| Breast cancer
Trastuzumab (Herceptin) has emerged as an important treatment for women with HER2-positive breast cancer, a particularly aggressive type of cancer. Several NEJM studies report that trastuzumab given along with or after adjuvant chemotherapy significantly improves survival and prevents cancer recurrence.Trastuzumab can cause heart failure and other heart problems, especially for women with pre-existing heart conditions. Patients who take this drug need to have regular heart check-ups. Aromatase Inhibitors Aromatase inhibitors may be better than tamoxifen in improving survival and preventing recurrence in postmenopausal women with estrogen-sensitive breast cancers. These drugs are less likely to cause blood clots than tamoxifen, but may be more likely to cause osteoporosis, the thin bone condition that can lead to bone fractures.
Nausea during chemo may be worse with psychological problems
In spite of antiemetics, postchemotherapy side effects continue to be common and may affect compliance to cancer treatment. Among the known factors associated with increased symptom severity are: younger age, treatment toxicity, expected severity, and distress, but little is still known about the role of other factors. The aim of our study was to investigate the role of individual differences related to sensory perception for posttreatment side effects. Hundred and twenty-five women receiving adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer completed measures of absorption, autonomic perception, somatosensory amplification, trait anxiety, and expected severity at baseline. Pretreatment distress and posttreatment nausea, vomiting, and fatigue were assessed at the 1st, 4th, 6th and last cycles of chemotherapy.
High-Dose Chemotherapy, Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation Shows ...
HOUSTON, Dec. 13, 2007--High-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation, the controversial, arduous, yet once-popular combination treatment that fell out of favor as a therapy for breast cancer, has proven not to be beneficial as an adjuvant therapy for women with node-positive disease, according to an expansive analysis conducted by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. In a review of 15 randomized high-dose chemotherapy studies conducted around the world between 1988 and 2002, the investigators from M. D. Anderson, in collaboration with the European Blood and Marrow Transplant Group, report that while there was a slight benefit on relapse-free survival, there was no benefit to overall survival. Donald Berry, Ph.D., professor and head of the Division of Quantitative Sciences, presented the findings today at the 30th annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
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