Adriano Laudico

• MD
• Professor Emeritus at University of the Philippines Manila College of Medicine

Introduction: Thymidine kinase is an established marker of cancer cell proliferation and its activity can be measured in blood. We and others have recently shown that baseline and dynamic evaluation of circulating thymidine kinase activity (TKa) during treatment gives prognostic and predictive information in patients with HR+, HER2-negative metasta...

Background Cancer is a major cause of death in children worldwide, and the recorded incidence tends to increase with time. Internationally comparable data on childhood cancer incidence in the past two decades are scarce. This study aimed to provide internationally comparable local data on the incidence of childhood cancer to promote research of cau...

Background: For women with hormone receptor–positive, operable breast cancer, surgical oophorectomy plus tamoxifen is an effective adjuvant therapy. We conducted a phase III randomized clinical trial to test the hypothesis that oophorectomy surgery performed during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle was associated with better outcomes.

While tamoxifen activity is mainly due to endoxifen and the concentration of this active metabolite is, in part, controlled by CYP2D6 metabolic status, clinical correlative studies have produced mixed results. In an exploratory study, we determined the CYP2D6 metabolic status and plasma concentrations of endoxifen among 224 Filipino and Vietnamese...

In premenopausal women treated for breast cancer, loss of bone mineral density (BMD) follows from menopause induced by chemotherapy or loss of ovarian function biochemically or by surgical oophorectomy. The impact on BMD of surgical oophorectomy plus tamoxifen therapy has not been described. In 270 Filipino and Vietnamese premenopausal patients par...

The EUROCARE study has disclosed large variations of survival across Europe, with the magnitude varying, depending on cancer site. Comparisons of these rates with those from the developing countries are rare, but important in evaluating international cancer care discrepancies. This study aimed to provide up-to-date estimates of cancer survival in a...

The population-based cancer registry in Manila, Philippines, called the Philippine Cancer Society-Manila Cancer Registry, was established in 1983. Cancer registration is pursued by active methods. The registry contributed survival data on a random sample of total incident cancers of breast (500), cervix (500), colon and rectum (300) registered in 1...

The department of health-Rizal cancer registry (DOH-RCR) was the first population-based cancer registry in the Philippines, established in 1974. Even though cancer is reportable by legislation, cancer registration is pursued by active methods. Data on survival from cancer of the breast registered in 1996-1997 are reported. Followup was carried out...

Clinical trials that might identify effective therapies for cancer-related fatigue, one of the most distressing symptoms experienced by patients, require a validated fatigue assessment tool. We developed and validated a Filipino language version of the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI-F) for describing the prevalence and severity of fatigue among Filip...

EPIDEMIOLOGY OF BREAST CANCER: The incidence and mortality of breast cancer are lower in Asia than in the West, particularly in post-menopausal women, but they are increasing. The age patterns of the incidence of breast cancer in Asia differ from in the West: in most Asian countries the peak incidence of breast cancer is at about age 45-50, whereas...

Childhood cancer survival estimates from developing nations are rare. Using the US SEER and the Manila and Rizal Cancer Registry databases in the Philippines, 5-year survival for childhood leukaemia and lymphoma in 2001-2005 among Asian Americans were compared with both Filipinos and Caucasians in the United States. Estimates for patients in the Un...

Various international comparisons of breast cancer survival have shown discrepancies which may reflect the impact of ethnicity or health care. Using databases from SEER 13 and from the Manila and Rizal Cancer Registries, age adjusted five-year absolute and relative survival estimates were computed and compared between Filipino-American breast cance...

Few studies have investigated incidence trends in the Philippines. From the databases of the Manila Cancer Registry, cumulative cancer incidence rates were determined for the five most common cancers for both sexes combined. Using joinpoint analysis, incidence trends for 1983-2002 were estimated. Among females, increasing trends were found for brea...

The database of two population-based cancer registries (Philippine Cancer Society-Manila Cancer Registry and Department of Health-Rizal Cancer Registry) was used to generate age-standardized incidence rates of cancer during 1980-2002. Five-year relative survival rates were obtained for incident cases from 1993 to 2002 using a period analysis method...

Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, East Timor and the Philippines constitute peninsular and island South-East Asia. For reasons of largely shared ethnicity, with Chinese elements added to the basic Austromalaysian populations, as well as geographical contiguity, they can be usefully grouped together for studies of chronic disease prevalence an...

