BACKGROUND:In 2010 the bes-islands in the Caribbean became a special municipality of the Netherlands. Healthcare was upgraded to match Dutch standards over a short period of time. With a population of 15,518 inhabitants in 2010 (19,408 in 2016), Bonaire received its own fact-team (flexible assertive community treatment). It subsequently became a unique experiment for the Dutch New Mental Health Movement.AIM: To describe the development of a modern mental health care system in a limited geographic area.METHOD: Site visitation, interviews and analysis of historical data sources.RESULTS: The local mental health team takes integral responsibility for all the mh care needs in Bonaire. There is no intricate diagnostic referral system. Consultation access lines are short. The team was able to dramatically reduce the need for hospitalization. Collaboration with the somatic hospital and general practitioners runs smoothly and the facilities offer complementary care. Societal integration is insured due to mental health professionals living interspersed in the neighborhood, the low threshold allowing them to respond to signals efficiently. There is a natural development of the following three domains of care: reduction of symptoms, societal participation and personal remission.CONCLUSION: Integrated mental health services in a geographically small area, as presented by the Dutch New Mental Health Movement, enables the possibility of recovery oriented care.

Zusammenfassung Die nicht-invasive Beatmung (NIV) ist in der klinischen Medizin weit verbreitet und hat mittlerweile einen hohen Stellenwert im klinischen Alltag erlangt. Der Einsatz der NIV reduziert die Intensiv- und Krankenhausaufenthaltsdauer sowie die Mortalitat von Patienten mit akutem hyperkapnischen Atemversagen. Patienten mit akuter respiratorischer Insuffizienz im Rahmen eines Lungenodems sollten neben den notwendigen kardiologischen Interventionen mit CPAP oder NIV behandelt werden. Bei anderen Formen des akuten hypoxamischen Atemversagens wird empfohlen, den Einsatz der NIV auf lediglich mildes ARDS zu begrenzen, da eine NIV bei schweren Formen mit hoheren Raten von Therapieversagen und Mortalitat assoziiert ist. Im Weaning von invasiver Beatmung reduziert die NIV die Reintubationsraten im Wesentlichen bei hyperkapnischen Patienten. Eine verzogerte Intubation bei Auftreten eines NIV-Versagens fuhrt zu einem Anstieg der Mortalitat und sollte deshalb vermieden werden. Bei entsprechendem Monitoring auf der Intensivstation kann die NIV auch bei padiatrischen Patienten mit akuter respiratorischer Insuffizienz erfolgreich eingesetzt werden. Weiterhin kann im Rahmen der Palliativmedizin die NIV hilfreich bei der Reduktion von Dyspnoe und Verbesserung von Lebensqualitat sein. Ziel des Updates dieser Leitlinie ist es, unter Berucksichtigung der zunehmenden aktuellen wissenschaftlichen Evidenz, sowohl die Vorteile als auch die Limitationen der NIV in der Behandlung der akuten respiratorischen Insuffizienz in der taglichen klinischen Praxis und bei verschiedenen Indikationen aufzuzeigen.Abstract The non-invasive ventilation (NIV) is widespread in the clinical medicine and has attained meanwhile a high value in the clinical daily routine. The application of NIV reduces the length of ICU stay and hospitalization as well as mortality of patients with hypercapnic acute respiratory failure. Patients with acute respiratory failure in context of a cardiopulmonary edema should be treated in addition to necessary cardiological interventions with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) or NIV. In case of other forms of acute hypoxaemic respiratory failure it is recommended the application of NIV to be limited to mild forms of ARDS as the application of NIV in severe forms of ARDS is associated with higher rates of treatment failure and mortality. In weaning process from invasive ventilation the NIV reduces the risk of reintubation essentially in hypercapnic patients. A delayed intubation of patients with NIV failure leads to an increase of mortality and should therefore be avoided. With appropriate monitoring in intensive care NIV can also be successfully applied in pediatric patients with acute respiratory insufficiency. Furthermore NIV can be useful within palliative care for reduction of dyspnea and improving quality of life. The aim of the guideline update is, taking into account the growing scientific evidence, to outline the advantages as well as the limitations of NIV in the treatment of acute respiratory failure in daily clinical practice and in different indications.

In der eigenen viszeral-chirurgischen Klinik wird seit 7 Jahren eine hochwertige intraoperative fotographische Dokumentation der individuellen Patienten-Krankheits- und Behandlungsbefunde mittels leistungsfähiger Klein- und Mittelformat-Digitalfotografie angestrebt.

To determine whether neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy followed by surgery improves survival over definitive radiochemotherapy in high risk patients with locally advanced SCC of the esophagus (uT3-4uN0-1M0. 184 pts. were recruited in a randomized study from 12 German institutions within a 81 months period until May 2002 and were eligible. Primary end point was overall survival, with the hypothesis of equivalence of both treatment arms at 2 and 3 years. Arm A: 3 cycles of 5-FU/leucovorin/etoposide/cisplatin, followed by chemoradiation (cisplatin/etoposide external beam radiotherapy up to 40 Gy), followed by surgery (transthoracic esophagectomy with two-field lymphadenectomy as the standard procedure). Arm B: same chemotherapy, followed by definitive chemo-radiation (cisplatin/etoposide external beam radiotherapy up to 65 Gy or for traversable T3 tumors, external beam radiotherapy to 60 Gy followed by a brachytherapy boost). Treatment related mortality was 12% vs. 3% in arm A vs. B, respectively. Due to a learning curve, postoperative mortality dropped down to 9% within the last 3 years. Median follow-up time was 5.7 years. Survival curves were similar in both arms (p of equivalence <0.05). In pts. responding to induction chemotherapy the 3-year survival rate was about 50% regardless of the treatment group. There was a 20% improved local progression free survival at 2 years in arm A compared to arm B, respectively (log-rank p < 0.01). Despite improved local control, surgery after neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy does not improve survival in locally advanced SCC of the esophagus when compared with definitive chemoradiotherapy

