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Childhood cancers (age at diagnosis: 0-14 years) comprise a variety of malignancies, with incidence varying worldwide by age, sex, ethnicity and geography, that provide insights into cancer etiology. A total of 1,334 childhood cancers registered in population-based cancer registry, Chennai, India, during 1990-2001 and categorized by International Classification of Childhood Cancer norms formed the study material. Cases included for survival analysis were 1,274 (95.5%). Absolute survival was calculated by actuarial method. Cox proportional hazard model was used to elicit the prognostic factors for survival. The age-standardized rates for all childhood cancers together were 127 per million boys and 88 per million girls. A decreasing trend in incidence rates with increasing 5-year age groups was observed in both sexes. The top 5 childhood cancers were the same among boys and girls: leukemias, lymphomas, central nervous system neoplasms, retinoblastomas and renal tumors. The highest 5-year absolute survival was observed in Hodgkin's disease (65%) followed by Wilm's tumor (64%), retinoblastomas (48%), non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (47%), osteosarcomas (44%), acute lymphoid leukemia and astrocytoma (39%). Multifactorial analysis of age at diagnosis and sex showed no differences in the risk of dying for all childhood cancers. Completeness of treatment and type of hospital combination emerged as a prognostic factor for survival for all childhood cancers together (p < 0.001), acute lymphoid leukemia (p < 0.001) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (p = 0.04). A Childhood Cancer Registry with high-resolution data collection is advocated for in-depth analysis of variation in incidence and survival., ((c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Oral, pharyngeal and esophageal cancers are 3 of the 5 most common cancer sites in Indian men. To assess the effect of different patterns of smoking, chewing and alcohol drinking in the development of the above 3 neoplasms and to determine the interaction among these habits, we conducted a case-control study in Chennai and Trivandrum, South India. The cases included 1,563 oral, 636 pharyngeal and 566 esophageal male cancer patients who were compared with 1,711 male disease controls from the 2 centers as well as 1,927 male healthy hospital visitors from Chennai. We observed a significant dose-response relationship for duration and amount of consumption of the 3 habits with the development of the 3 neoplasms. Tobacco chewing emerged as the strongest risk factor for oral cancer, with the highest odds ratio (OR) for chewing products containing tobacco of 5.05 [95% confidence internal (CI) 4.26-5.97]. The strongest risk factor for pharyngeal and esophageal cancers was tobacco smoking, with ORs of 4.00 (95% CI 3.07-5.22) and 2.83 (95% CI 2.18-3.66) in current smokers, respectively. An independent increase in risk was observed for each habit in the absence of the other 2. For example, the OR of oral cancers for alcohol drinking in never smokers and never chewers was 2.56 (95% CI 1.42-4.64) and that of esophageal cancers was 3.41 (95% CI 1.46-7.99). Furthermore, significant decreases in risks for all 3 cancer sites were observed in subjects who quit smoking even among those who had quit smoking 2-4 years before the interview., (Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Between 1985 and 1991, 63 patients with disseminated germ cell tumors of the testis were treated with initial cisplatin based combination chemotherapy. Complete response was seen in 38% of patients. Adjunctive surgical resection of residual disease was carried out in 26 patients (41%), including the use of intraoperative radiation therapy in two patients with seminoma. Furthermore, two other patients with seminoma and residual mass underwent retroperitoneal irradiation. Salvage chemotherapy was administered to five patients with progressive disease, and only one of these could be salvaged with adjunctive surgery. A disease-free state was achieved in 75% of patients at a mean follow-up period of 30 months.

We studied 145 cases of larynx cancer in relation to their etiology, methods of treatment, and results. It was found that better results were obtained with a combination of radiotherapy and surgery. Any postradiational edema of the larynx should subside within 3 months. If this edema persists or progresses, it always means residual disease in the submucosal plane. We have now improved our results by using intravenous Bleomycin concurrently.

One thousand thirty-seven female breast cancers were treated at the Cancer Institute (WIA), Madras, between 1965 and 1978. Five hundred twenty-one of them (ie, just over 50%) were in stage III, with extensive local disease, unsuitable for surgery ab initio. Four hundred twelve of them (group A) received radiation therapy (RT) initially and 109 (group B) a combination of radiation and chemotherapy (CT). In 68% of the former and 77% of the latter the tumours became resectable after this preliminary treatment. Radical mastectomy in group A and Patey's mastectomy in group B were performed. The material in these two groups was similar. The five-year survival NED in group A was 45%, and in group B 64.61%. Adequate surgery following RT and CT seemed essential to improve survival. The impact of added chemotherapy (CT) was mainly felt in the node-positive cases.

The association of metastases (M) with age of patient, stage of disease, the gross and microscopic characteristics of the primary tumor, its physical location, the postradiational status of the breast, the extent and level of histological nodal involvement, the type of surgery practiced, and the host's biological environment are analysed. The authors conclude that the critical factor in systemic dissemination in female breast cancer is the extent and level of metastatic nodal involvement. Though the association between stage of disease, character of tumor (T), and histology are significant, the cruicial factor seems to be the nodal involvement. Systemic metastases are significantly higher in inner quadrant tumors. Possible methods of circumventing this dissemination are discussed.

Of 606 female breast cancers treated, 364 of them in stage I, II and III, only 7 cases were in stage I. All stage II and III cases in good general condition received radical preoperative irradiation to the entire breast volume and the regional lymphatic areas over a period of 4 wk, followed 4 wk later by a radical mastectomy. No postoperative irradiation was administered. The biological basis of this therapeutic policy is explained in detail and the 5-yr disease-free survival of patients in relation to stage of disease, treatment method, histology of the primary tumor, histologic nodal metastatic status, postradiational status of the breast primary, the menstrual status of the patient, and the general metabolic status is discussed. It is explicitly shown by meticulous histological study of the breasts and the axillary lymph nodes removed at surgery that radical irradiation per se is inadequate to sterilize the breasts and that subsequent radical surgery is essential. Furthermore, two-thirds of the stage III cancers, which would have been considered inoperable by conventional criteria, were rendered operable by preoperative irradiation, with a near 50% 5-yr disease-free survival.