[The role of pharmacists involved in drug therapy for home-care patients with the end-stage cancer].

Recently, a medical care function has become differentiated from medical system's perspectives, and accordingly the number of home-care patients has been increasing. Pharmacists working at drug stores not only prescribe drugs for home-care patients but also visit them at home to help them learn how to properly take their medications and to have correct dosages. To do this, drug store pharmacists have begun sharing information on their patients through care conferences attended with doctors at clinics and nurses at visiting nursing stations. In the present study with regard to the administration of medications for patients in the end-stage cancer, we described how pharmacists provided information on prescribed drugs to the wives and daughters of these patients. This report highlighted the issues surrounding these cases.

Adjuvant therapy for breast cancer in Kyushu.

BACKGROUND: There is lack of information on the present status of adjuvant therapy for breast cancer in Kyushu. Therefore, the Kyushu Breast Cancer Study Group (KBC-SG) started registering newly diagnosed breast cancer patients who were to receive adjuvant therapy. METHODS: During a period from 2001 to 2003, institutions participating in KBC-SG registered new patients who underwent curative surgical treatment for breast cancer to the registration office. One year later, the office sent them inquiries to gather any missing information. RESULTS: A total of 2284 patients were registered from 49 institutions. The mean age was 55, ranging from 30 to 93 years, and 46% had stage I disease. Estrogen and/or progesterone receptor was positive in 71% by immunoperoxidase staining, and HER2 was expressed in 297 (33%) of 906 patients. Twenty percent of the patients underwent adjuvant radiation therapy with or without antineoplastic agents. Overall, 98% received hormonal and/or cytotoxic agents. Anthracycline-containing regimens were given to 628 of 1285 (49%) patients with chemotherapy, while 360 (28%) received oral 5-fluorouracil derivatives with or without oral cyclophosphamide. CONCLUSIONS: Anthracycline combination chemotherapy was commonly used as adjuvant therapy, but there were over a quarter of patients only given oral 5-FU derivatives, which might not be recommended by worldwide consensus. Adjuvant radiation therapy was also given to only 20% of the patients in Kyushu, which might be fewer than the report by the Japanese Breast Cancer Society. Based on these data, the KBC-SG will continue cooperative studies to improve the quality of adjuvant treatment for early breast cancer.