Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer
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Support Care Cancer · Oct 2015
Cognitive impairment in testicular cancer survivors 2 to 7 years after treatment.
The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of cognitive impairment (CI) in a group of testicular (TC) survivors by comparing their neuropsychological test scores with normative data and to assess their performance in specific cognitive domains. ⋯ The prevalence of CI in TC survivors was unexpectedly high, with survivors performing significantly worse than expected on a majority of the neuropsychological outcomes. While the findings are preliminary in nature, they still have important implications for the diagnosis and treatment of CI in TC survivors.
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Support Care Cancer · Oct 2015
Does routine symptom screening with ESAS decrease ED visits in breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy?
In 2007, the provincial cancer agency in Ontario, Canada initiated a wide-scale program to screen for symptoms in the cancer population using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of screening with ESAS on emergency department (ED) visit rates in women with breast cancer receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. ⋯ Our results demonstrate that screening with ESAS is associated with decreased ED visits. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the effectiveness of routinely documenting a patient reported outcome on ED visits, in a real-world setting.
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Support Care Cancer · Oct 2015
Historical ArticleVariations in intensity of end-of-life cancer therapy by cancer type at a Canadian tertiary cancer centre between 2003 and 2010.
Aggressive medical management of cancer patients at the end of life (EOL) is an indicator of health services quality. We evaluated the variations in EOL cancer therapy utilization and in acute care hospital deaths across different types of cancer within the setting of a regionalized cancer program. ⋯ In our regional cancer program, the intensity of cancer therapies near the end of life varied considerably across different cancer types. Such variations may be unwarranted. A substantial proportion of cancer deaths occurred in the acute care setting. Greater efforts to integrate palliative care in outpatient cancer services are needed.