The Authors describe a 53 year old patient, who, after suffering from asthma over the past 10 years, presented with abdominal pain, diarrhoea, dyspnea, petechias on lower limbs, and subsequently ...developed fever, polyneuritis, pericardial effusion and renal failure. Laboratory showed elevated IgE, presence of antinuclear antibodies to DNA, serum rheumatoid factor and peripheral eosinophilia. The clinical course was suggestive for systemic vasculitis; lung, skin biopsies and renal angiography confirmed this diagnosis: the association with asthma and eosinophilia fulfill the diagnosis of allergic angiitis and granulomatosis (Churg-Strauss syndrome).
After intensive staging 74 ovarian cancer patients were randomized to two arms balanced for stage and post-surgery residual tumor. The two regimens were CTX 100 mg/day continuously and ADM 50 mg/m2 ...IV every 4 weeks plus CTX 100 mg/day. The response rates were respectively 42% and 52%. Median survival times were 13 and 14 months. The incidence of side effects was significantly higher in the combination-treatment arm. No other statistical differences were found.
