Technology eases migraine pain in the deep brain
Migraine pain sits at the upper end of the typical pain scale
Migraine pain sits at the upper end of the typical pain scale
More than 80 percent of radiation oncologists discuss the impact of cancer treatments on fertility with their patients of childbearing age, which can lead to improved quality of life for young cancer patients who are living much longer after their original diagnosis thanks to modern treatment options, according to a study.
In the past, the clinical focus for young cancer patients was strictly survival. With the success of today
Abiraterone has been approved since September 2011 for men with metastatic prostate cancer that is no longer responsive to hormone therapy and progresses further during or after therapy with the cytostatic drug docetaxel. In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the ‘Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products’ (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether abiraterone offers an added benefit compared with the present standard therapy.
IQWiG finds an indication of a considerable added benefit of abiraterone in patients who are not eligible for further treatment with docetaxel. In contrast, an added benefit is not proven in patients who can still be treated with docetaxel, as the dossier submitted by the drug manufacturer provides inadequate information for this group of patients.
In accordance with the specifications of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), IQWiG separately assessed abiraterone in two groups of patients. The G-BA has specified different appropriate comparator therapies for the two groups.
The ‘best supportive care population’ contains patients who are not eligible for further treatment with docetaxel. The appropriate comparator therapy for this group is palliative treatment with dexamethasone, prednisone, prednisolone or methylprednisolone, as well as ‘best supportive care’.
‘Best supportive care’ means the therapy that provides the patient with the best possible individually optimised supportive treatment to alleviate symptoms (e.g. adequate pain therapy) and improve quality of life.
The ‘docetaxel-retherapy population’ comprises patients who are still eligible for further treatment with docetaxel. The appropriate comparator therapy for this patient population is docetaxel in combination with prednisone or prednisolone.
Indication of increase in survival and delay in consequences of disease
One study (COU-AA-301), which considers patient-relevant outcomes and provides relevant data, was included in the assessment of added benefit in the ‘best supportive care population’. This study compared treatment with abiraterone versus placebo, in each case combined with prednisone and ‘best supportive care’.
IQWiG finds an indication of an added benefit in patients treated with abiraterone: the above study provides indications that abiraterone can prolong survival and delay consequences of prostate cancer, such as fractures or operations due to bone metastases. In addition, the ‘time to pain progression’ was prolonged in study participants receiving abiraterone.
IQWiG classifies the extent of this added benefit as ‘considerable’. The corresponding legal ordinance has specified three grades to determine the extent of added benefit: ‘minor’, ‘considerable’ and ‘major’.
The study data presented on health-related quality of life assessments cannot be used; an added benefit of abiraterone is therefore not proven for this outcome.
The indications of advantages for abiraterone are not accompanied by proof of greater harm.
Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care
Contraceptive use in Spain during the first sexual encounter is similar to other European countries. However, there are some geographical differences between Spanish regions: women in Murcia use contraceptives less (55.8%) whereas women in the Basque Country use them more (76.7%).
Spanish researchers have analysed the prevalence of contraceptive use during the first sexual encounter over the last month in 5,141 sexually active women between the ages of 15 and 49 years through Spain’s 17 autonomous communities.
‘Bearing in mind the individual factors amongst women that determine contraceptive use, living in one autonomous community or another also has an influence,’ as explained to SINC by Dolores Ruiz Mu
A six-year collaboration between two faculty members at the Miller School of Medicine
Blood pressure changes during middle age can seriously affect one
Respiratory movement during radiotherapy makes it difficult to hit the right treatment target and this in turn can lead to an under-dose of radiation to the tumour, or a potentially toxic over-dose to the surrounding healthy tissue. Getting this right is a real challenge for the radiotherapist, but new techniques are helping to deliver the correct dose to the right place.
Dr. Amira Ziou
Studying the role of social stigma in depression for lung cancer patients, researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, have found that depression can be heightened by a lung cancer patient’s sense of social rejection, internalised shame and social isolation. These factors may contribute to depression at rates higher than experienced by patients with other kinds of cancer.
‘To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the relationship of perceived stigma to depressive symptomology in lung cancer patients,’ said study co-author Paul B. Jacobsen, Ph.D., Moffitt’s associate centre director for Population Sciences. ‘Given its strong association with tobacco use, lung cancer is commonly viewed as a preventable disease. Consequently, patients may blame themselves for developing lung cancer and feel stigmatised. Even lung cancer patients who have never smoked often felt – accurately or inaccurately – that they were being blamed for their disease by friends, loved ones and even health care professionals.’
According to study co-author Brian D. Gonzalez, M.A., of Moffitt’s Department of Health Outcomes and Behavior, the aim of the study was to identify psychosocial links for depression among lung cancer patients in order to develop interventions. They also wanted to find out if – beyond other social and demographic factors often taken into account in studies of depression and cancer diagnosis perceived – stigma could account for variability in depressive symptoms in cancer patients.
Participants in the study were those diagnosed with stage II, III or IV non-small cell lung cancer, and data on their depressive symptoms were elicited by questionnaire.
‘We found that 38 percent of those in the survey suffered from depression,’ said Gonzalez. ‘That percentage was similar to other studies documenting depression in lung cancer patients (21 to 44 percent), but we found that greater levels of perceived stigma were related to greater levels of depression. Additionally, greater levels of depression were related to more avoidant coping, poorer social support and more dysfunctional attitudes.’
