The lancet oncology
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The lancet oncology · Jul 2016
ReviewHealth-related quality of life in locally advanced and metastatic breast cancer: methodological and clinical issues in randomised controlled trials.
Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women worldwide, and increasingly, randomised controlled trials of this disease are measuring the health-related quality of life of these patients. In this systematic Review, we assess the adequacy of methods used to report health-related quality of life (HRQOL) from 49 eligible randomised controlled trials of advanced breast cancer. ⋯ We conclude that the overall reporting of HRQOL has improved, but some crucial aspects remain problematic, such as the absence of HRQOL research hypotheses and the overemphasis on statistical rather than clinical significance. Additionally, new challenges are arising with the emergence of novel treatments and the advent of personalised medicine, and improved HRQOL tools are required to cover the range of side-effects of newer therapies.
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The lancet oncology · Jul 2016
ReviewProphylactic cranial irradiation for patients with lung cancer.
The incidence of brain metastases in patients with lung cancer has increased as a result of improved local and systemic control and better diagnosis from advances in brain imaging. Because brain metastases are responsible for life-threatening symptoms and serious impairment of quality of life, resulting in shortened survival, prophylactic cranial irradiation has been proposed in both small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to try to improve incidence of brain metastasis, survival, and eventually quality of life. ⋯ Although prophylactic cranial irradiation is potentially associated with neurocognitive decline, this risk needs to be balanced against the potential benefit in terms of brain metastases incidence and survival. Several strategies to reduce neurotoxicity are being investigated.
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The lancet oncology · Jul 2016
Comparative StudySurvival of European adolescents and young adults diagnosed with cancer in 2000-07: population-based data from EUROCARE-5.
Data from EUROCARE have consistently shown lower survival for adolescents and young adults (AYAs; aged 15-24 years) than for children (0-14 years) for most cancers that affect both groups, and modest survival improvements up to 2000-02. AYAs have longer survival than that of adults for most cancers. We used the latest definition of AYAs (aged 15-39 years) and provided estimates of 5-year relative survival for European AYAs with cancer diagnosed in 2000-07, compared with children and adults (40-69 years) with cancer, and assessed survival improvements over time. ⋯ Italian Ministry of Health, European Commission.