Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer
-
Support Care Cancer · May 2017
Predictive performance of the quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score as a screening tool for sepsis, mortality, and intensive care unit admission in patients with febrile neutropenia.
In Sepsis-3, the quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) score was developed as criteria to use for recognizing patients who may have poor outcomes. This study was performed to evaluate the predictive performance of the qSOFA score as a screening tool for sepsis, mortality, and intensive care unit (ICU) admission in patients with febrile neutropenia (FN). We also tried to compare its performance with that of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria and Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) score for FN. ⋯ Performance of the qSOFA score was inferior to that of the MASCC score. The preexisting risk stratification tool is more useful for predicting outcomes in patients with FN.
-
Support Care Cancer · May 2017
Symptom clusters during palliative chemotherapy and their influence on functioning and quality of life.
Symptom management in patients undergoing palliative chemotherapy is challenging, as patients may suffer from cancer symptoms as well as symptoms related to chemotherapy. Symptom clusters are interrelated symptoms occurring simultaneously that exert a negative impact on survival. Identification of symptom clusters and effective symptom management for patients receiving palliative chemotherapy is crucial. ⋯ Four symptom clusters occurring during palliative chemotherapy demonstrated negative influences on functioning and QOL. Differential contributions of symptom clusters to functioning were identified that eventually contributed to QOL through role functioning. The identified symptom clusters and their relationships with functioning and QOL may help guide approaches to symptom management. Implementation of interventions targeting symptom clusters would contribute to improving functioning and QOL in patients.