Intensidad de dosis recibida en el tratamiento quimioterápico del cáncer de mama

Relationship between chemotherapy-induced adverse reactions and health-related quality of life in patients with breast cancer

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Chemotherapy does not only affect cancer cells; it also affects, to a greater or lesser degree, all other cells in the body. This toxicity should be assessed according to its severity, frequency, and duration, taking into account objective and subjective dimensions in its assessment. This assessment is a highly relevant aspect when providing care to chemotherapy patients, mainly due to the impact of the treatment on the patient's quality of life, as well as the vital risk it may imply under certain circumstances. For all this, the objective of this study was to assess the relationship between chemotherapy-associated adverse reactions and health-related quality of life in breast cancer patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

With this purpose, a descriptive cross-sectional study was developed on 110 breast cancer patients who were treated with docetaxel, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide.

RESULTS

It is worth highlighting the negative effect of nausea, dysgeusia, peripheral neuropathy, loss of appetite, myalgia, and peripheral edema on the quality of life. Likewise, it is worth mentioning peripheral neuropathy as the toxicity that affects a greater number of quality-of-life indicators.

CONCLUSIONS

To sum up, it would be necessary to make health professionals aware of the importance of chemotherapy-associated adverse reactions.

Toxicity profile and adherence to the pharmacotherapeutic regimen of gemcitabine-carboplatin in non-small cell lung cancer

OBJECTIVE

To analyse the relationship between doses of gemcitabine-carboplatin (GEM-CARBO) administered and incidence and level of haematological and renal toxicity, and the adherence to the treatment in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

METHODS

Retrospective study which lasted for 37 months. We were able to obtain the minimum set of data needed to carry out the follow-up with the help of Farmis-Oncofarm(®) software and the medical and pharmacotherapeutic records. The haematological toxicity was assessed in accordance with the Common Toxicity Criteria 3.0. Renal toxicity was evaluated using serum creatinine levels and creatinine clearance.

RESULTS

Thirty-one patients were included in the study who were administered a total of 122 cycles. There was a 34.0% and 30.8% incidence of anaemia and grade 3 neutropaenia, respectively. There was also a 3.8% and 7.7% incidence of grade 3 and grade 4 thrombocytopaenia, respectively. No cases of renal toxicity were found. 65.0% of patients received more than 85.0% of the planned theoretical dosage of carboplatin and 58% of patients received more than 85.0% of the planned theoretical dosage of gemcitabine. Administration was delayed in 18.0% of the cycles prescribed.

CONCLUSIONS

The indication and prescription of the GEM-CARBO regimen was adjusted in accordance with solid scientific evidence, but its haematological toxicity limited its use and made it difficult to maintain the dose intensity foreseen in the study. This compromised the effectiveness of the treatment.