Eighteen well motivated patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, who had had at least four hospitalizations during the previous two years, were included in a home-based telemedicine study. A visiting nurse was equipped with a case containing a laptop computer and a number of medical devices, including an electrocardiogram recorder, spirometer, oximeter and blood pressure monitor. It also contained a videoconference camera, for realtime audiovisual connection with the hospital using the patient's TV set. A single ISDN line (128 kbit/s) was installed in each house before the study began. After nine months, there was a decrease in hospitalizations, emergency department visits and use of health services. The patient's disease knowledge and self-management also improved. It seems likely that adopting telemedicine in everyday clinical practice could substantially improve the care of chronically ill patients.
Introduction: In this study, we evaluated the use and the contribution of radiopharmaceuticals to the field of lung neoplasms imaging using positron emission tomography/computed tomography. Methods: We conducted review of the current literature at PubMed/MEDLINE until February 2020. The search language was English. Results: The most widely used radiopharmaceuticals are the following: Experimental/pre-clinical approaches: (18)F-Misonidazole (18F-MISO) under clinical development, D(18)F-Fluoro-Methyl-Tyrosine (18F-FMT), 18F-FAMT (L-[3-18F] (18)F-Fluorothymidine (18F-FLT)), (18)F-Fluoro-Azomycin-Arabinoside (18F-FAZA), (68)Ga-Neomannosylated-Human-Serum-Albumin (68Ga-MSA) (23), (68)Ga-Tetraazacyclododecane (68Ga-DOTA) (as theranostic agent), (11)C-Methionine (11C-MET), 18F-FPDOPA, ανβ3 integrin, 68Ga-RGD2, 64Cu-DOTA-RGD, 18F-Alfatide, Folate Radio tracers, and immuno-positron emission tomography radiopharmaceutical agents. Clinically approved procedures/radiopharmaceuticals agents: (18)F-Fluoro-Deoxy-Glucose (18F-FDG), (18)F-sodium fluoride (18F-NaF) (bone metastases), and (68)Ga-Tetraazacyclododecane (68Ga-DOTA). The quantitative determination and the change in radiopharmaceutical uptake parameters such as standard uptake value, metabolic tumor volume, total lesion glycolysis, FAZA tumor to muscle ratio, standard uptake value tumor to liver ratio, standard uptake value tumor to spleen ratio, standard uptake value maximum ratio, and the degree of hypoxia have prognostic and predictive (concerning the therapeutic outcome) value. They have been associated with the assessment of overall survival and disease free survival. With the positron emission tomography/computed tomography radiopharmaceuticals, the sensitivity and the specificity of the method have increased. Conclusion: In terms of lung cancer, positron emission tomography/computed tomography may have clinical application and utility (a) in personalizing treatment, (b) as a biomarker for the estimation of overall survival, disease free survival, and (c) apply a cost-effective patient approach because it reveals focuses of the disease, which are not found with the other imaging methods.
Background: Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer related death worldwide. The increasing number of new lung cancer cases and the emergence of new, high cost, therapeutic approaches have increased the total cost of its treatment. As Greece is under economic crisis, cost of treatment is crucial for the decision of therapeutic approach. In this study we evaluate the cost of two different therapeutic choices, erlotinib and docetaxel, in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer in the second line setting. Methods: We reviewed the medical files of patients from the Oncology unit of the 3 rd Internal medicine department of "Sotiria" General Hospital of Chest Diseases that received 2 nd line treatment for NSCLC, from May 2009 till August 2013. 62 patients were treated with docetaxel and 52 patients were treated with erlotinib. We evaluated the efficacy of the choices and then calculated the direct medical cost. For docetaxel we used the price of the cheapest generic. Results: The Median Progression Free Survival in the 2 nd line setting was for erlotinib 2.76 months and for docetaxel 2.20 months. The total medical cost of erlotinib and docetaxel were €5,897.7 (1,365.6-25,332.2, standard deviation 5,053.56) and €3,192.6 (658.2-9,174.4, standard deviation 2,122.1) respectively. The monthly cost of erlotinib and docetaxel were €2,452.1 and €2,179.4 respectively. No statistically significant differences were observed in the results. The cost of erlotinib is higher than that of docetaxel, but this difference is counterbalanced by the high cost of treatment of the adverse events due to the use of docetaxel. Conclusions: There is no statistically significant difference between erlotinib and docetaxel in the 2 nd line setting, neither for the efficacy nor for the cost. Both choices are acceptable regimens. The choice of the therapeutic agent should take into account the advantages and disadvantages of an oral and intravenous treatment, the different safety profile of the two drugs and of course patient preference. Legal entity responsible for the study:
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.