Expression of physical symptoms may vary in frequency and intensity among advanced cancer patients with anxiety and depression. Patients expressing high frequency and intensity of physical symptoms should be screened for mood disorders in order to provide treatment for these conditions. More research is needed.
A vast majority of advanced cancer patients receiving palliative care considered themselves spiritual and religious. Spiritual pain was common and was associated with lower self-perceived religiosity and spiritual quality of life.
Dyspnea in patients with advanced cancer more frequently had breakthrough characteristics, was of very short duration, and interfered with daily activities.
Purpose
Commonly used terms such as “supportive care,” “best supportive care,” “palliative care,” and “hospice care” were rarely and inconsistently defined in the palliative oncology literature. We conducted a systematic review of the literature to further identify concepts and definitions for these terms.
Methods
We searched MEDLINE, PsycInfo, EMBASE, and CINAHL for published peer-reviewed articles from 1948 to 2011 that conceptualized, defined, or examined these terms. Two researchers independently reviewed each citation for inclusion and then extracted the concepts/definitions when available. Dictionaries/textbooks were also searched.
Results
Nine of 32 “SC/BSC,” 25 of 182 “PC,” and 12 of 42 “HC” articles focused on providing a conceptual framework/definition. Common concepts for all three terms were symptom control and quality-of-life for patients with life-limiting illness. “SC” focused more on patients on active treatment compared to other categories (9/9 vs. 8/37) and less often involved interdisciplinary care (4/9 vs. 31/37). In contrast, “HC” focused more on volunteers (6/12 vs. 6/34), bereavement care (9/12 vs. 7/34), and community care (9/12 vs. 6/34). Both “PC” and “SC/BSC” were applicable earlier in the disease trajectory (16/34 vs. 0/9). We found 13, 24, and 17 different definitions for “SC/BSC,” “PC,” and “HC,” respectively. “SC/BSC” was the most variably defined, ranging from symptom management during cancer therapy to survivorship care. Dictionaries/textbooks showed similar findings.
Conclusion
We identified defining concepts for “SC/BSC,” “PC,” and “HC” and developed a preliminary conceptual framework unifying these terms along the continuum of care to help build consensus toward standardized definitions.
Introduction. Overweight women diagnosed with breast cancer have greater recurrence and mortality risks. Recent studies in advanced cancer showed that the combination of sarcopenia and an overweight or obese body mass index (BMI) is associated with poor clinical outcomes.Objectives. To compare pathological complete response (pCR) cases with controls and evaluate associations among a pCR, survival outcome, and sarcopenia as well as the combination of both sarcopenia and a BMI >25 kg/m 2 . Methods. Sixty-seven breast cancer patients with a pCR to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NC) were matched with controls who did not have a pCR to NC. Patients were matched by age, Black's nuclear grading system, clinical cancer stage, and estrogen receptor and progesterone re-
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