Journal of pain and symptom management
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialThe Effect of Methylphenidate on Fatigue in Advanced Cancer: An Aggregated N-of-1 Trial.
Fatigue is common in life-limiting cancer. Methylphenidate (MPH), a psychostimulant, may be a useful therapy. Gathering evidence in patients with advanced cancer can be challenging. ⋯ MPH does not improve fatigue in the population of patients with end-stage cancer. Aggregated N-of-1 trial methodology is feasible and produces population-based sample estimates with less than half the sample size required for the equivalent parallel-group RCT. It also identified individuals who did and did not respond to MPH, which is a feature difficult to achieve in a standard RCT. The study was registered with the Australian Clinical Trials Registry (12609000794202).
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialImproving Adherence to Cancer Treatment by Addressing Quality of Life in Patients with Advanced Gastrointestinal Cancers.
Many patients with potentially curable cancer do not complete their prescribed treatment regimens because of the toxicity. There is evidence that the common endpoints of many of these toxicities are amenable to quality of life (QOL)-directed interventions. ⋯ A structured multidisciplinary QOL-directed intervention delivered to patients undergoing CR may increase the proportion of patients who complete CR as planned and reduce unplanned hospitalizations. Utilization is an important outcome in QOL-directed intervention trials.