Active study: undetected prevalence and clinical inertia in the treatment of breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP).

AIMS: To prove if there is clinical inertia in the identification and treatment of episodes of breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP), comparing actual results from clinical practice with clinical oncologists' prior perception. DESIGN: Observational and descriptive study, using information collected by practising medical oncologists, at three moments: (a) questionnaire regarding their professional judgement of the handling of patients with BTcP in their practice, (b) cross-sectional clinical screening, to detect possible existing cases of BTcP in a representative sample of their patients, (c) retrospective self-audit of clinical case histories of patients diagnosed with BTcP to find out about how it has been handled. PARTICIPANTS AND STUDY PERIOD: A random sample on a state level of 108 specialists in medical oncology. 540 patients who suffer some type of cancer pain on the designated study date for each specialist (July-December 2016). RESULTS: The global prevalence of BTcP in the study sample covered 91.3% of the patients who were suffering some type of cancer pain. Barely 2% of the doctors surveyed suspected figures around this mark. 40.9% of the cases had not been previously detected as BTcP by their doctors. Although 90% of the patients who had previously been diagnosed with BTcP received a specific analgesic treatment for the symptoms, 42% of those patients with known BTcP were not able to control their episodes of pain. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical inertia is a serious problem in the handling of BTcP in medical oncology services, where it is the subject of a significantly low level of detection and treatment, despite the contrasting perception of specialists.

Cardiac metastasis from uterine leiomyosarcoma.

Cardiac metastases are more frequent than primary heart neoplasias. Nearly any malignant tumour may metastasize to the heart, but the most common are carcinomas rather than sarcomas. We report the case of a patient who presented with heart metastasis 6 years after resection of an uterine leiomyosarcoma. The patient died thirty months after surgical resection without evidence of cardiac recurrence. Although cardiac metastases from uterine leiomyosarcoma are exceptional, they should be suspected in the presence of suggestive symptoms, since they can be associated with long survival after surgical treatment.

[Cardiotoxicity induced by 5-fluorouracil. Review of the literature]. / Cardiotoxicidad inducida por 5-fluorouracilo. Revisión de la literatura.

5-fluorouracil is potentially cardiotoxic to man. To date, 47 patients have been reported with undesired heart disorders after the administration of this cytotoxic drug. The incidence of cardiotoxicity due to 5-FU is 1.6%. Angina-type precordial pain with electrocardiographic changes suggesting myocardial ischemia is the common clinical feature. Generally it disappears spontaneously or after the use of coronary vasodilators. Acute left ventricular failure, pericarditis and rythm disorders are not often found. The pathogenesis is unknown however, cardiac spasm as well as the direct or indirect effect of the drug on myocardium, are possible responsible mechanisms.