Depressive phenomena and physical symptom distress among women with breast cancer and their impact on women's quality of life

Breast cancer accounts for about 30% of cancer deaths in women in developed countries and about 15% in developing countries. Breast cancer commonly produces depressive symptoms and physical symptoms distress which have a direct and profound impact in all aspects of quality of life. Therefore the study aimed to assess the nature and scope of depressive phenomena and physical symptoms distress in women after breast cancer diagnosis, to determine the relationship between depressive symptoms and physical symptom distress among breast cancer women, examine the relation of depression as well as physical symptom distress of patient's quality of life. A descriptive correlation design was used on the study sample which consisted of 50 female patients and 50 women who haven't cancer as a control group in total. The study was conducted at outpatient breast cancer clinic, at Assiut University Hospital. Socio- demographic data sheet was developed and used by the investigator in addition to quality of life questionnaire for women with advanced breast cancer which included four domains mobility impairment, GIT toxicity, bone pain and fatigue, Beck Depression Inventory Scale [BDI] and symptoms Distress Scale [SDS]. Results revealed that, depression is a common response to breast cancer in both its early and late stages. Most of breast cancer women suffer from moderate to sever symptom distress, there was a significant relation between depression and symptom distress and they had direct and indirect impact on quality of life among breast cancer women. It was recommended that, an educational training program should be provided to women with breast cancer to foster their potential rehabilitation and improve their quality of life

Evaluation of the efficacy of concurrent cisplatin and radiotherapy in locally advanced head and neck cancer

Thirty-six patients with locally advanced unresectable head and neck squamous cell carcinoma were included in this study. All patients received radiotherapy by cobalt60 machine. They received 70 Gy to the tumor area in 35 fractions for 7 weeks and 50 Gy to the uninvolved cervical and supraclavicular LN in 25 fractions for 5 weeks duration [cisplatin]. Concurrent cisplatin [CDDP] was infused in 3 hours and 1/2 hour before radiotherapy. The dose of CDDP was 20 mg/m2 from day 1 to 5, day 22 to 26 and day 43 to 47. The patients were evaluated for response at three weeks after the completion of irradiation and every month for six months, then every three months. The assessment of the response to treatment showed that the overall response was 75% [61% complete remission [CR] and 14% partial remission [PR]]. Six patients showed a stationary course and three patients showed disease progression. Acute toxicity was tolerable and no treatment interruption occurred. The most frequent toxicity was vomiting GI in 21 patients, stomatitis GII in 17 patients and dryness of the mouth GII in 23 patients. Finally, the results of concurrent radio- and chemotherapy were encouraging and a large number of patients and a long time follow up are needed to assess the improvement in survival

Induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy in the management of locally advanced cancer larynx

This study was performed on 24 patients aiming to determine the efficiency and toxicity of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy. They received three cycles of platinol, leucovorin and 5-flurouracil, followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy using cisplatin 20 mg/m2 weekly. After induction therapy only, 2 patients showed a complete clinical response, while 18 patients showed a partial response and 4 remained with progressive disease. After completion of chemoradiotherapy, 85% of the patients showed a complete remission clinically, endoscopically and by histopathological study, while 4 patients showed a partial response and underwent palliative laryngectomy