The researchers also examined rates of social rejection, financial insecurity, internalized shame and social isolation.
‘Documenting this link between stigma and depression is important because it adds further evidence to the growing body of research suggesting a link between illness-related stigma and the symptoms of depression,’ concluded Jacobsen. ‘For example, studies on depression and HIV have found similar links between disease, stigma and depression.’
For Gonzalez, the findings in this study suggest that psychotherapeutic approaches might be useful in alleviating or preventing depression among lung cancer patients.
‘Many approaches to reducing perceived stigma focus on education of the public about lung cancer inaccuracies and stereotypes, and replacing those inaccuracies with facts,’ said Gonzalez. ‘Instead, therapy that focuses on altering the patient’s thoughts and feelings associated with their perceptions of stigma may prove effective in reducing depressive symptoms. For example, emphasising the addictiveness of tobacco products and the deception in tobacco industry advertising could help patients view themselves as being
The use of symptom indices to identify patients with symptoms associated with ovarian cancer who may need further screening is increasing in both the UK and the US in an attempt to promote earlier diagnosis, but they may need to be reassessed in order to help better detect cancer.
Ovarian cancer is a disease which is perceived to rarely produce symptoms until the disease has spread to other organs of the body, allowing the disease to reach an advanced stage before it is caught. Some evidence suggests patient-reported symptoms may help detect the cancer early on, and in fact, the Goff index, which uses questionnaire data, has been reported to be effective in identifying women who are at a low to moderate risk of ovarian cancer. However, symptom assessment may greatly influence index performance.
To determine the effectiveness of the symptom indices, Anita Wey Wey Lim of the Centre for Cancer Prevention, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, at Queen Mary University of London and associates looked at data from 194 women who had recently been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and 268 control subjects who underwent ovarian cancer screenings. The symptom data was assessed through questionnaires, telephone interviews, and general practitioner notes. The sensitivity of the symptoms reported within a few months of the diagnosis was also determined by comparing two 12 month periods (0-11 and 3-14 months before diagnosis).
The researchers found that the results were similar to those found in previous reports on the Goff index and that the sensitivity of the symptoms were stronger in late- vs early-stage disease. The assessment also shows that there is only a slight variation in the symptoms reported by women with early- vs late-stage disease.
The authors note that a strong point in the study comes from a comparison of multiple data sources, which had never been done before. Even so, they write that, ‘The small differences between the three indices indicate that there is little to gain from deriving new symptom indices.’ They also suggest that while a symptom index could advance the diagnosis of ovarian cancer, the benefits of such are greatly overemphasised, given that most symptoms of the disease emerge within three months before diagnosis. They write, ‘At best, a symptom index might advance diagnosis of ovarian cancer by 3 months or more in two-thirds of women. For a more specific index, the sensitivity would be approximately one-third.’
In an accompanying editorial, Patricia Hartge, ScD, at National Cancer Institute’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, and James L. Speyer, MD, from the NYU Langone Cancer Center, write that symptom indices such as the Goff index and two novel indices described in the study are viewed as good for detecting early-stage ovarian cancer with the assumption that an early detection and therapy can achieve a better patient outcome. While this can be true, they caution that these indices were not highly specific and that the screeners found the cancer symptoms close to the time in which the patient was diagnosed. ‘The study design permits no calculation of years of life that might have been saved or lost if screeners actually were used
People who are seriously injured in a car accident are more than 30 per cent more likely to survive at least 48 hours if they are taken directly to a trauma centre than those who are taken first to a non-trauma centre, new research has found.
However, fewer than half of people seriously injured in car accidents in Ontario are taken directly from the scene to a trauma centre. In addition, only half of those taken to the nearest hospital are later transferred to a trauma centre after being assessed and stabilise.
These findings are by Dr. Avery Nathens, trauma director at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.
Ontario has nine Level 1 or Level 11 adult trauma centres. A trauma centre is a hospital with a trauma team that includes specially trained personnel available 24 hours a day, every day, to provide immediate treatment for the most critically injured patients. Higher levels of trauma centres also have the staff and highly sophisticated medical diagnostic equipment to provide specialised emergency care such as neurosurgery and orthopaedics.
Dr. Nathens and his team looked at data from 6,341 car accidents in Ontario from 2002 to 2010. Of those, 45 per cent were transported from the scene to a trauma centre. Of patients who were taken first to a non-trauma centre, only 57 per cent were transferred to a trauma centre.
Patients are taken to non-trauma centres for one of two reasons, Dr. Nathens said. First, the potential severity of their injuries might not be recognised by EMS personnel, so they might be transported to a non-trauma centre if it is the closest hospital. . Second, transport to a trauma centre might take too long, so patients are taken to a non-trauma centre unless air transportation is available.
When patients are taken first to a non-trauma centre, Dr. Nathens said it’s important that the emergency physician recognises the potential severity of their injuries and transfers them to a trauma centre as soon as possible.
Taken together, he said the findings point to the need to make sure all health care workers, especially EMS personnel and Emergency Department physicians, are trained to recognise who needs to be treated at a trauma centre. In addition, the health care system needs the resources to transport those patients quickly, he said.
‘Minutes matter and severely injured patients can’t advocate for themselves so we have the responsibility to ensure that the system works optimally,’ he said.
St. Michael
April 2024
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