Are breast cancer patients treated with radiotherapy younger now than ten years ago?

AIM: The aim of the present study was to analyze the age of breast cancer patients managed with curative approach at the time of treatment with radiotherapy. BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most frequent neoplasm in women. Little is known with regard to the age of patients at diagnosis, and some authors have suggested that breast cancer is now affecting women who are younger than before. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a descriptive study of our series of breast cancer patients from 1998 to 2011. The age of patients, city of residence, year of treatment and uni- or bilateral location were extracted from the administrative database of the Radiation Oncology Department. The demographical and reference populational data were extracted from the Catalan Institute of Statistics. RESULTS: 3382 patients were obtained. The mean age was 57.79 years. No statistical differences were observed in the mean age during the period of study (p > 0.05), nor in patients with bilateral neoplasias with regard to unilateral tumours (p > 0.5). Patients aged less than 30, 40, 50 and 65 years were 0.3%, 6.3%, 27.0% and 69.1%, respectively. The proportion of patients aged less, equal or more than 40 and 50 years was not statistically different. CONCLUSIONS: Breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant radiotherapy after radical surgery have not experienced significant changes in their mean age at treatment. The subgroups of patients that remain out of the mammographic screening programmes were unchanged as well. The observed differences can be explained by demographical disparities and by a probable increase in the indications for adjuvant radiotherapy.

Mindfulness para la reducción del malestar emocional en pacientes oncológicos. Estudio comparativo con una intervención psicoeducativa estándar / No disponible

Objetivo: Comparar la efectividad de una intervención de Mindfulness (MBSR) versus una intervención psicoeducativa estándar en pacientes oncológicos. Método: La intervención MBSR (grupo experimental) consistió en 10 sesiones semanales de 2,5 horas cada una de ellas y el paciente debía practicar Mindfulness diariamente y durante 45 minutos en su casa y la intervención psicoeducativa (grupo control) consistió en 8 sesiones semanales de 2,5 horas. Participaron 20 y 17 personas, respectivamente. Se recogieron datos basales y se administraron (pretest-postest) los siguientes cuestionarios a los participantes de ambos grupos: STAI (ansiedad-estado y ansiedad-rasgo), BDI (depresión) y EORT-QLQ C-30 (calidad de vida). Resultados: En el grupo experimental resultaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas indicativas de mejoría en todas las medidas (depresión, ansiedad-estado, ansiedad-rasgo y calidad de vida) mientras que en el grupo de control sólo aparecieron en la variable ansiedad-estado. Conclusiones: Los datos de esta investigación indican que el MBSR produce una mejoría importante en el malestar emocional y en la calidad de vida, superior a la que puede lograrse con una intervención psicoeducativa. No obstante, no puede afirmarse que el MBSR deba ser la técnica de elección para todos los casos, pues no está claro que pueda ser seguida por cualquier tipo de paciente, al requerir una alta implicación por parte del mismo (AU)

Purpose: To compare the effectiveness of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) intervention versus a psychoeducational standard intervention in oncological patients. Method: MBSR intervention was applied following a 2’5 h-session schedule, across 10 weekly sessions. Patients (n= 20) had to practice mindfulness daily at home during 45 minutes. In the psychoeducational group (n=17) a schedule of 8 weeekly sessions of 2’5 h each was applied. Following a pre-post design, the following questionnaires were applied to both groups of patients: STAI (to assess both state and trait anxiety), BDI (Depression) and EORTC-QLQ-C-30 (quality of life). Results: In the MBSR group, scores in anxiety and depression decreased at post-treatment assessment whereas quality of life scores increased. These differences reached statistical significance. In the psychoeducational group only state anxiety scores decreased at post-treatment, with the difference reaching statistical significance. Conclusions: MBSR produces higher improvements in emotional states and quality of life than those obtained following a psychoeducational standard procedure. However, itcannot be stated that MBSR must be always the intervention to be applied in all cases, since it is not clear that all patients could follow theguidelines, tasks and exercices required by this technique (AU)