Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer
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Support Care Cancer · Jan 2016
The effects of community-wide dissemination of information on perceptions of palliative care, knowledge about opioids, and sense of security among cancer patients, their families, and the general public.
Prejudices against palliative care are a potential barrier to quality end-of-life care. There have been few large-scale community-wide interventions to distribute appropriate information about palliative care, and no studies have investigated their impact on cancer patients, their families, and the general public. Thus, we conducted a 3-year community intervention and evaluated the effects of distributing such information at the community level, and explored associations among levels of exposure, perceptions, knowledge, and the sense of security achieved. ⋯ Our findings indicate that providing palliative care information via small media and lectures in the community is effective in improving perceptions of palliative care and knowledge about opioids among the community dwellers, especially for caregivers of the patients. The acquisition of adequate knowledge about palliative care from various information sources may improve people's sense of security regarding cancer.
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Support Care Cancer · Jan 2016
Is febrile neutropenia prophylaxis with granulocyte-colony stimulating factors economically justified for adjuvant TC chemotherapy in breast cancer?
Febrile neutropenia (FN) during adjuvant chemotherapy is associated with morbidity, mortality risk, and substantial cost, and subsequent chemotherapy dose reductions may result in poorer outcomes. Patients at high risk of, or who develop FN, often receive prophylaxis with granulocyte colony-stimulating factors (G-CSF). We investigated whether different prophylaxis strategies with G-CSF offered favorable value-for-money. ⋯ Secondary G-CSF is more effective and less costly than a no G-CSF strategy. Primary G-CSF may be justified at higher willingness-to-pay thresholds and/or higher FN risks, but this threshold FN risk appears to be higher than the 20% rate recommended by current clinical guidelines.
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Support Care Cancer · Jan 2016
Presurgical symptom profiles predict quality of life 2 years after surgery in women with breast cancer.
Higher symptom burden in oncology patients is associated with poorer quality of life (QOL). However, the long-term predictive relationship between pre-treatment symptom profiles and QOL is unknown. The aim of this study was to identify subgroups of breast cancer patients based on their presurgical symptom profiles and to examine the predictive effect of group membership on QOL 2 years after surgery. ⋯ Breast cancer patients' presurgical symptom profile had a long-term predictive effect on QOL. Routine assessment of patients' pre-treatment symptom is suggested to identify high risk group.
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Support Care Cancer · Jan 2016
Unplanned oncology admissions within 14 days of non-surgical discharge: a retrospective study.
The aim of this study was to identify the incidence, causes, risk factors and interventions for cancer patients requiring unplanned admissions within 14 days of discharge at a large metropolitan private hospital without a co-located emergency department. ⋯ Cancer patients are at a significant risk of requiring unscheduled care and admission. Strategies and services to limit the burden on patients and the health care system should be reviewed to minimise the incidence of unplanned admission.
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Support Care Cancer · Jan 2016
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyIncidence of bone pain in patients with breast cancer treated with lipegfilgrastim or pegfilgrastim: an integrated analysis from phase II and III studies.
Lipegfilgrastim is a once-per-cycle, fixed-dose, glycoPEGylated recombinant granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) recently approved in Europe to reduce the duration of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia and incidence of febrile neutropenia in patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy. Bone pain-related (BPR) adverse events are commonly associated with G-CSF therapy. This post hoc analysis examined BPR treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) in two comparative studies of lipegfilgrastim or pegfilgrastim in patients receiving chemotherapy. ⋯ Nonsevere BPR TEAEs and TEADRs were observed in patients with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy and G-CSF; rates of BPR events were similar between lipegfilgrastim and pegfilgrastim. The similar BPR safety profile of lipegfilgrastim and pegfilgrastim provides support for use in patients with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy.