Current Issue : July - September Volume : 2017 Issue Number : 3 Articles : 6 Articles
Background: An increasingly older population, improved diagnostics and treatment increase the number of older\ncancer survivors, thus more than 60% of those affected by cancer are over the age of 65. Symptom relief and the\nprevention of functional impairment are important tasks for home care nursing, considering that patients can live a\nlong time with their cancer disease and related side effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to\nwhich cancer patients over the age of 65 reported access to information and counselling from home care nursing\nservices, including those offered by the cancer coordinator.\nMethods: A cross-sectional survey was used. The survey consisted of 174 cancer patients from two regions in\nNorway living at home (101 women; 66ââ?¬â??92 years). The questionnaire contained questions of various sequences\nincluding information and advices given and data on access to and use of home health care services. The questions\nfocused on the extent to which home health care services provided the following: 1) information about the disease\nand treatment, 2) information about consequences and complications of the cancer disease, 3) nutritional advice and\n4) advice on physical activity. Demographic, clinical and organizational variables were used. SPSS program version 22\nwas employed to perform descriptive and inferential statistics including correlation and logistic regression analysis. For\nethical reasons, patients who were dying, delirious or with presence of cognitive impairment (any kind of dementia)\nwere excluded.\nResults: The results showed that a majority (67ââ?¬â??77%) of the respondents reported low levels of information and\ncounselling offered. Low levels represents in this study medium, small and very small degree (Likert scale). Women,\nthose above 85 years of age and patients with a gynecological or hematological cancer diagnosis experienced less\naccess to information and counselling. Respondents facing availability of a cancer coordinator reported significantly\nhigher access to information about the disease and treatment (p = 0.03), nutritional advice (p = 0.04) and advice on\nphysical activity (p = 0.04) compared to those who only had contact with a home health care nurse or home health\ncare assistant.\nConclusions: The results indicated that the availability of a cancer coordinator facilitated personalized information\nand counselling for older cancer patients....
Objective. Assessing the level of anxiety in oncology patients who underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT low dose scan and identifying the\nmain reasons that generate anxiety.Material andMethod.The study included 81 cancer patients submitted to the 18F-FDG PET/CT\nlow dose scan. Patients filled in the Scan Experience Questionnaire and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) before and after\n18F-FDG PET/CT low dose scan. Results. Substantial levels of anxiety were detected both before and after 18F-FDG PET/CT low\ndose scan (STAI mean > 30), with a significant increase in the state of anxiety after scan performance (...
Background: The incidence of head and neck cancer is increasing slightly. Head and neck cancer but also itââ?¬â?¢s\nnecessary and often successful treatment may affect general domains of health-related quality of life and provoke a\nvariety of adverse symptoms and side effects, both during and after treatment. The objective of this study was to\ncompare a person-centred care intervention in terms of health-related quality of life, disease-specific symptoms or\nproblems, with traditional care as a control group for patients with head and neck cancer.\nMethods: In this randomized controlled trial, personââ?¬â??centred-care intervention and traditional care (control) groups\ncomprised 54 and 42 patients, respectively. Outcome measures used were: the EORTC QLQ-C30 and the EORTC\nQLQ-C35. Both groups answered the questionnaires at baseline and after 4, 10, 18 and 52 weeks from start of\ntreatment. The questionnairesââ?¬â?¢ scores were compared between groups by using independent samples test and\nnon-parametric test for continuous variables. For categorical data, Fisherââ?¬â?¢s exact test was used. Longitudinal data\nwere analysed using generalized linear models for normally distributed repeated measures data.\nResults: At baseline, the intervention and control groups were comparable in terms of medical and sociodemographic\nvariables, clinical characteristics, health-related quality of life and disease-specific symptoms or problems. At all the\nfollow-up points, even during the worst period for the patients, the person-centred-care group consistently reported\nbetter scores than the control group. The differences were numerically but not always statistically significant. When\ntesting longitudinal data, statistically significant results were found for head and neck cancer-specific problems,\nswallowing (p = 0.014), social eating (p = 0.048) and feeling ill (p = 0.021).\nConclusions: The results from this study suggest that adopting the person-centred-care concept practiced here could\nbe a way to improve function and wellbeing in patients with head and neck cancer....
