Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer
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Support Care Cancer · Nov 2012
Comparative StudyImpact of oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy: a patient perspective.
Dose-limiting neurotoxicity is a major side effect of oxaliplatin treatment, producing initial acute neurotoxicity and chronic neuropathy with increasing exposure. The improvement in survival for patients with early-stage colorectal cancer treated with oxaliplatin has highlighted the need for valid and reliable assessment of peripheral neuropathy. ⋯ Given the discrepancies in symptom prevalence highlighted by these findings, the monitoring of oxaliplatin-induced neurotoxicity would benefit from more informative clinical assessment, with inclusion of patient-reported outcome measures. Such an approach would be beneficial in a clinical trial setting to monitor the efficacy of interventions and in prospective studies of survivorship to determine the true burden of peripheral neuropathy in oxaliplatin-treated patients.
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Support Care Cancer · Nov 2012
Advance directives: prevalence and attitudes of cancer patients receiving radiotherapy.
Advance directives (AD) are becoming increasingly widespread. We examine the prevalence of AD and the factors associated with AD in tumor patients during radiotherapy. ⋯ Of advance directives is widely accepted among the tumor patients surveyed. Advanced directives are not exclusively seen as instruments for surrogate decision making, but also as mediums to improve communication. Training of physicians and additional offers for patients could increase the actual number of ADs and perhaps improve physicians and relatives understanding of patients needs and wishes.
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Support Care Cancer · Nov 2012
Case ReportsSuccessful treatment of intractable hiccups by oral application of lidocaine.
Persistent and intractable hiccups are a rather rare, but distressing gastrointestinal symptom found in palliative care patients. Although several recommendations for treatment are given, hiccups often persist. ⋯ We describe a new pharmacological approach for successfully treating hiccups in four cancer patients. In the first patient, chronic and intractable hiccups lasted for more than 18 months, but disappeared immediately after swallowing a viscous 2 % lidocaine solution for treatment of mucositis. Based on this experience, we successfully treated three further patients suffering from singultus using a lidocaine-containing gel. To our knowledge, this is the first report about managing hiccups by oral application of a lidocaine solution.
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Support Care Cancer · Nov 2012
Ixabepilone-associated peripheral neuropathy: data from across the phase II and III clinical trials.
Dose-limiting neuropathy is a major adverse event associated with most of the microtubule-stabilizing agent-based chemotherapy regimens. Ixabepilone, a semisynthetic analogue of the natural epothilone B, has activity against a wide range of tumor types. Peripheral neuropathy (PN), associated with ixabepilone treatment, is usually mild to moderate, predominantly sensory and cumulative. Preclinical studies demonstrate that ixabepilone and taxanes produce a similar neurotoxicity profile. ⋯ PN is a dose-limiting toxicity associated with ixabepilone treatment, is reversible in most patients, and can be managed with dose reduction and delays.