Cancer
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This study evaluated the need for surveillance imaging in early-stage classic Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) after planned combined-modality therapy (CMT). ⋯ Surveillance imaging with either CT or PET/CT can be omitted safely for early-stage cHL treated with a combination of doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine and radiation therapy because the risk of relapse is extremely low. This observation also applies to patients with bulky disease. The elimination of surveillance imaging will also reduce healthcare expenses and cumulative radiation doses in these predominantly young patients.
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Health-related quality of life measures are common in oncology research, trials, and practice. Spiritual well-being has emerged as an important aspect of health-related quality of life and the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being; The 12-item Spiritual Well-Being Scale (FACIT-Sp-12) is the most widely used measure of spiritual well-being among those with cancer. However, there is an absence of reference values with which to facilitate the interpretation of scores in research and clinical practice. The objective of the current study was to provide FACIT-Sp-12 reference values from a representative sample of adult cancer survivors. ⋯ These data will aid in the interpretation of the magnitude and meaning of FACIT-Sp-12 scores, and allow for comparisons of scores across studies.
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Multicenter Study
Unrelated cord blood compared with haploidentical grafts in patients with hematological malignancies.
Alternative donors, such as unrelated umbilical cord blood (UCB) and related haploidentical (haplo) donors, are more and more frequently searched for and used for patients who are candidates for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation but are without a suitable related or unrelated donor. The aim of the current retrospective study was to compare the outcome of patients after haplo and UCB grafts prepared using a nonmyeloablative conditioning regimen. ⋯ The results of the current study suggest that for patients with high-risk hematological diseases without a related or unrelated donor, haploidentical transplants are a promising alternative option that deserves further investigation.
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Many patients with incurable cancer inaccurately believe that chemotherapy may cure them. Little is known about how such beliefs affect choices for care at the end of life. This study assessed whether patients with advanced cancer who believed that chemotherapy might offer a cure were more likely to receive chemotherapy in the last month of life and less likely to enroll in hospice care before death. ⋯ An understanding of the purpose of chemotherapy for incurable cancer is a critical aspect of informed consent. Still, advanced cancer patients who were well informed about chemotherapy's goals received late-life chemotherapy at rates similar to those for other patients. An understanding of the incurable nature of cancer, however, is associated with increased hospice enrollment before death, and this suggests important care outcomes beyond chemotherapy use.
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The authors investigated whether residential segregation (the degree to which racial/ethnic groups live separately from one another in a geographic area) 1) was associated with mortality among urban women with breast cancer, 2) explained racial/ethnic disparities in mortality, and 3) whether its association with mortality varied by race/ethnicity. ⋯ Among urban women with breast cancer in Texas, segregation has an independent, adverse association with mortality, and the effect of segregation varies by patient race/ethnicity. The novel application of a small-area measure of relative racial segregation should be examined in other cancer types with documented racial/ethnic disparities across varied geographic areas.