Background: Case management has been shown to be beneficial in phases of cancer screening and treatment.\nAfter treatment is completed, patients experience a loss of support due to reduced contact with medical\nprofessionals. Case management has the potential to offer continuity of care and ease re-entry to normal life. We\ntherefore aim to investigate the effect of case management on quality of life in early cancer survivors.\nMethods: Between 06/2010 and 07/2012, we randomized 95 patients who had just completed cancer treatment in\n11 cancer centres in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland. Patients in the case management group met with a case\nmanager at least three times over 12 months. Patient-reported outcomes were assessed after 3, 6 and 12 months\nusing the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT-G) scale, the Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care\n(PACIC) and the Self-Efficacy scale.\nResults: The change in FACT-G over 12 months was significantly greater in the case management group than in\nthe control group (16.2 (SE 2.0) vs. 9.2 (SE 1.5) points, P = 0.006). The PACIC score increased by 0.20 (SE 0.14) in the\ncase management group and decreased by 0.29 (SE 0.12) points in the control group (P = 0.009). Self-Efficacy\nincreased by 3.1 points (SE 0.9) in the case management group and by 0.7 (SE 0.8) points in the control group\n(P = 0.049).\nConclusions: Case management has the potential to improve quality of life, to ease re-entry to normal life and to\naddress needs for continuity of care in early cancer survivors....
Abstract\nBackground: Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is a polycomb-group protein that is involved in stem cell\nrenewal and carcinogenesis. In breast cancer, increased EZH2 expression is associated with aggressiveness and\nhas been suggested to identify normal breast epithelium at increased risk of breast cancer development. However,\nthe association between EZH2 expression in benign breast tissue and breast cancer risk has not previously been\nevaluated in a large prospective cohort.\nMethods: We examined the association between EZH2 protein expression and subsequent breast cancer risk using\nlogistic regression in a nested case-control study of benign breast disease (BBD) and breast cancer within the\nNursesââ?¬â?¢ Health Studies. EZH2 immunohistochemical expression in normal breast epithelium and stroma was\nevaluated by computational image analysis and its association with breast cancer risk was analyzed after adjusting\nfor matching factors between cases and controls, the concomitant BBD diagnosis, and the Ki67 proliferation index.\nResults: Women with a breast biopsy in which more than 20% of normal epithelial cells expressed EZH2 had a\nsignificantly increased risk of developing breast cancer (odds ratio (OR) 2.95, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.11ââ?¬â??7.84)\ncompared to women with less than 10% EZH2 epithelial expression. The risk of developing breast cancer increased\nfor each 5% increase in EZH2 [removed]OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.02ââ?¬â??1.46, p value 0.026). Additionally, women with high\nEZH2 expression and low estrogen receptor (ER) expression had a 4-fold higher risk of breast cancer compared to\nwomen with low EZH2 and low ER [removed]OR 4.02, 95% CI 1.29ââ?¬â??12.59).\nConclusions: These results provide further evidence that EZH2 expression in the normal breast epithelium is\nindependently associated with breast cancer risk and might be used to assist in risk stratification for women with\nbenign breast biopsies....
Palliative care is aimed at people with diseases without perspective of\ncure or terminally, aiming to provide a better quality of life. This study\naims to investigating the discourse of nurses about their understanding\nof palliative care to elderly patient with cancer and identify strategies\nused by nurses to promote palliative care to the elderly cancer\npatient. It is an exploratory research of a qualitative nature, carried\nout with thirteen nurses from a philanthropic institution in the city\nof Jo�£o Pessoa, through a questionnaire. The empirical material was\nsubjected to thematic content analysis, resulting in three categories:\ndesign of nurses to assist the elderly in Palliative Care: promoting\ncomfort and minimizing the suffering, the importance of palliative care\nin humanized care to the elderly with cancer and strategies for the\nPromotion of Care of the Elderly with Cancer. Participants highlighted\nthe palliative care as essential in the humanization of care, ensuring\nthe dignity and quality of life among the elderly with cancer without\npossibilities of cure, adding such assistance, the family....
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