PurposeTo determine the prevalence of cancer-related fatigue syndrome (CRFS) in a population of disease-free breast cancer survivors and to investigate the relationship between CRFS and clinical variables.Patients and methodsWomen (200) were recruited. All participants were between 3 months and 2 years after completion of primary therapy for breast cancer and were disease free. Subjects completed a diagnostic interview for CRFS and structured psychiatric interview. Participants also completed quality of life, mood and fatigue questionnaires, and provided a blood sample for haematological and biochemical analysis and a 24-h urine specimen for cortisol estimation. Subjects wore a wrist actigraph for 7 days to measure activity and sleep.ResultsSixty women (30% of participants) were found to fulfil the criteria for CRFS. There were statistically significant differences between fatigued and non-fatigued women with respect to fatigue severity (p < 0.01), mood (p < 0.01) and quality of life scores (p < 0.05). There were significant differences in blood variables including raised total white cell count and lower sodium (all p < 0.02). There was no difference in the 24 h urinary free cortisol levels. Actigraphic data demonstrated significant differences in sleep quality and disturbance, but not in overall levels of daytime activity or circadian rhythm.ConclusionCRFS affects 30% of women after breast cancer treatment and has significant effects on quality of life and mood. There is some evidence that CRFS is related to sleep disturbance or to a persistent inflammatory or immune response.

Although cases of anxiety and depression postbreast cancer can be reliably identified using a structured psychiatric interview, such interviews are time consuming for both practitioner and patient and effective screening tools would increase detection rates. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Edinburgh Depression Scale (EDS) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in screening for depression and anxiety in a population of breast cancer survivors. For this purpose, The Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders was administered to 200 breast cancer survivors to identify those suffering from an anxiety and/or depressive disorder. All study participants also completed the EDS and the HADS. Using the recommended cut-off score of [12 to screen for depression, the sensitivity and specificity of the EDS were found to be 72 and 90%, respectively. Lowering the cut-off score to [9 resulted in a sensitivity of 94% and a specificity of 78%. At the recommended cut-off score of [10, the HADS had a sensitivity of 50% and a specificity of 97% for depression, and a sensitivity of 71% and a specificity of 86% when screening for anxiety. A HADS total score (HADS-T) of [13 and an EDS of [9 had sensitivities of 96 and 91% and specificities of 74 and 84%, respectively, in screening for anxiety and/or depression. In conclusion, the study demonstrated that both the EDS and HADS can be used reliably as screening tests for anxiety and depression in this cohort. In both cases, a lower cut-off score than normally recommended delivers optimal screening properties.

The BFS and FACT-F cutoff scores can be used to identify breast cancer survivors at higher risk of clinically significant ongoing post treatment fatigue. Neither scale can be used as a diagnostic instrument for CRFS.

The primary aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of applying diagnostic criteria for cancer-related fatigue syndrome (CRFS) in patients with advanced cancer. A secondary aim was to assess the use of screening instruments for fatigue and depression in this population. Patients with advanced cancer (n=16) were interviewed using the Diagnostic Interview for CRFS and a semi-structured psychiatric interview. Subjects also completed the Bi-dimensional Fatigue Scale (BFS) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) as screening instruments. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders was 50% (8/16). The EPDS was found to have a sensitivity of 67% and a specificity of 100% for detecting depression. The prevalence of clinically significant fatigue symptoms was 62.5% (10/16). The BFS was found to have a sensitivity of 70% and a specificity of 64% for detecting clinically significant fatigue. The prevalence of CRFS was 12.5% (2/16).

This study is an analysis of variables associated with women who meet the criteria for after completion of successful primary treatment for breast cancer. This analysis was conducted to identify factors independently associated with cancer related fatigue syndrome using a combined dataset from two non-overlapping studies conducted on similar populations. Participants who were clinically (and radiologically) disease-free, between 3 months and 2 years after treatment, were recruited from a single centre. A diagnostic interview was conducted to ascertain whether they met the criteria for cancer related fatigue syndrome. We analysed a number of treatment, laboratory and questionnaire variables between groups. Those that were significantly different were entered into a logistic model. A total of 278 subjects (105 cases of cancer related fatigue syndrome and 173 controls who did not meet the criteria) were analysed. A number of questionnaire responses were significantly different including all of the European Organisation for the Research and Treatment of Cancer core 30 item quality of life questionnaire (EORTC QLQ c30) and Breast questionnaire 23 item subgroup scores. 11 variables were entered into the final model and 5 were independently associated with cancer related fatigue syndrome: Hospital anxiety and depression scale score, EORTC pain and insomnia scales, breast systemic side effects and plasma sodium. There was, however, no association with demographic or treatment variables. As a conclusion, cancer related fatigue syndrome after treatment is linked with sub-clinical mood pain and subjective sleep disturbance and with the side effects of systemic treatment. This study is unable to determine whether these associations are causal, but they provide a potential target for interventions to manage the symptoms of cancer related fatigue syndrome.

Background The germ cell supranetwork multidisciplinary team (SMDT) for the Anglian Network covers a population of 7.5 million. Methods We reviewed 10 years of SMDT discussion and categorised them into five domains ((1) overall outcome, (2) chemotherapy regimens—untreated disease and salvage therapy, (3) radiology, (4) pathology and (5) complex cases) to assess the impact of the SMDT. Results A total of 2892 new cases were reviewed. In the first 5 years, patients with good prognosis disease had poorer survival in low-volume vs high-volume centres (87.8 vs 95.3, p = 0.02), but the difference was no longer significant in the last 5 years (93.3 vs 95.1, p = 0.30). Radiology review of 3206 scans led to rejection of the diagnosis of progression in 26 cases and a further 10 cases were down-staged. There were 790 pathology reviews by two specialised uropathologists, which lead to changes in 75 cases. 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18FDG) PET-CT was undertaken during this time period but did not help to predict who would have viable cancer. A total of 26 patients with significant mental health issues who were unable to give informed consent were discussed. Conclusion SMDT working has led to an improvement in outcomes and refining of treatment in patients with germ cell tumours.

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