With the shift of a large proportion of cancer chemotherapy recipients to ambulatory care, the role of hospital pharmacists has changed, and their provision of information is essential care for cancer patients. There is little research on pharmacist-patient relations, particularly about pharmacist counselling, in Japan. To meet patients' needs, pharmacist counselling should be optimized. Here, breast cancer patients' preferences for pharmacist counselling were assessed using a discrete choice experiment. Bayesian nonlinear optimal methodology was employed to obtain six attributes (attitude of pharmacist, quality of information, explanation of side effects, frequency of pharmacist counselling before starting chemotherapy, cost of pharmacist counselling, and follow-up with the pharmacist after starting chemotherapy) of two to three levels each. The attributes and levels were used to create 12 hypothetical scenarios that were divided into two questionnaires of six choice sets each. Two hundred eighty participants were randomly assigned to complete one of these questionnaires (blocks). Attributes were analyzed by conditional logit model to determine significant predictors of patient preferences. The responses of 278 patients to 1667 scenarios were analyzed. Attitude of pharmacist, quality of information, cost of pharmacist counselling, and follow-up with the pharmacist after starting chemotherapy were significant predictors of patient preferences, with quality of information receiving the highest priority. Thus patients receiving pharmacist counselling before starting chemotherapy prefer to interact with a pharmacist with a friendly, interested attitude who provides individualized information. Further research is needed to elucidate the information that Japanese patients consider most important and to enhance pharmacist-patient communication.
Bloody nipple discharge is a clue in the detection of ductal carcinoma of the breast that do not display a mass. Since sensitivity of discharge cytology is not sufficiently high and mammary ductendoscopy (MS) contributes to the diagnosis of intraductal lesions. We set out to determine whether the intraductal approach is effective for detection of ductal carcinoma. We performed 445 MS procedure in 323 patients who had nipple discharge but no overt mass. The diagnostic accuracy rates of discharge cytology and intraductal breast biopsy (IDBB) were studied in detecting malignancy. The therapeutic value of IDBB for intraductal papillomas was studied in 73 patients. Out of 323 patients, 80 had breast cancer and 155 had intraductal papilloma. MS detected intraductal tumors in 47 cases (58.8%). IDBB was performed in 35 of these 47 cases. The sensitivity was 37.1% by touch cytology, 68.6% by IDBB, and 82.8% by directed ductal lavage cytology. Of the 73 intraductal papilloma patients who were followed for more than 3 years, the therapeutic effectiveness of IDBB was recognized in 57 (78.1%). Directed ductal lavage cytology was the most sensitive method in detecting malignancy. MS and IDBB were benefit in the treatment of intraductal papilloma.
Although pharmacist counseling assumes an important role in the clinical setting, oncology pharmacy practitioners worldwide currently lack adequate guidance. This study aimed to identify the determinants and causal relationships that affect quality of life (QOL) in breast cancer patients before adjuvant systemic therapy for improving pharmacist counseling and guidance. This study analyzed 93 postoperative patients with breast cancer before pharmacist counseling for adjuvant systemic therapy. Patients were asked to complete questionnaires to assess QOL (the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire C30 [EORTC QLQ-C30] and its breast cancer module [EORTC QLQ-BR23]) before pharmacist counseling. We analyzed factors affecting QOL by stepwise multiple linear regression analysis and evaluated causal association using path analysis. In the multiple linear regression model using variables selected by stepwise analysis, the factors affecting global health status (GHS)/QOL included fatigue, emotional functioning, systemic therapy side effects, future perspectives, and appetite loss. In the path analysis model, GHS/QOL were strongly influenced by fatigue directly; and emotional functioning, directly and indirectly via other factors. Our results indicated that fatigue and emotional functioning are strong factors affecting QOL. These factors may be able to predict poor QOL before initiating adjuvant systemic therapy. Thus, our findings suggest that these factors may be potentially useful for pharmacist counseling at the beginning of adjuvant systemic therapy.
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