Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer
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Support Care Cancer · Apr 2016
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyA randomized, multicenter, phase II/III study to determine the optimal dose and to evaluate the efficacy and safety of pegteograstim (GCPGC) on chemotherapy-induced neutropenia compared to pegfilgrastim in breast cancer patients: KCSG PC10-09.
Pegylated granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) is frequently used to prevent febrile neutropenia (FN) in patients undergoing chemotherapy with a high risk of myelosuppression. This phase II/III study was conducted to determine the adequate dose of pegteograstim, a new formulation of pegylated G-CSF, and to evaluate the efficacy and safety of pegteograstim compared to pegfilgrastim. ⋯ Pegteograstim was shown to be as effective as pegfilgrastim in the reduction of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia in the breast cancer patients who were undergoing chemotherapy with a high risk of myelosuppression.
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Support Care Cancer · Apr 2016
Do-not-resuscitate orders among advanced-stage Chinese lung cancer patients who died in hospital.
Do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders are an important part of end-of-life care (EOL) for patients with incurable advanced lung cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical factors related to the acceptance of DNR orders by Chinese patients. ⋯ The DNR order-signing rate has been increasing annually among terminal patients with lung cancer in China. DNR orders, all of which were signed by surrogates, were more likely to be accepted by patients with slowly deteriorating disease and longer OS. More effort should be taken to help patients and medical professionals establish a sensible understanding of EOL care, including DNR orders, at earlier points during the disease course.
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Support Care Cancer · Apr 2016
Revisiting classification of pain from bone metastases as mild, moderate, or severe based on correlation with function and quality of life.
The objective of our study was to determine the optimal cut points for classification of pain scores as mild, moderate, and severe based on interference with function and quality of life (QOL). ⋯ Our analysis supports the classification of pain scores as follows: 1-4 as mild pain, 5-8 as moderate pain, and 9-10 as severe pain. This may facilitate conduct of future clinical trials.
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Support Care Cancer · Apr 2016
Pilot evaluation of scrambler therapy for pain induced by bone and visceral metastases and refractory to standard therapies.
Scrambler therapy is a non-invasive neurocutaneous electrical pain intervention, effective for the treatment of neuropathic pain. Currently, few data about the efficacy of this treatment in cancer pain induced by skeletal and visceral metastases are available. The aim of this single-center case series is to evaluate the efficacy of scrambler therapy in reducing this kind of cancer pain after failure of standard treatments, including pharmacological therapies and radiation therapy. ⋯ Scrambler therapy does not present toxicity and allows opioids dosage reduction, and it is also a repeatable treatment. Present novel data support that scrambler therapy seems to be effective for the treatment of cancer pain. Further evaluation in randomized and controlled clinical trials should be performed to confirm our findings.
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Support Care Cancer · Apr 2016
A novel prospective descriptive analysis of nausea and vomiting among patients receiving gastrointestinal radiation therapy.
Nausea and vomiting are common side effects from radiotherapy that can interfere with gastrointestinal (GI) cancer patients' quality of life (QOL). This study described the subjective experience of patients with radiation-induced nausea and vomiting (RINV) and its relation to QOL. ⋯ Patient's subjective experiences of RINV directly correlated to the worsening of QOL outcomes. The identification and amelioration of these RINV experiences could improve QOL.