P3-0307 — Final report
1.
Cysteine proteases and their inhibitors (cathepsins B and L, stefins A and B)

Concentration of stefin A as determined in cytosols of primary tumor tissue confirmed its prognostic value in three independent groups of patients with operable carcinoma of the head and neck (high levels were prognostically advantageous). To the contrary, immunohistochemical determination of cysteine cathepsins and stefins expression in tissue sections from inoperable primary tumors of the oropharynx seems to be of limited predictive/prognostic value (cathepsin B, stefin B) or, in this respect, has no value at all (cathepsin L, stefin A).

COBISS.SI-ID: 22998233
2.
Epstein-Barr virus in carcinoma of the nasopharynx

The first comprehensive analysis of the relationship between Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and carcinoma of the nasopharynx in nonendemic (regarding this particular disease) Slovenian population. In Slovenia, the predominant combination of EBV genotypes is ADF (in endemic China region: ACf); it seems that distribution of EBV genotypes depends on geographical distribution. With increased tumorigenicity of EBV associated 30 bp deletion was recorded in )50% of biopsy specimens from primary tumors (or in 29.5% of all samples), indicating its possible role in etiology of this particular disease.

COBISS.SI-ID: 21476825
3.
Verrucous carcinma of the head and neck

In verrucous carcinoma, surgery is advocated as the treatment of choice; radiotherapy is considered less effective, whereas the role of chemotherapy remains unknown. Combined therapy with irradiation and chemotherapy (Vinblastine, Methotrexate, Bleomycin), originally designed at the Institute of Oncology Ljubljana, proved to be highly effective with no serious late side-effects recorded. The described regimen of radiochemotherapy could be successfully used in the patients with inoperable tumors or as an alternative to surgery.

COBISS.SI-ID: 20371161
4.
Treatment of cancer of the oral cavity and role of sentinel node biopsy

We analyzed the treatment results for the period 1990-1995 and conducted a prospective study to evaluate the applicability of the concept of sentinel lymph node in this particular disease (as well as in the carcinoma of the oropharynx). The treatment results of patients with oral cavity carcinoma in the studied period were comparable with the results of similar studies from other institutions. We could identify the sentinel lymph node in all 12 patients that entered the study. If the sentinels were not affected by tumor cells, there were no metastases in the downstream neck lymph nodes either.

COBISS.SI-ID: 2254655
5.
Radiochemotheapy in advanced carcinoma of the head and neck

Patients with resectable and unresectable carcinoma of the head and neck were assessed from several aspects: (1) analysis of efficacy of two different radiochemotherapy combinations – Mitomycin/Bleomycin and Mitomycin/Cisplatin; (2) toxicity analysis – i.e. acute toxicity (during therapy), nutritional status, and of the arterial wall injury; (3) biological viewpoint – immunohistochemical evaluation of primary tumors with the analysis of spectra of biological markers (p21, p27, p53, EGFR, cyclin D1, CD31, Ki-67).

COBISS.SI-ID: 658555