Pediatric systemic lupus erythematosus (pSLE) is a chronic mutisystemic autoimmune disease with complex clinical manifestations. Although the presentation, clinical manifestations, immunological findings and treatment issues of pSLE are similar to those of adult SLE patients, there are special issues which need to be considered when dealing with SLE in children. During the last decade survival ...

There has been considerable recent interest in radiation oncologists becoming more involved in prescribing systemic therapy. Radiation oncology and medical oncology have been very distinct disciplines with little overlap in Australia and New Zealand. However, the Faculty of Radiation Oncology identified systemic therapy as a priority to be investigated. The subsequent workforce survey in 2010 f...

Locoregional therapy is the primary treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Sorafenib was approved as a first-line systemic therapy for advanced HCC with associated extrahepatic spread and/or vascular invasion in 2007. However, there are several limitations associated with sorafenib therapy. To overcome these problems, various clinical trials have been conducted to develop additional mole...

Fatigue is reported by up to 90% of people with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). The exact cause of this symptom is as yet unknown however some of the causes considered are (i) that it is an independent symptom of SLE, (ii) that it occurs as a result of increased disease activity and (iii) that fatigue is as a result of the psychosocial impact of managing the daily impact of SLE. Regardless ...

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma, even when resectable, remains highly lethal. Although surgical outcomes have improved considerably, median overall survival after surgery and adjuvant therapy such as single-agent gemcitabine remains less than 2 years. We discuss preclinical and clinical data supporting the contention that even early-stage pancreatic cancer is a systemic disease. Autopsy series reveal...

Locoregional therapy is the primary treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Sorafenib was approved as a first-line systemic therapy for advanced HCC with associated extrahepatic spread and/or vascular invasion in 2007. However, there are several limitations associated with sorafenib therapy. To overcome these problems, various clinical trials have been conducted to develop additional mole...

PURPOSE In breast cancer therapy, the indication for systemic therapy is typically based on prognostic markers from the surgical excision specimen. If such is unavailable, for instance prior to tumor ablation therapy, the indication for adjuvant systemic therapy may be assessed from pretreatment biopsies. The effect of differences in tumor characteristics between biopsy and excision specimen on...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Acute retinal necrosis (ARN) may lead to severe visual loss because of its rapid progression and high likelihood of retinal detachment (RD). This study investigates whether combination systemic and intravitreal antiviral therapy is superior to systemic antiviral therapy alone. PATIENTS AND METHODS Single-center, interventional, comparative case series of patients with...

OBJECTIVES To determine whether transtympanic steroid administration may be an effective treatment for sudden onset sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) in patients for whom systemic steroid treatment has failed or who were not candidates for systemic steroids. METHODS The standard medical regimen for SSNHL usually involves systemic steroid therapy. Unfortunately, some patients do not respond s...