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  • 1
    ISSN: 1439-099X
    Keywords: Key Words: Prostate cancer ; Radiotherapy ; Elderly patients ; Late toxicity ; Quality of life ; Schlüsselwörter: Prostatakarzinom ; Radiotherapie ; Alter ; Spättoxizität ; Lebensqualität
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Medicine
    Description / Table of Contents: Ziel: Analyse des Krankheitsverlaufs (krankheitsspezifisches Überleben, lokale Tumorkontrolle, Spättoxizität, Lebensqualität) nach kurativer Radiotherapie eines nichtmetastasierten Prostatakarzinoms bei älteren Patienten im Vergleich zu jüngeren. Patienten und Methodik: Aus der Datenbank wurden den 59 über 74 Jahre alten Patienten im Verhältnis 1 : 2 jüngere Patienten zugeordnet, die im gleichen Zeitraum, mit gleichem Tumorstadium, histologischem Differenzierungsgrad, PSA sowie gleicher Vorbehandlung bestrahlt worden waren. Die noch lebenden Patienten wurden schriftlich gebeten, einen validierten Fragebogen zur Lebensqualität (EORTC QLQ-C30) auszufüllen. Die mediane Beobachtungszeit für die älteren und jüngeren Patienten betrug 5,2 bzw. 4,5 Jahre. Ergebnisse: Das Fünf-Jahres-Überleben für die älteren bzw. jüngeren Patienten betrug 66% und 80%. Interkurrente Todesfälle waren im Kollektiv der Älteren häufiger. Krankheitsspezifisches Überleben (78% bzw. 82% nach fünf Jahren), Spättoxizität und Lebensqualität waren in beiden Alterskategorien gleich. Die Rate klinisch bedeutsamer lokaler Tumorprogredienz (15% bzw. 14% innerhalb von fünf Jahren) entspricht Angaben aus der Literatur nach alleiniger hormonablativer Therapie. Schlußfolgerungen: Ein altersspezifischer Unterschied des Krankheitsverlaufs inklusive Spättoxizität und Lebensqualität nach Radiotherapie wurde nicht beobachtet. Eine klinisch relevante lokale Tumorprogredienz nach Bestrahlung wie auch nach hormonablativer Behandlung ist selten. Außer in sehr frühen Stadien (T1 G1–2 M0) ist der Einsatz einer dieser beiden Behandlungen bei älteren Patienten zur Erzielung einer lebenslangen lokalen Tumorfreiheit zu empfehlen.
    Notes: Purpose: To detect a difference in outcome (disease-specific survival, local tumor progression, late toxicity, quality of life) after curative radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer in elderly as compared to younger patients. Patients and Methods: In a retrospective analysis 59 elderly patients (〉 74 years old) were matched 1 : 2 with younger patients from the data base according to tumor stage, grading, pre-treatment PSA values and year of radiotherapy. Surviving patients were contacted to fill in a validated questionnaire for quality of life measurement (EORTC QLQ-C30). Median follow-up for elderly and younger patients was 5.2 and 4.5 years, respectively. Results: Overall survival at 5 years was 66% for the elderly and 80% for younger patients. Intercurrent deaths were observed more frequently in the elderly population. There was no age-specific difference in disease-specific survival (78% vs 82%), late toxicity or quality of life. Clinically meaningful local tumor progression was observed in 15% and 14%, respectively, corresponding to data from the literature following hormonal ablation. Conclusion: There is no obvious difference in outcome including disease-specific survival, late toxicity and quality of life in elderly patients, compared to a matched younger population. A clinically meaningful local tumor progression following radiotherapy or hormonal ablation only is rare. Local radiotherapy or, alternatively, hormonal ablation is recommended to preserve local progression-free survival in elderly patients except for very early stage of disease (i. e. T1 G1–2 M0).
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 2
    ISSN: 1433-7339
    Keywords: Quality of life indicator ; Fatigue and malaise ; Small-cell lung cancer
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Abstract “Fatigue and malaise” (FM) is a frequent, non-specific symptom of cancer patients caused by the disease, its treatment and psychological distress. Since comprehensive quality of life assessment is often not feasible in multicentre clinical trials, short, but clinically relevant, quality of life indicators have to be defined. In a representative subsample of 127 patients in a phase-III randomized small-cell lung cancer trial comparing two different regimens of combination chemotherapy, quality of life was assessed at the beginning of each of the six treatment cycles with a self-rating questionnaire including an early version of the EORTC questionnaire, a mood adjective check list (Bf-S) and a single linear-analogue self-assessment scale (LASA) measuring general well-being. FM, measured with a five-item Likert subscale of the EORTC questionnaire, showed moderate to high intercorrelations with other EORTC subscales assessing disease symptoms, toxicity of treatment, role functioning, personal functioning, restriction of social activity, psychological distress, emotional (Bf-S) and general well-being (LASA). At baseline, FM was one of the most pronounced symptoms. Over the six cycles 43%–31% of the patients complained of moderate to severe fatigue. Over the first two cycles FM tended to decrease, slightly increasing during cycles 3 and 4 and decreasing again before cycle 6. In a multiple regression analysis over the six cycles, 53% of the variance of FM was explained by patient-rated symptoms of disease and toxicity (disease alone: 43%; toxicity alone: 35%). Initial performance status, previous weight loss, treatment arm, cycle number and age predicted the scores of FM over the six cycles. We conclude that, among other disease- and treatment-related scales, FM can be used as a global indicator of quality of life in small-cell lung cancer patients.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 3
    ISSN: 1433-7339
    Keywords: Quality of life ; Breast cancer ; Coping ; Single-item linear-analogue scale ; Validation