Previous population-based studies showed differences in international and within country colorectal cancer survival estimates, but few investigated the role of prognostic factors. Using a "high resolution approach", we aimed to determine the effect of ethnicity and health care by comparing Filipino-Americans with Philippine residents, who have the...

Hormone receptor (HR) expression is the most important biomarker and is the cornerstone in the management of breast cancer. Therefore, the accuracy of its testing is critical in treatment decisions. A total of 160 consecutive patients accrued to an adjuvant hormonal therapy clinical trial between March 2003 and May 2008 were studied. Estrogen recep...

Population-based cancer survival data, a key indicator for monitoring progress against cancer, are not widely available from countries in Africa, Asia, and Central America. The aim of this study is to describe and discuss cancer survival in these regions. Survival analysis was done for 341 658 patients diagnosed with various cancers from 1990 to 20...

Few studies have assessed and compared cervical cancer survival between developed and developing countries, or between ethnic groups within a country. Fewer still have addressed how much of the international or interracial survival differences can be attributed to ethnicity or health care. To determine the role of ethnicity and health care, 5-year...

In contrast to most other forms of cancer, data from some developing and developed countries show surprisingly similar survival rates for ovarian cancer. We aimed to compare ovarian cancer survival in Philippine residents, Filipino-Americans and Caucasians living in the US, using a high resolution approach, taking potential differences in prognosti...

Despite the availability of population-based cancer survival data from the developed and developing countries, comparisons remain very few. Such comparisons are important to assess the magnitude of survival discrepancies and to disentangle the impact of ethnic background and health care access on cancer survival. Using the SEER 13 database and data...

The breast cancer incidence in the Philippines is among the highest in Asia. Age-standardized incidence rates (ASR) in Metro Manila and Rizal Province derived from the Philippine Cancer Society-Manila Cancer Registry and the Department of Health-Rizal Cancer Registry showed increase from 1980 to 2002, and were significantly higher in 7 cities in Me...

Reliable population-based cancer survival data are essential for assessment of the effectiveness of cancer screening programs, distribution of cancer therapy and prevalent cancer cases. International comparisons are useful to allow societies, mass media and health authorities to gain a real appreciation of the cancer problem in their own country an...

Assessing cancer-related symptoms requires a brief, reliable, valid, and culturally adapted symptom screening tool. In the Philippines, cancer patients (n=206) and community-dwelling adults (n=170) participated in a cross-sectional validation study of the Filipino version of the M. D. Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI-F). Both exploratory factor an...

The value of screening by Clinical Examination of the Breast (CBE) as a means of reducing mortality from breast cancer (BC) is not established. The issue is relevant, as CBE may be a suitable option for countries in economic transition, where incidence rates are on the increase but limited resources do not permit screening by mammography. Our aims...

By 2010, the majority of approximately 1.5 million annual new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in countries with limited resources. Public health approaches to medical problems emphasize the importance of practical, limited toxicity and very inexpensive interventions. While clinical trials in Western countries are testing the conce...

Death certificates are an important source of information for cancer registries that help to improve completeness of case finding. In many countries where routine mortality data are considered of poor quality, this source is often regarded as being of little value. We evaluated the contribution of death certificates to the total number of registrat...

Incidence was derived from published data from two population-based registries--the Philippine Cancer Society-Manila Cancer Registry, and the Department of Health-Rizal Cancer Registry, which covered 8.5 million residents (1990 census) of a 1674 sq. km area that comprises Metro Manila and Rizal province. 13 registry clerks actively sought new cance...

The article describes the development and progress of cancer pain relief and palliative care in the Philippines from 1986 onwards. The strategy employed was a stepwise progression that began with the establishment of government policy, followed by measures to improve availability and accessibility to oral morphine, and finally, continuing nationwid...

Background: Risk factors for breast cancer were evaluated in the Philippines, where high prevalence of factors (high fertility rate, young population, early age at marriage, widespread breastfeeding, predominantly low income group, largely agricultural country, and low oral contraceptive use), thought to be protective of breast cancer risk, exist i...

HERDIN Database. A total of 2,156 titles, 427 abstracts and 77 full text articles were appraised. Data from 23 prospective cohort studies were encoded,into the software COCHRANE Review