Assessment of quality of life of cancer patients in a tertiary care hospital of South India.

BACKGROUND: Quality of Life (QOL) measures have now become a vital part of health outcome appraisal and an effective way of capturing the personal and social context of patients. AIM: To assess the QOL of cancer patients by using a validated questionnaire. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A prospective study in the medical oncology clinic of a tertiary care hospital of South India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients receiving chemotherapy for different types of cancer were subjected to a validated questionnaire and their responses to the factors of the questionnaire were scored and analyzed. A Chi-square test was performed to assess the effect of age and type of cancer on the QOL of patients. Pearson's correlation was done to assess the factors that had greater influence on the QOL. RESULTS: A total of 32 (15 males; 17 females) patients were included and majority were in the age range of 61-80 years. Eleven types of cancer were identified. About 56% of the patients were assessed to have average QOL and 28% had below average QOL, 9% had above average, and 2 (6.25%) had significantly high QOL. The overall mean QOL score of the study population was 122.38 ± 13.86. Factors 1 (psychological well-being), 2 (self-adequacy), 3 (physical wellbeing), 4 (confidence in self-ability), 6 (pain), 7 (mobility), and 8 (optimism and belief) had significant influence on the QOL, while factors 5 (external support), 9 (interpersonal relationship), and 10 (self-sufficiency and independence) did not have a significant effect on QOL. Age (P=0.396) and type of cancer (P=0.371) did not have a significant effect on the QOL. CONCLUSION: The study showed that 80% of the total study population reported to have average and below average QOL, suggesting that an increasing importance is given to the incorporation of Quality of Life as an outcome, in addition to other clinical endpoints.

The impact of the World Health Organization classification and clonality assessment of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders on disease management.

CONTEXT: The World Health Organization classification of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders divides them into 4 main categories. OBJECTIVE: To classify cases of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders diagnosed in our institution according to the World Health Organization scheme and correlate the classification and clonality with clinical data. DESIGN: Cases of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders were reviewed. They were classified according to the World Health Organization scheme. Clonality was determined by flow cytometry and/or polymerase chain reaction. Patients' charts were reviewed. RESULTS: Thirty-one cases were identified. Median age was 33 years. There were 19 cases of kidney, 8 cases of liver, and 4 cases of bone marrow transplant. Immunosuppression consisted of cyclosporin A and prednisone (N = 24) or FK506 and prednisone (N = 7). Twenty cases (63%) were World Health Organization type 3, 7 cases (23%) type 2, 3 cases (6.4%) type 1, and 1 case type 4 posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder. Ten patients received chemotherapy, 20 patients had reduction of immunosuppression, and 1 had no treatment. Follow-up was available on 25 patients. Seven (43.75%) of 16 with type 3 lesions with available follow-up died of their disease. Five of these patients received reduction of immunosuppression alone. Only 2 of 9 patients with type 3 disease who received chemotherapy died of disease. Two patients with type 2 disease died of unrelated causes. One patient is alive with disease; the remaining patients with types 1 and 2 disease are alive with no disease. CONCLUSIONS: The World Health Organization classification of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders is valuable in the identification of subtypes. It helps identify early lesions (1 and 2) requiring reduction of immunosuppression and type 3 disease, which requires chemotherapy from the outset.

Adjuvant chemotherapy in 780 patients with early breast cancer: 10-year data from Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: By and large, data about adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer in the Middle East are lacking. Retrospective analysis of prospectively captured data from a main referral center in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) may shed some light on the clinicopathological features and survival of patients offered adjuvant chemotherapy in a similar population in that part of the world. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data on patients with invasive breast cancer (Stages I to IIIA) seen between 1992 and the end of 2001 and who received adjuvant chemotherapy were analyzed. A total of 780 patients were considered eligible and constitute the basis of this report. RESULTS: The median age +/- SD of the 780 patients was 42 +/- 9.6 yr. The majority of patients were younger than 50 yr (78%) and premenopausal (83%). Ten percent, 69%, and 21% of patients had Stage I, II, and IIIA, respectively. Patients expressed relatively high prevalence of adverse clinicopathological characteristics. Most patients (523 patients, 67%) received anthracyclines-containing adjuvant chemotherapy, 610 patients (78%) received adjuvant radiotherapy, and 296 (38%) received adjuvant tamoxifen. At a median follow-up of 42 mo (95% CI, 38.1-62.8 mo), the median overall (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were not reached; however, the 5-yr actuarial survival was estimated as 74% and 59%, respectively. Cox proportional regression hazard model identified positive axillary nodal status, and positive vascular invasion are the only variables that influenced OS adversely. The model also distinguished the same variables plus negative estrogen receptor status as covariates with negative effect on DFS. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, this series of 780 predominantly young patients with breast cancer receiving adjuvant chemotherapy highlighted the disease patterns and survival outcome in the KSA. The current series is significant being one of the few reports about adjuvant chemotherapy experience in a developing country and certainly the first from that part of the world.

VIP (etoposide, ifosfamide, cisplatin) in adult patients with recurrent or refractory Ewing sarcoma family of tumors.

Despite the fact that Ewing sarcoma family of tumors (ET) is chemosensitive, long-term survival is extremely rare for patients with primary refractory or recurrent disease. There is no standard salvage chemotherapy regimen available in this context. In this study the authors reviewed their experience with the combination of etoposide, ifosfamide, and cisplatin in adult patients with recurrent or refractory disease. From February 1997 through December 2001, they evaluated the efficacy of etoposide (75 mg/m2/day for 5 days), ifosfamide (1,200 mg/m2/day for 5 days), and cisplatin (20 mg/m2/day for 5 days) combination chemotherapy (VIP regimen), as second-line salvage therapy in 27 patients with recurrent or refractory ET. All patients were evaluated for response, time to progression, and overall survival. Twenty-one male and 6 female patients with recurrent (n = 14) and refractory (n = 13) disease were treated with the VIP regimen. Median age was 18 years (range, 16-34 years). Twenty-two patients were previously treated with vincristine, Adriamycin, ifosfamide, and actinomycin-D; and 5 patients were treated with cyclophosphamide, Adriamycin, and vincristine. Sites of recurrent or progressive disease included local (n = 3), distant (n = 11), and both local and distant (n = 13). A total of 129 cycles of VIP were given (median, 5 cycles/patient; range, 1-14 cycles/patient). One patient (4%) had a complete response (CR) and 8 patients (30%) had a partial response (PR), for an overall response rate of 34%. The median number of cycles given to patients with CR + PR was 6 (range, 3-14 cycles). Nine patients (33%) had stable disease and 9 (33%) had disease progression. Median time to progression and median overall survival were 6.6 months and 8.1 months respectively for all patients, and 12.8 months and 14.2 months respectively for responders. There were no toxic deaths. Major toxicities included grade IV granulocytopenia in 19 patients and grades III/IV thrombocytopenia in 15 patients. At a median follow-up of 8 months (range, 2-56 months), 24 patients died of disease progression, 2 patients are alive with disease, and 1 patient is alive with no evidence of disease. The authors conclude that the VIP combination is active in patients with recurrent/refractory ET, with acceptable toxicity, and offers good palliation. Cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy merits further investigation, possibly as first-line treatment in this disease.

Phase II trial of cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil, and interferon-alpha-2B as first line treatment of advanced urothelial cancer.

Cisplatin based combination chemotherapy remains the mainstay for treatment of advanced urothelial cancer. The combination of 5-fluorouracil and interferon has been found to be effective second line treatment of advanced urothelial cancer. Hence, we tested the combination of cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil and interferon as first line therapy in advanced urothelial cancer. Eligible patients had to have no prior chemotherapy or interferon. Treatment consisted of cisplatin 80 mg/m(2) on day one, followed by 5-fluorouracil 750 mg/m(2) as a daily infusion for 5 days and interferon alpha 2 B 5 MU/m(2) subcutaneously daily on day 1-5 of 5-fluorouracil infusion. Cycles repeated every 21 days. Eighteen patients, of which sixteen were males were enrolled. Median age was 60 years. All patients had transitional-cell carcinoma. The median number of cycles given was 4. Thirteen patients were evaluable for response. Two patients achieved CR and 3 PR for an overall response rate of 28% (95% confidence interval 7% to 49%). Median response duration was 8.3 months. Median survival was 5.5 months. Four patients died secondary to chemotherapy toxicities. Those were GI perforation in one, bronchopneumonia in one, acute renal failure in one and one patient died at home 3 weeks following the third cycle. The above regimen demonstrates excessive toxicity and moderate activity. It cannot be recommended in its present format. Novel anti-cancer agents need to explored.

A pilot trial of combination cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil and interferon-alpha in the treatment of advanced esophageal carcinoma.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Based on the synergistic effect between cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and between 5-FU and interferon-alpha, we conducted a trial to assess the response rate and toxicity of the combination of cisplatin, 5-FU and interferon-alpha in patients with advanced esophageal cancer. METHODS: Patients with locally advanced or metastatic squamous cell or adenocarcinoma of the esophagus were eligible. No prior chemotherapy or interferon were allowed. Patients received cisplatin 80 mg/m(2) on day 1, 5-FU 750 mg/m(2)/day by continuous intravenous infusion for 5 days, and interferon-alpha 5 x 10(6) units/m(2)/day by subcutaneous injection on days 1-5 of each cycle. Cycles were repeated every 21 days for a total of 6 cycles. RESULTS: Forty patients were enrolled. Median age was 57.5 years (range 30-70). 33 had squamous carcinoma and 7 adenocarcinoma; 15 were male; the locoregional metastatic ratio was 1:39; median ECOG performance status was 2 (range 1-3). Grade 3-4 toxicities were: leukopenia (9 cases), thrombocytopenia (4), electrolyte imbalance (11), febrile neutropenia (11), vomiting (5), diarrhea (4), and mucositis (11). There were 3 early deaths, most probably related to therapy. Five patients (13%) achieved a complete response and 17 (42%) achieved a partial response, yielding an overall response rate of 55%. Response rates for squamous and adeno histology were 61% and 29%, respectively. Median survival was 6.4 months. CONCLUSION: The combination of cisplatin, 5-FU and interferon-alpha produces a high response rate in advanced squamous cell esophageal carcinoma, but with considerable toxicity. A modified combination of the above agents is presently being evaluated at our institution.