Psychological impact of Covid-19 pandemic on oncological patients: A survey in Northern Italy.

The psychological impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on cancer patients, a population at higher risk of fatal consequences if infected, has been only rarely evaluated. This study was conducted at the Departments of Oncology of four hospitals located in the Verona area in Italy to investigate the psychological consequences of the pandemic on cancer patients under active anticancer treatments. A 13-item ad hoc questionnaire to evaluate the psychological status of patients before and during the pandemic was administered to 474 consecutive subjects in the time frame between April 27th and June 7th 2020. Among the 13 questions, 7 were considered appropriate to elaborate an Emotional Vulnerability Index (EVI) that allows to separate the population in two groups (low versus high emotional vulnerability) according to observed median values. During the emergency period, the feeling of high vulnerability was found in 246 patients (53%) and was significantly associated with the following clinical variables: female gender, being under chemotherapy treatment, age ≤ 65 years. Compared to the pre-pandemic phase, the feeling of vulnerability was increased in 41 patients (9%), remained stably high in 196 (42%) and, surprisingly, was reduced in 10 patients (2%). Overall, in a population characterized by an high level of emotional vulnerability the pandemic had a marginal impact and only a small proportion of patients reported an increase of their emotional vulnerability.

Weekly Taxotere and cisplatin with continuous-infusion 5-fluoruracil for the treatment of advanced gastric and esophageal cancer: a prospective, observational, single-institution experience.

The combination of Taxotere (docetaxel), cisplatin, and prolonged-infusion 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) has emerged as an active treatment for advanced gastric cancer. However, the regimen proposed by van Cutsem et al. (J Clin Oncol 24:4991-7, 2006) is associated with significant toxicity and therefore alternative schedules are needed. In the present study, patients with advanced gastric or esophageal cancer received Taxotere 35 mg/m(2) and cisplatin 25 mg/m(2) on day 1, followed by 5-FU 180 mg/m(2)/day as a 7-day prolonged infusion. Drugs were given weekly for 3 consecutive weeks followed by 1 week's rest. Cycles were repeated every 4 weeks. Overall, a total of 110 cycles were administered to 27 patients (median age 63 years, range 40-78 years). The median number of cycles per patient was 4 (range 2-6). Nine partial responses were obtained, resulting in an overall response rate of 33% [95% confidence interval (CI) 16-51], a median time to progression of 6.4 months (95% CI 5.4-7.4), and a median overall survival of 10.7 months (95% CI 6.6-14.8). Toxicity was mild; grade III-IV neutropenia was the most frequently observed side effect, in 9 administered cycles (8%); neutropenia was complicated by fever in 2 cycles. Other grade III-IV toxicities observed in >5% of patients were anemia and mucositis.