Search

Background: The management of non-melanoma skin cancers may benefit from alternative treatments and in this spectrum electrochemotherapy plays a pivotal role. The aim was to describe the predictive features of patients with cutaneous carcinomas treated with electrochemotherapy, with regard to clinical, pathological and instrumental predictors., Methods: We analyzed disease free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) for each patient. Assuming that the effects of the predictor variables are constant over time, the independent predictive factors were assessed by Cox-proportional hazards regression in both univariate and multivariate analyses., Results: We can assess that in the brief-term (DFS), the patients' age, tumor-site, tumor size, photo-type and the dose of the cytotoxic drug showed a statistical significant better behavior. However, in the multivariate, only the variables tumor's site (P=0.01) and tumor appearance (P=0.03) reached the statistical significance. In the long-term, female patients, patients with a median age ≤70 years, with III-IV photo types and patients, which received a dosage of bleomycin, ≤14 mg/m2 presented a significant better behavior. However in the multivariate analysis a significance was maintained for the variables tumor's appearance (HR: 11.6; 95% CI: 11.56 to 27.5; P=0.01), infiltration (HR:0.11; 95% CI: 0.012 to 0.9; P=0.04), electrode type (HR:0.19; 95% CI:0.04 to 0.8; P=0.03) and photo type (HR:5.7; 95% CI:1.3 to 24.3; P=0.01)., Conclusions: According to our results, in electrochemotherapy different individual variables can have an important influence, which shows how this treatment could improve. The refinement of the technique and the optimization of patients' selection has the aim to improve the therapeutic response.

Background: The main purposes of this study were to evaluate the efficacy of electrochemotherapy in head and neck tumors, to assess local tumor control, its safety profile and its impact on the patients' quality of life., Methods: This is a multicenter prospective, non-randomized phase II trial. This trial was carried out at the Dermatology Clinic of the "Sapienza" University of Rome, at the Dermatology Clinic of the University of Chieti and at the Dermatology Clinic of the University of Turin. Fifty-five patients with head and neck cancer were recruited. Electrochemotherapy was carried out according to the ESOPE guidelines. Statistical analyses were performed using Stata/SE v.12.0 Statistical Software., Results: A significant clinical response was achieved in 50/55 patients with 91% of objective response rate (OR). Thirty-three out of 55 patients showed a complete response (CR) (60%); 17 treated patients had a partial response (PR) (31%). A significantly higher CR rate was obtained in patients not previously treated by surgery (15/19; 79%), with respect to those with a previous excision of the tumor (14/30; 47%) (P=0.025). An additional parameter influencing response is represented by anesthesia: patients treated by ECT with general anesthesia were characterized by significantly higher CR rate (68%) than those treated with local anesthesia (27%) (P=0.014)., Conclusions: Our experience confirmed high efficiency in local tumor control, excellent toxicity profile, tissue preservation with good cosmetic and functional results, even with repeated applications. ECT can represent a first-line treatment in the local management of head and neck cancers.

Individual and group discussions with divers and instructors were used to discover the psychodynamic bases of the diver's psychology. The clearly narcisistic compensation mechanisms, based essentially on so-called "cross-identification" appear to explain the apparently contradictory personality traits revealed by both psychodiagnostic techniques and phenomenological analysis. The recognition of cross identification as the basis of the narcisism-masochism collusion appears to be a useful addition to the field of accident prevention.

The techniques employed in teaching diving and especially diving safety, were studied. Since it was felt that most accidents are not merely fortuitous but also derive from unconscious urges towards risk-taking, an attempt was made to understand the psychodynamics of the question. The study also investigated the effectiveness of the teaching method as a means not only of transmitting intrinsically useful skills and knowledge, but also as a psychotherapeutic technique aiding the diver to control any self-destructive aggressive urges.