British journal of cancer
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British journal of cancer · May 2005
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical TrialZoledronic acid significantly improves pain scores and quality of life in breast cancer patients with bone metastases: a randomised, crossover study of community vs hospital bisphosphonate administration.
Patients with bone metastases from breast cancer often experience substantial skeletal complications -- including debilitating bone pain -- which negatively affect quality of life. Zoledronic acid (4 mg) has been demonstrated to reduce significantly the risk of skeletal complications in these patients and is administered via a short, 15-min infusion every 3 weeks, allowing the possibility for home administration. This study compared the efficacy and safety of zoledronic acid administered in the community setting vs the hospital setting in breast cancer patients with > or =1 bone metastasis receiving hormonal therapy. ⋯ Furthermore, physical, role, and social functioning showed significantly greater improvements after treatment in the community setting compared with the hospital crossover setting (P=0.018, 0.001, and 0.026, respectively). There was no difference between hospital and community administration in renal or other toxicity, with zoledronic acid being well tolerated in both treatment settings. These data confirm the safety and quality-of-life benefits of zoledronic acid in breast cancer patients with bone metastases, particularly when administered in the community setting.
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British journal of cancer · May 2005
A modified Inflammatory Bowel Disease questionnaire and the Vaizey Incontinence questionnaire are simple ways to identify patients with significant gastrointestinal symptoms after pelvic radiotherapy.
After radiotherapy for pelvic cancer, chronic gastrointestinal problems may affect quality of life (QOL) in 6-78% of patients. This variation may be due to true differences in outcome in different diseases, and may also represent the inadequacy of the scales used to measure radiotherapy-induced gastrointestinal side effects. The aim of this study was to assess whether outcome measures used for nonmalignant gastrointestinal disease are useful to detect gastrointestinal morbidity after radiotherapy. ⋯ Pearson's correlations for the IBDQ score and small intestine/colon SOMA score was -0.630 (P<0.001), IBDQ and rectum SOMA -0.616 (P<0.001), IBDQ and Vaizey scores -0.599 (P<0.001), Vaizey and small intestine/colon SOMA 0.452 (P<0.001) and Vaizey and rectum SOMA 0.760 (P<0.001). After radiotherapy for a tumour in the pelvis, half of all patients develop gastrointestinal morbidity, which affects their QOL. A modified IBDQ and Vaizey questionnaire are reliable in assessing new gastrointestinal symptoms as well as overall QOL and are much easier to use than LENT SOMA.