Melvin J. Krant

Ectopic Production of an Alkaline Phosphatase Isoenzyme in Patients with Cancer

Abstract An alkaline phosphatase isoenzyme (Regan isoenzyme) has been identified in the serum of 27 patients with various malignant tumors. This isoenzyme is biochemically and immunologically indistinguishable from placental alkaline phosphatase. In addition to being present in serum, it has been identified in both tumor tissue and malignant effusion fluids. Measurement of this isoenzyme has been clinically useful in monitoring progression or regression of tumor, identifying a source of serum alkaline phosphatase elevation, and identifying malignant effusions.

High-Dose Corticoid Therapy in Hodgkin's Disease and other Lymphomas

Excerpt The activity of the adrenal cortex may have a profound influence on the normal maintenance of lymphoid tissue. Dougherty and White (1) demonstrated, in 1943, that adrenocorticotrophic hormo...

Comparative trial of chemotherapy and radiotherapy in patients with non-resectable cancer of the lung☆

Abstract Two hundred and nineteen patients with carcinoma of the lung were studied in three treatment groups in a cooperative in-hospital study. Of these patients, 196 had not received prior therapy. Treatment group I was given a mean of 3,843 tissue r., treatment group II a mean of 37.8 mg. of nitrogen mustard therapy and 3,658 tissue r. simultaneously and treatment group III 41.0 mg. nitrogen mustard therapy followed by 3,633 tissue r. In evaluating shrinkage in tumor size, benefits as determined by votes of the investigators and over-all survival curves, essentially no beneficial differences emerged for any one treatment group. Toxicity was slightly greater in group II, and treatment time extended for these same patients. No difference in toxicity or survival time appeared between 250 kv. or 2 Mev radiotherapy equipment. Data and discussion are presented to indicate that in this study survival time is independent of the form of treatment administered but that natural selection alone determines the patients with longer survivorship. The routine use of radiotherapy and mechlorethamine treatment, therefore, is questioned.

Pulmonary Hypertrophic Osteoarthropathy, Spider Angiomata, and Estrogen Hyperexcretion in Neoplasia

Abstract Urinary estrogen and gonadotrophin were measured in four cases of hypertrophic osteoarthropathy associated with intrathoracic neoplasm. Two of these patients had florid manifestation of sp...

Carcinoma of the lung, including systemic manifestations

Summary In summary, the incidence of lung cancer has greatly increased in the past 50 years. Long-term survival data is poor. Evidence now suggests that bronchogenic carcinoma may be a long time evolving and that significant extension or wide-spread metastases may be present by the time the patient develops the first symptom. The routine chest film is an unsatis-factory method of uncovering truly early lung cancer, and we may have to await the development of a better diagnostic test if real inroads are to be made into this calamity. On the other hand, at least in part, the epidemic nature of this disorder may be prevented by elimination of atmospheric pollution, especially the personal one represented in the present-day cigarette. Many systemic signs occur in relation to lung cancer that appear to be mediated or influenced by something that the tumor makes or possesses. These systemic manifestations may sometimes precede symptoms relative to the tumor and divert the clinicians attention from the thorax or other primary sites. Once recognized for what they are, these manifestations may prompt a search for the silent underlying malignancy. Furthermore, it is possible that these manifestations may act to hasten demise, and the patient may be significantly benefited if these abnormalities can be eliminated or improved.