Peggy Wiederholt

Comprehensive IMRT Plus Weekly Cisplatin for Advanced Head and Neck Cancer: The University of Wisconsin Experience

We retrospectively examined the treatment efficacy and toxicity profile of intensity‐modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plus concurrent weekly cisplatin chemotherapy in patients with locoregionally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

Increased local failure risk with prolonged radiation treatment time in head and neck cancer treated with concurrent chemotherapy

Prolonged radiation treatment time (RTT) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is associated with inferior tumor control in patients treated with radiation therapy (RT) alone. However, the significance of prolonged RTT with concurrent chemotherapy is less clear.

Effect of oral milrinone on end-systolic relations in patients with severe congestive heart failure

The new inotropic agent milrinone has both vasodilator and inotropic cardiovascular effects, but the importance of these effects in patients with severe congestive heart failure (CHF) is controversial. The left ventricular (LV) end-systolic pressure-diameter relation was used to determine the independent inotropic effect of milrinone. Seven patients with New York Heart Association class III CHF were invasively monitored with right-sided heart catheters and radial arterial lines. M-mode echocardiography was used to measure LV dimensions. The effect of a 10-mg oral dose of milrinone on hemodynamic, echocardiographic and end-systolic variables was determined. End-systolic pressure was measured at the dicrotic notch of the arterial pressure tracing and end-systolic LV dimensions at the time of aortic valve closure. Methoxamine (n = 6) or nitroprusside (n = 1) was used to alter afterload so that the end-systolic pressure-diameter relation could be determined. Arterial vasodilation from milrinone was evidenced by a decrease in mean arterial blood pressure (88 +/- 5 to 77 +/- 2 mm Hg, p less than 0.025) and an increase in cardiac index (from 2.7 +/- 0.2 to 3.2 +/- 0.2 liters/min/m2, p less than 0.025), with no change in heart rate (80 +/- 5 beats/min). Milrinone decreased preload as assessed by the pulmonary artery wedge pressure (from 17 +/- 2 to 10 +/- 2 mm Hg, p less than 0.01) and end-diastolic LV diameter (from 7.4 +/- 0.4 to 7.0 +/- 0.4 cm, p less than 0.025).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Limitations of the End-Systolic Pressure-Diameter Relationship in Patients with Severe Congestive Heart Failure

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of the end-systolic pressure-volume relationship, the end-systolic pressure-dimension relationship and the end-systolic wall stress-mean rate corrected velocity of circumferential fiber shortening relationship in patients with severe congestive heart failure due to a dilated cardiomyopathy