European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 1, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Patients marrow emerges As key cancer tool protecting source of blood cells for Many cancer patients treatments Strong enough to destroy tutors would destroy Bone marrow the body a factory for blood cells. In a daring and costly procedure called an Auto logos transplant doctors remove the patient s marrow to safeguard h during the treatments and then return h. New therapies shorten the hazardous recovery period. Not by Elisabeth Rosenthal new York times or years doctors have a j experimented with ways to give j j colossal doses of l i chemotherapy and radiation to treat otherwise fatal cancers. Because doses Large enough to overcome the Luxor could kill the patient As Well by destroying the Bone marrow the doctors devised a dangerous but ingenious technique. They removed and treated some of the patient s own marrow gave the patient previously unthinkable doses of chemotherapy and radiation and then returned the marrow to the patient where it gradually resumed its vital function As the body a factory for blood and immune system cells. Although they tried these Quot Auto logos Quot Bone marrow transplants As heroic treatments for hopeless cases the researchers have now accumulated enough data to prove that they work. Some of the initial patients have lived disease free far longer than expected and although the risk of dying in the procedure is still 5 to 15 percent Auto logos transplants have taken off. Further experts say the recent isolation and production of several naturally occurring molecules called growth factors which dramatically hasten the recovery of a transplanted marrow Promise to make the procedure safer and cheaper. Quot these transplants have moved from the world of evangelical religion to the world of science Quot said or. Peter h. Wiernik the chairman of the department of oncology at the Montefiore medical Center in the Bronx. Quot we Are at the Point where we can look people in the Eye and say this is the treatment for your  based on these impressive results Auto logos transplant has become the treatment of Choice for certain tutors of the immune system or Lymphomas and a few tutors of the blood or leukaemia a with cure rates of Over 50 percent researchers Hope the technique might eventually help save Many patients with widespread breast cancer ovarian cancer and Melanoma As Well. Quot we Are about to see an exponential Rise in the number of Auto logos transplants Quot said or Richard o Reilly the head of the Bone marrow transplant program at memorial Sloan Kettering cancer Center in new York Quot particularly As we find new diseases that respond to the technique. Quot an estimated 2,000 Auto logos transplants were performed in 1989, about double the number two years before. Since Auto logos transplants require Over a month in the Hospital and Cost Over $75,000, insurers and health care economists look to this Boom with some apprehension. Because most uses of the treatment Are still in the experimental stage insurance companies May refuse to pay. And while the procedure is not technically demanding few hospitals can accommodate More than a handful of marrow transplant patients at one time. Also experts caution that for patients the month without functioning Bone marrow called the Nadir period is a harrowing painful ordeal with almost daily bouts of fevers from infection and sometimes bleeding. These ensue because the Bone marrow about a quart of which is usually taken from the patient makes red cells to carry oxygen White cells to fight disease and platelets to promote clotting. Heart lung and kidney tests before a transplant disqualify Many patients As not healthy enough to survive the ordeal. Quot it was the worst experience of a lifetime Quot said Donna Rossi 37 years old of new Jersey who had an experimental Auto logos transplant in 1983 for Lymphoma then generally considered incurable Quot during the transplant you re at such a Low Point that you can t see the Light at the end of the Tunnel. I gave up a year of my life because nothing else held out Hope of a  the new procedures Are different from True transplants when a patient s diseased Marow is destroyed and then replaced with marrow from a donor who must be genetically matched to prevent rejection of the foreign tissue. These transplants were initially developed to treat patients with inherently defective Marrows although they have since been used successfully on cancer patients As Well. Only 30 to 40 percent of patients waiting for conventional transplants find compatible donors. The procedure is generally considered too risky for patients older than 30 because of a devastating reaction in which the immune cells of the donated marrow attack the Host and which becomes More deadly with age. But Auto logos transplants Are performed on people into the 60s. When the Auto logos method is used to treat patients whose cancers Tike leukaemia involve the marrow before the marrow is re infused it must be cleansed in a Laboratory. Since the Auto logos transplants theoretically can be applied to any tumor for which More chemotherapy is considered better Quot the question everyone is asking is who can Benefit Quot said or. Jerome Ritz associate professor of Medicine at Harvard University s Dana Farber cancer Center. Patients with advanced metastatic breast and ovarian cancer have already shown dramatic  ear problems by Barbara Somerville Cox news service can you guess what infection brings More children under 6 into paediatricians offices in the United states than any other ailment it s a otitis Media Quot according to the american Academy of paediatrics. This inflammation of the Middle ear will hit one in three american children this year. It is the most frequent cause of temporary hearing loss in children. This is an inflammation of the Middle ear that a one in three children will have this year. A about 70 percent of newborns will contract at least once before their third birthdays. And about half will suffer three or More bouts in their first three years. A is the most frequent cause of temporary hearing loss in children. A is the third most common childhood ailment in the United states. Only colds and sore throats Are More frequent in children a and they often Lead to the ear aches that can be far More serious unless treated at once with antibiotics. If untreated and a hearing loss is undetected this ear disease can interfere with the development of speech language learning and socialization skills according to or. William j. Rodriguez chairman of the department of infectious diseases at children a Hospital at the National medical Center in Washington. The infection begins when bacteria from a respiratory illness travel to the Middle ear through the eustachian tube. Once infection reaches the Middle ear the eardrum May become inflamed. Fluid from the infection May be trapped interfering with hearing. Quot a severe Middle ear infection during the first months of life sets a child up for repeated bouts Quot said or. Harry l. Keyserling a professor of paediatrics at Emory University school of Medicine in Atlanta. If children Aren t treated quickly with an Antibiotic scarring May occur which leads to repeated infections another possibility is that the infection May not stay localized in the ear. It could spread through the bloodstream to other parts of the body causing More serious problems such As arthritis pneumonia heart infection or even meningitis. Whenever a child has an acute ear infection hearing is decreased even after the pain is gone a which it usually is in about 24 to 48 hours after treatment with an Antibiotic about half the children will still have fluid in their ears a month later. If the fluid remains longer than three months tiny plastic tubes May be inserted into the eardrums to ventilate the Middle ear and allow fluid to Drain. Quot that s the most common Type of surgery for kids today Quot Keyserling said. Quot the pressure is immediately relieved and they hear much  the tubes stay in usually about six months to a year. Infants Are much More susceptible to this ear infection than adults Keyserling said because they Haven to had a Chance to build up any immunity and their eustachian tubes Are smaller and set at a More acute Angle so that bacteria can build up and cause problems. The number of infections begins to taper off at about age 7. Symptoms can include irritability a feeling of pressure or blockage in the ear disturbed sleep ear pain which infants May indicate by pulling at the ears or shaking their head vomiting fever headache and dizziness. Discharge from the ear indicates a ruptured eardrum. Page 16 the stars and stripes tuesday May 1,1990