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The aim of this study was to compare the clinical characteristics, histological type, stage at diagnosis, treatment and survival of young (≤45 years) and older patients with bronchogenic carcinoma. The study was designed as a retrospective review of all lung cancer patients referred to the Kuwait Cancer Control Center over a 10-year period from 1985 to 1994. The study comprised 590 patients with primary bronchogenic carcinoma, of whom 72 (12%) were 545 years of age at the time of diagnosis. Median (range) duration of symptoms, percentage of smokers and male to female ratios for the younger and older patients were 8 (2-48) weeks vs. 8 (1-52) weeks (p = 0.9), 74% vs. 83% (p = 0.06) and 5.5 vs. 5.3, respectively. The majority of patients had advanced stage disease at presentation; 91% of the younger patients had stage III or IV compared with 88% of the older patients (p = 0.1). The histological types for the younger and older patients were 32% vs. 20% for adenocarcinoma (p = 0.01) and 33% vs. 45% for squamous cell carcinoma (p = 0.1). There were more patients in the younger group who had surgery (21% vs. 7.5%) than in the older group (p = 0.001). Follow-up data were available for 177 patients out of 190 Kuwaiti national patients (93%). The median (range) survival rates for young and old patients were 8 (3-62) months and 7 (1-174) months, respectively (p = 0.09). Only 6 patients survived for more than 5 years, one (7.6%)from the younger group and 5 (3%) from the older group. Our study shows a relatively high percentage of young patients in our population of lung cancer patients. Apart from the higher incidence of adenocarcinoma in the young group and the fact that these patients had more surgery than the older group, there were no other significant differences between the two groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the usefulness of immunoradiometric assay in the measurement of pS2 protein in tumor cytosol from breast cancer. Presentation of pS2 content of tumors in relation to clinico-pathological features; Importance of pS2 in defining hormone-responsive patients; Comparison of the effectiveness of ELISA to other methods.

N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase (NAG) activity measured in sera from 129 breast cancer patients was elevated (mean 18.2 units/l) compared with that in sera from 28 healthy women (11.6 units/l) (p=0.001). There was a weak correlation between NAG activity and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and CA-153, but no relationship to age, menopausal status, node status, stage, histology of tumour or to steroid receptors. NAG, CEA and CA-153 were measured in periodic follow-up samples taken after surgery (up to 26 months) from 17 patients. NAG activity fluctuated within a narrow range, unlike CEA and CA-153. In 70% of cases the pattern was similar to at least one of the other markers, and was generally maintained at a higher level in patients who suffered relapse compared with those who remained disease-free up to the last follow-up, but was not significantly altered before relapse. The measurement of NAG activity is unlikely to be of value in predicting time or occurrence of relapse or of clinical utility in post-surgical therapy. Increased appearance in serum may aid metastasis by degrading the extracellular matrix and it may be better investigated as a predictor of progression from in situ to invasive and metastatic cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]