The detection of micrometastases in the bone marrow or peripheral blood of cancer patients is increasingly used for a more sensitive tumor staging and prognostication. The potential value of the currently used techniques for the detection of epithelial antigens by RT-PCR or immunohistochemistry in respect of specificity is currently controversially discussed. In the present study we demonstrate a new approach which enables the direct visualization of the tumor specific alteration of chromosome 8 in circulating tumor cells. We have therefore studied breast cancer patients with various tumor stages and tried to determine the frequency of circulating tumor cells in the peripheral blood by using interphase cytogenetics for chromosome 7 and 8. Imprints of primary breast cancers and cytospins with circulating tumor cells of corresponding patients were studied in a blinded fashion. The blood samples were generated by immunomagnetic enrichment of circulating tumor cells from peripheral blood by ferrofluid and centrifugation onto cover slips. These cytospins were then hybridized with centromer probes 7 and 8. After analyzing 27 patients with benign as well as malignant breast tumors we can demonstrate that the chromosomal pattern between malignant tumor and corresponding circulating tumor cells is identical. Furthermore, the detection of circulating tumor cells directly correlates with the primary tumor stage. We did not find any cells with chromosome 8 alterations in the patients with benign disease. Surprisingly, even in early breast cancers (T1N0) interphase cytogenetics identified circulating tumor cells in 2 out of 4 patients. In conclusion, interphase cytogenetics represent a non-invasive, sensitive and specific assay for the direct visualization of circulating tumor cells in the peripheral blood. The prognostic value of these findings remains to be further evaluated in larger prospective studies.

BACKGROUND:Surgery is currently the only potentially curative approach in the treatment of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). In many instances however, postsurgically elevated or rising plasma calcitonin and/or carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels indicate persistent metastatic disease, although conventional diagnostic procedures (computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and invasive venous catheterization) fail to localize the responsible lesions. Recently, anti-CEA antibodies and somatostatin analogs have shown promising results in the staging of MTC. The aim of this study was to compare the sensitivity of both methodologies, especially for the detection of occult MTC, and to assess whether there may be correlations between the scintigraphic behavior and the patients' prognosis.METHODS:A total of 26 patients with medullary thyroid carcinoma were examined at our institution between 1977 and 1996. Ten of them had known disease, 14 had occult metastatic MTC, and 2 were free of disease at the time of presentation. Fourteen patients were investigated with anti-CEA monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) (receiving a total of 35 injections: clones BW431/26, BW431/31, IMACIS, or F023C5, labeled with 99mTc, (111)In or (131)I), and 8 patients were studied with (111)In-labeled octreotide. Two patients received potentially therapeutic doses of (131)I-labeled anti-CEA antibodies. All patients underwent conventional radiologic evaluation (ultrasonography, CT, and MRI) and/or biopsy within 4 weeks. Additional imaging was performed with 99mTc-(V)-DMSA, (131)I-metaiodobenzylguanidine, 201thallium chloride, 99mTc-methylene diphosphate, and/or 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography. Clinical follow-up was obtained.RESULTS:All patients with established disease had elevated plasma CEA (range, 6.8-345 ng/mL; calcitonin levels between 92 and 11,497 pg/mL), whereas in 9 of 14 occult cases, levels were < or = 5 ng/mL (range, 0.6-829 ng/mL; calcitonin, 72-2920 pg/mL). In patients with known disease, the overall lesion-based sensitivity was 86% for the anti-CEA MAbs, whereas octreotide was unable to target any tumor in patients with rapidly progressing disease or distant metastases (overall sensitivity, 47%). In all patients with occult MTC, anti-CEA MAbs and octreotide were able to localize at least one lesion (patient-based sensitivity, virtually 100%). In patients with postsurgically persistent hypercalcitoninemia, cervical lymph nodes were identified as the most frequent site of metastases, whereas in patients with occult and slowly progressing disease several years after primary surgery, anti-CEA MAbs and octreotide showed bilateral involvement of mediastinal lymph nodes; however, tumor to nontumor ratios were usually higher with octreotide in these cases. With anti-CEA Mabs, the highest tumor to nontumor ratios were observed in clinically aggressive, rapidly progressing disease. The sensitivity of all other diagnostic modalities was, at < or = 50%, significantly lower. Indication for antitumor effects was observed in a patient receiving 65 mCi of (111)I-labeled F(ab')2 fragments of the clone F023C5.CONCLUSIONS:For the detection of occult MTC, anti-CEA MAbs and octreotide seem to have a sensitivity that is superior to conventional diagnostic modalities, especially also when used in combination. Better detectability with anti-CEA antibodies (which may result in higher CEA expression) seems to be associated with more aggressively growing forms of MTC, whereas somatostatin receptor expression at normal CEA plasma levels and weaker MAb targeting may be associated with a more benign clinical course. This is in accordance with the study of Busnardo et al. (Cancer 1984; 53:278-85), who showed higher CEA serum levels to be associated with a worse prognosis, as well as with the in vitro findings of Reubi et al. (Lab Invest 1991;64:567-73), who demonstrated lower somatostatin receptor expression in less differentiated MTC. Fu