality rates of lung cancer among U workers of the Colorado Plateau during the 20-yr period from 1960-1980. A case control sample was taken from an extensive data base of 9,817 men accumulated by one author (Saccomanno). A preliminary hypothesis had been made that a possible synergistic or at least additive effect might exist when the risk factors of exposure to Rn decay products and smoking were simultaneously present. This study would seem to indicate that a synergistic effect is not present. In this work, a total of 489 cases, defined as men having a cytological diagnosis of moderate or worse atypical squamous-cell metaplasia, and a random sample of 992 non-cases were selected retrospectively from the dynamic cohort of workers. These data analyzed from three different perspectives indicate significant effects due to Rn-decay-product exposure in excess of the expected incidence due to age and smoking history. The data also indicate that Rn-decay-product accumulations of less than 300 working level months (WLM) is not carcinogenic in non-cigarette smokers.


Cancer | 1982

Dark epithelial cells in preneoplastic lesions of the human respiratory tract

A. J. P. Klein-Szanto; P. Nettesheim; Geno Saccomanno

Dark epithelial cells, previously identified in preneoplastic lesions of rat tracheae induced with chemical carcinogens, were observed in similar lesions in human airways and investigated using plastic‐embedded material from the lungs of 21 autopsy cases. The lesion types and the percentage of dark cells in their basal layers were as follows: squamous metaplasia without atypia = 13 ± 3%, squamous metaplasia with slight atypia = 13 ± 3%, squamous metaplasia with moderate atypia = 26 ± 5%, squamous metaplasia with severe atypia = 27 ± 4%, and carcinoma in situ = 34 ± 11%. Notwithstanding a technical complication caused by differences in fixation and embedding procedures, it was possible to detect an increase in the number of dark cells in human preneoplastic lesions that was directly proportional to the degree of atypia. This increase points to the importance of these cells in neoplastic development and indicates that, regardless of their nature, the number of dark cells can be used as an indicator of the degree of atypia.


Journal of Cellular Biochemistry | 1996

Examination of p53 alterations and cytokeratin expression in sputa collected from patients prior to histological diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma

Marshall W. Anderson; Sue Sladon; Ruth Michels; Lois Davidson; Kenneth Conwell; John Lechner; Wilbur A. Franklin; Geno Saccomanno; Jonathan Wiest

Mutations in the p53 gene are detected in greater than 50% of squamous cell carcinomas of the lung and to a lesser extent in adenocarcinomas. The p53 protein is also overexpressed in a relatively high percentage of preinvasive lesions of the bronchial epithelium. However, unlike tumor tissue, immunoreactivity does not necessarily imply that cells in preinvasive lesions carry a mutant p53 allele. In some cases, overexpression may result from a cellular checkpoint reaction to a toxic or mutagenic substance such as exposure to tobacco smoke. In any case, p53 overexpression in preinvasive lesions may serve as a biomarker for high risk assessment of lung cancer and other tumors in the aerodigestive tract. A study was designed to retrospectively analyze p53 overexpression in cells from sputum samples collected prior to histological tumor diagnosis. The rationale was based on the observation that both preinvasive and tumor cells from the bronchial epithelium are exfoliated into the airways and can be detected based on morphology in sputa. Two sets of cases were chosen: 1) patients whose first primary tumor was a squamous cell carcinoma containing a mutant p53 allele with overexpression observed in most of the tumor cells; and 2) patients whose squamous cell tumor did not contain a mutant p53 allele. Cells which stained positive for p53 expression were observed in sputum samples collected from all six patients whose tumors were positive for a mutant p53 allele. Also p53 positive cells were detected on sputum slides for two of the five cases where the tumor DNA did not contain a mutation and/or tumor cells which overexpress p53 were not detected in tissue sections. Although cells which stained positive for p53 were present in sputum from patients whose tumors contained a missense mutation, the presence of p53 overexpression was not specific for tumors which contain an altered p53 allele since overexpression was detected in sputum cells from patients whose tumor DNA did not contain a p53 mutation and/or tumor cells which stained positive for p53 were not observed in tissue sections. However, the p53 positive cells in sputa collected from the latter group of patients could have been exfoliated from other lesions which contained a mutant p53 allele. The accumulation of p53 in some sputum cells was concomitant with expression of simple epithelial type cytokeratins (CK) 8 and 18 or at least one of the other cytokeratins detected by a broad spectrum (PAN) CK antibody mixture. These data imply that most of the sputum cells which overexpress p53 are epithelial cells. Moreover, our results are consistent, at least in part, with other observations that cells which overexpress p53 in dyplasias and hyperplasias express CK 8, 18. We will continue to explore the possibility that expression of cytokeratins 8, 18 and/or other cytokeratins in conjunction with p53 overexpression and/or morphological criteria could define a new class of atypical cells which are predisposed to cancer development. J. Cell. Biochem. 25S:185–190.


Health Physics | 1986

Concentrations of 210Pb and its states of equilibrium with 238U, 234U and 230Th in U miners's lungs

Narayani P. Singh; David B. Bennett; McDonald E. Wrenn; Geno Saccomanno

The concentrations of 210Pb and its states of equilibrium with 238U, 234U and 230Th in U miners lungs obtained at autopsy are reported. The concentration of 210Pb ranged from 0.63 to 123 Bq/kg wet weight with an average of 32.7 Bq/kg. The 210Pb concentrations were almost seven times higher than the concentrations of 238U, 234U and 230Th. The radiation dose rates to U miners lungs from 210Po alone ranged from 0.017 to 3.30 mGy/y with an average of 0.88 mGy/y. The dose rates from 238U, 234U and 230Th combined ranged from 6.8 X 10(-3) to 7.2 X 10(-1) mGy/y with an average of 2.9 X 10(-1) mGy/y. The dose rates from all alpha-emitting members of the 238U series, excluding 210Po, varied from 1.1 X 10(-2) to 2.2 mGy/y with an average of 7.5 X 10(-1) mGy/y.

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Thomas L. Petty

University of Colorado Denver

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