Clinical journal of oncology nursing
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This article reviews clinical data on adjuvant trastuzumab (Herceptin, Genentech, Inc.) for patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer. Published articles were searched via PubMed (1985-2009), and abstracts were located from meeting books or search engines of congress Web sites (1994-2009). ⋯ Trastuzumab has a favorable safety profile; levels of cardiac dysfunction were acceptable in all adjuvant trials, and cardiac dysfunction was manageable in most cases. Awareness of the clinical data will help nurses identify patients eligible for adjuvant trastuzumab, familiarize them with treatment and cardiac monitoring plans, and provide them with information to help advise, treat, and support patients from diagnosis through completion of therapy.
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Hair loss (alopecia) from chemotherapy is one of the most feared side effects of many patients, particularly women. Many patients and their healthcare providers believe that cryotherapy can help prevent or mitigate these changes. Scalp cooling has been used for more than 30 years to prevent alopecia caused by chemotherapy, particularly taxanes and anthracyclines. This article presents an overview of the evidence for this strategy, as well as its impact on nursing care provision.
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When Vice President Joe Biden's son, Beau, died of a brain tumor in May 2015, the Vice President's grief was profound. Yet, his grief generated an idea, a big idea: Let's collaborate and focus the talent and resources in our country to eliminate cancer as we know it. ⋯ The goal is to double progress against cancer and break down silos that prevent science and industry from working together. The initiative centers around the development and implementation of new vaccine-based immunotherapies to target individual tumors based on their genomic signature.
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Ongoing diligent patient assessment is the most important step in the equianalgesic conversion process. The conversion must take into account individual patient characteristics such as age, renal function, side effects, and the patient's pain syndrome. In addition, if the opioid dose is not adequate to begin with, the conversion dose is less likely to be effective. ⋯ Nurses play a major role in the assessment of patients receiving opioids for pain management. Inadequate pain management despite escalating doses, untoward side effects, loss of a route of administration, and sometimes cost and reimbursement issues necessitate an opioid conversion or rotation. Nurses also play a role in recommending the change and ensuring that patients receive the correct dose.
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Survival rates for people treated for breast or prostate cancer have increased steadily since 2000, which has been attributed to advances in early detection and improvements in treatments. However, breast and prostate cancer therapies that target estrogen and testosterone production are associated with hormone-deprivation symptoms--most commonly hot flashes--that may have a significant negative impact on quality of life. ⋯ Most of the interventions were rated effectiveness not established or lower; however, two drugs, venlafaxine and gabapentin, were rated likely to be effective. In addition, the placebo effect was noted to produce a high percentage of positive results in mitigating hot flashes.