Symptom clusters and experiences of patients with cancer

Abstract

Symptom cluster research is still in its early years. Further work is needed to reach a standard definition of a symptom cluster and a consensus of its criteria. Additional studies are needed to examine symptom clusters in cancer survivors. As individuals are living longer with the disease, comprehensive understanding of the symptom clusters that may be unique to cancer survivors is critical.

The Relation between the Severity of Pain and Common Symptoms in Patients with Metastatic Cancer

“…Lack of appetite occurred in 76% of our patients with an average ESAS score of 5. This is not far from that reported by Karabulut et al 26 , where 88% reported loss of appetite and Nayak et al who described loss of appetite in 89% of patients 27 . On the other hand, it is higher than that reported in a review by Teunissen et al where lack of appetite occurred in 53% of patients 28 .…”

Utility, Caller, and Patient Profile of a Novel Chemotherapy Telephone Helpline Service Within a Regional Cancer Centre in Northern Ireland

“…Although such symptoms may have differing etiologies, they can influence each other. 17 Therefore, identifying such clusters is necessary to aid the development and testing of interventions to manage such clusters. a All calls made to the CTH were given 1 action.…”

Anxiety and Symptom Assessment in Turkish Gynecologic Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy

“…Among the severe symptoms were loss of appetite, fatigue, sadness, dry mouth and distress; however, 48% rated these as moderate or severe (Karabulu et al, 2010). Sun et al (2005); assessed 70 patients with ovarian cancer undergoing chemotherapy for primary or recurrent disease (Sun et al, 2005).…”

“…Considering the variety of medical and psychological problems in cancer patients, the significance of symptoms control and evaluation is underlined in many sources (Karabulu et al, 2010;Molassiotis et al, 2010;Yeşilbakan and Okgün, 2010;Shoemaker et al, 2011;Rezky et al, 2011). Therefore; this research was conducted to determine their levels of symptoms and anxiety in gynecologic cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.…”