Cancer
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Recombinant human erythropoietin for the correction of cancer associated anemia with and without concomitant cytotoxic chemotherapy.
Chronic anemia is a common complication in patients with cancer, especially in those with advanced disease or who are under intensive chemotherapy. Because homologous blood transfusions involve some hazards, the safety and efficacy of recombinant human erythropoietin (r-HuEPO) in the treatment of anemic patients with cancer with and without concomitant chemotherapy were studied. ⋯ This multicenter study in a large patient collective shows that r-HuEPO treatment represents a safe and effective means to increase the red cell mass and eliminate the need for blood transfusions in approximately 50% of the patients with chronic anemia of cancer. Responding patients not only have increased levels of hemoglobin, but their performance status also improves significantly, and they enjoy a significantly enhanced quality of life.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Randomized, double-blind comparison of a prochlorperazine-based versus a metoclopramide-based antiemetic regimen in patients undergoing autologous bone marrow transplantation.
Highly emetogenic combination alkylator therapy is routinely used in autologous bone marrow transplantation for treatment of eligible patients with solid tumors. Antiemetic therapy remains less than optimal in this setting. ⋯ Both metoclopramide and prochlorperazine in combination with lorazepam and diphenhydramine offer good control of nausea and vomiting although the sedation and low risk for cardiac toxicity limit the regimen to an inpatient setting with close monitoring. No regimen was clearly superior during the entire treatment period but prochlorperazine offered more consistent control after the first day.
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To ascertain the quality of data entering a population-based reporting system, an essential requirement is to study levels of completeness of case-ascertainment and reporting. This study represents an effort to quantify completeness of case reporting in the SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) Program of the National Cancer Institute. ⋯ There is variation in completeness of casefinding among SEER registries, hospital size, and hospital department source. Additional factors that appear to be related to case ascertainment are cancer site or type and who performs the casefinding function (hospital registry or central registry staff).
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Two representative samples of primary care physicians (N = 600) and medical oncologists (N = 300) in France were surveyed about their attitudes toward and knowledge about cancer pain management. ⋯ This study (1) confirms the existence among French physicians of attitudinal barriers and knowledge deficits previously reported in other countries that can impede cancer pain management, (2) identifies new barriers to the proper prescription of morphine for cancer pain control, and (3) reveals discrepancies in physicians' attitudes and knowledge about pain control which suggest a need for the systematic evaluation of cancer patients' care.
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Patients with inflammatory breast cancer have a high risk of developing a local recurrence and/or distant metastases. Treatment with combined chemotherapy and locoregional radiotherapy contributes to a decrease in both risks. This study presents treatment results and evaluates the pattern of failure when an alternating chemoradiotherapy schedule is used. ⋯ Alternating high doses of radiotherapy and chemotherapy is a feasible treatment schedule and permits breast conservation. Disease free survival is comparable to that of recently published series. As the main causes of failure are distant metastases, higher dose chemotherapy should be evaluated, in an attempt to further improve overall survival.