Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Quality of life in palliative cancer care: results from a cluster randomized trial.
To assess the impact of comprehensive palliative care on patients' quality of life. The intervention was based on cooperation between a palliative medicine unit and the community service and was compared with conventional care. ⋯ A general program of palliative care may be important to ensure flexibility and to meet the needs of terminally ill patients. However, to achieve improvements on a group level of the various dimensions of quality of life, specific interventions directed toward specific symptoms or problems may have to be defined, evaluated, and included in the program.
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Two prominent and timely issues in lung cancer screening are discussed in this article. First, findings from extended mortality follow-up of participants enrolled as part of the Mayo Lung Project are reviewed. ⋯ Given the absence of lung cancer mortality data for spiral CT, it is concluded that such activities should not be advocated at this point in time. The Lung Screening Study, an ongoing randomized controlled trial of lung cancer screening with spiral CT, also is described.
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Comparative Study
Quality-of-life outcomes after primary androgen deprivation therapy: results from the Prostate Cancer Outcomes Study.
To compare health-related quality-of-life outcomes after primary androgen deprivation (AD) therapy with orchiectomy versus luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists for patients with prostate cancer. ⋯ Most endocrine-related health outcomes are similar after surgical versus medical primary hormonal therapy. Stage at diagnosis had little effect on outcomes. These results provide representative information comparing surgical and medical AD therapy that may be used by physicians and patients to inform treatment decisions.