Klinická onkologie : casopis Ceské a Slovenské onkologické spolecnosti
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Palliative cancer care is an active treatment and nursing intervention in patients in whom cancer therapy has been withdrawn due to untreatable progression of the cancer disease. The main aim of palliative cancer care is to ensure the best possible quality of life of a cancer patient and the patient's family members. Palliative cancer care is provided in two basic forms, general and specialized. In the present paper, the authors discuss palliative cancer care and its implementation into clinical practice with reference to their own experience in providing this care.
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Recent guidance from the US Food and Drug Administration supports the conduct of a new type of exploratory clinical trials, commonly called phase 0 clinical trials, on the development of innovative anticancer agents, particularly targeted agents. Phase 0 clinical trials are controversial mainly because of the lack of clinical benefit to the participant patients. However, it was recognized that Phase 0 clinical trials can provide a platform to assessing the biological effects on the targets in tumoral human samples, evaluate biomarkers for drug effects and to generate essential human pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics data earlier in the drug development. It is expected that such trials will became a routine part of early-phase oncological drug development in the future.
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Statins (3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors) have proven therapeutic and preventive effects on cardiovascular diseases. Preclinical evidence demonstrates tumor-suppressive effects of statins in several human neoplasias, including breast cancer. ⋯ This study represents the first report of simvastatin use in experimental mammary carcinogenesis in vivo.