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Abstract Subjective well-being is a major aspect of quality of life and is therefore increasingly used as an endpoint in clinical trials. It is influenced to a great extent by the complex process of coping with the disease and its treatment. Assessment of coping is methodologically demanding, especially in large clinical trials. We therefore developed a single-item measure, the Perceived Adjustment to Chronic Illness Scale (PACIS), as an indicator of coping, complementary to other scales related to quality of life. We sought to validate this instrument in a subgroup of 121 Swiss patients participating in the International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG) adjuvant trials. At months 3 and 6 of adjuvant treatment PACIS showed a distinct pattern of highly significant rank correlations with several disease-and treatment-related problem areas from the Herschbach coping inventory (FBBK); 42% of the variance of PACIS at month 3 was explained by the FBBK (P=0.0001). The portion of explained variance was considerably higher for the Italian-(70%) than for the German-speaking (30%) subgroups. Patients who rated more effort to cope with their disease on PACIS indicated more frequent use of 3 of 15 coping strategies in relation to psychological distress. These were “crying and becoming desperate”, “taking tranquillizers and alcohol” and “other people are far worse off”. These three coping strategies may define a high-risk group for poor psychosocial outcome. Patients whose PACIS scores showed that it required less effort to cope tended to use the strategy “seeing a positive side of the problem”. We conclude that PACIS can be used as a global indicator of the coping process in large multicultural clinical trials of adjuvant therapy for breast cancer.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 4
    ISSN: 1433-7339
    Keywords: Key words Tamoxifen ; Cytotoxic treatment ; Cellular immunity ; Breast cancer
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Abstract The effects and interaction of endocrine and cytotoxic adjuvant treatment on measures of cellular immunity were assessed in 41 stage I–II breast cancer patients from International Breast Cancer Study Group trials. Counts of lymphocytes and lymphocyte subsets [(T, T4, T8, B, natural killer (NK) and activated T (AT) cells] were assessed by flow cytometry immediately before adjuvant therapy at baseline and on day 1 of the 3rd cycle. Twenty-two patients received cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil (CMF), 7 CMF and tamoxifen (TAM), and 12 TAM alone. On day 1 of the 3rd cycle the counts of total lymphocytes (P=0.003 ) and all lymphocyte subsets (P〈0.05) except AT cells were significantly lower than baseline in the CMF treatment group. There was no significant change in the CMF+TAM or in the TAM treatment group. The combination of CMF and TAM resulted in less pronounced decrease in lymphocyte and subset counts from baseline to day 1 of the 3rd cycle. It seems possible that there is an interaction between TAM with CMF that affects lymphocyte and lymphocyte subset counts during cytotoxic treatment.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 5
    ISSN: 1433-7339
    Keywords: Key words Hormone-refractory prostate cancer ; Carboplatin ; Prostate-specific antigen ; Palliative endpoints ; Quality of life
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Abstract To assess the efficacy of carboplatin in patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer in terms of response rate and palliation, the Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK) conducted this phase II clinical trial (SAKK 08/91). Carboplatin 400 mg/m2 was administered i.v. every 28 days to 27 patients. The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level was monitored and compared with the clinical response. Tumour response was evaluated according to EORTC criteria. For patients with nonmeasurable disease, response was defined as the absence of progression in any tumour localization, with no increase in PSA and a decrease of at least 2 points in the WHO pain score. Selected aspects of quality of life (QL) and use of analgesics were assessed to describe patients' experience of toxicity and palliation. Only 1 patient with measurable and 2 patients with nonmeasurable disease achieved partial remission or a response according to our criteria. However, 13 of the 27 evaluable patients had some benefit from carboplatin therapy, as indicated by an improvement in performance status, reduction of pain, and stabilization of metastases. There was no clear-cut association between clinical response and PSA level. QL data suggested that carboplatin was relatively well tolerated and confirmed the clinically documented palliation. In particular, from baseline, for at least two consecutive cycles, 7 patients reported either an improvement in pain by 1 point or more on a 4-point scale (≥33%) without an increase in analgesic intake or a decrease by 50% or more in analgesic intake without an increase in pain. With the dose and schedule used in this study, carboplatin had only limited objective activity in advanced prostate cancer, but induced palliation in about half the patients.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 6
    ISSN: 1573-7217
    Keywords: breast cancer ; cellular immunity ; β2-microglobulin ; sIL-2r ; prognosis
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Abstract Objective: The association of known prognostic factors with immune cell counts and β2-microglobulin and soluble IL-2 receptor (sIL-2r) serum levels as markers of activation of the immune system was investigated in breastcancer. Methods: Two hundred thirty five operated stage I and II breast cancer patients to receive adjuvant treatment in IBSCG trials were assessed in a cross-sectional study immediately before the first treatment. Leukocytes, lymphocytes and lymphocyte subset counts, β2-microglobulin and sIL-2r serum levels were assessed as immunological parameters. Prognostic factors were tumor load, receptor status, patient characteristics, and contextual factors of the immune assessment (such as time of the day, time since surgery, type of surgery, concomitant medication, co-morbidity). Results: In an operated early stage breast cancer patient population, tumor load was not associated with immune cell counts, β2-microglobulin, or sIL-2r before adjuvant treatment. There was a pattern of association of prognostically favorable factors such as estrogen receptor (ER) positive tumor and older age with higher NK cell counts or with β2-microglobulin or sIL-2r. In addition, immune cell counts and the markers of activation of the immune system were affected by several contextual factors, such as diurnal variability, time since surgery, type of surgery, and the intake of concomitant medication. Conclusions: The association of NK cell counts and β2-microglobulin or sIL-2r serum levels with prognostically favorable factors such as ER positive tumor and older age supports the assumption that the immune system plays a role in the course of early breast cancer. The exact nature of this role requires furtherstudy.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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