Journal of the National Cancer Institute
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J. Natl. Cancer Inst. · Dec 2011
Comparative StudyPatient self-reports of symptoms and clinician ratings as predictors of overall cancer survival.
The National Cancer Institute's Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (NCI-CTCAE) reporting system is widely used by clinicians to measure patient symptoms in clinical trials. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer's Quality of Life core questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) enables cancer patients to rate their symptoms related to their quality of life. We examined the extent to which patient and clinician symptom scoring and their agreement could contribute to the estimation of overall survival among cancer patients. ⋯ Patients provide a subjective measure of symptom severity that complements clinician scoring in predicting overall survival.
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J. Natl. Cancer Inst. · Dec 2011
Review Meta AnalysisRituximab maintenance for the treatment of patients with follicular lymphoma: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials.
In a previous systematic review and meta-analysis of five randomized controlled trials comparing rituximab maintenance with no maintenance (observation or rituximab at progression) for patients with follicular lymphoma, we reported that rituximab maintenance treatment improved the overall survival of patients. In this study, we did a similar search of the electronic databases updated through December 31, 2010, and included nine trials and 2586 follicular lymphoma patients. Hazard ratios (HRs) for time-to-event data were estimated and pooled using the inverse variance method. ⋯ Patients with refractory or relapsed (ie, previously treated) follicular lymphoma treated with rituximab maintenance had improved overall survival (pooled HR of death = 0.72, 95% CI = 0.57 to 0.91), whereas previously untreated patients had no survival benefit (pooled HR of death = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.60 to 1.25). The rate of infection-related adverse events was higher in the rituximab maintenance group (pooled risk ratio = 1.67, 95% CI = 1.40 to 2.00). These results further support the use of rituximab maintenance in the standard of care for refractory or relapsed follicular lymphoma.
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J. Natl. Cancer Inst. · Dec 2011
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyConcurrent chemoradiotherapy vs radiotherapy alone in stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma: phase III randomized trial.
Concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) has been shown to improve outcomes for stage III-IV nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients compared with radiotherapy (RT) alone, but the effectiveness of the combined therapy for stage II NPC patients is unknown. ⋯ Concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy is associated with a considerable survival benefit for patients with stage II NPC.