RESUMO
We have studied the practical implications and acceptability to patients of pharmacokinetic studies in 34 women receiving anthracyclines for advanced breast cancer. The following parameters were recorded: age, ECOG performance status, psychological state (Rotterdam Symptom Checklist), cytotoxic drug and dose, number of venepunctures for treatment and sampling, and time when the sampling cannula was removed. Immediately after finishing pharmacokinetic sampling, patients completed a questionnaire which revealed that (i) all patients understood sampling was for research, (ii) 35% of patients experienced problems with sampling, (iii) benefits from participation were perceived by 56% of patients. Of 20 patients later questioned after completion of their treatment course, 40% recalled difficulties with blood sampling. Factors identifying in advance those patients who tolerate pharmacokinetic studies poorly were not identified but the number of venepunctures should be minimised. Patients may also perceive benefits from 'non-therapeutic' research.
Assuntos
Neoplasias da Mama/metabolismo , Doxorrubicina/análogos & derivados , Aceitação pelo Paciente de Cuidados de Saúde , Adulto , Idoso , Sangria , Neoplasias da Mama/sangue , Neoplasias da Mama/tratamento farmacológico , Neoplasias da Mama/psicologia , Doxorrubicina/farmacocinética , Feminino , Humanos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Qualidade de VidaAssuntos
Neoplasias/tratamento farmacológico , Cuidados Paliativos/métodos , Neoplasias da Mama/tratamento farmacológico , Feminino , Neoplasias Gastrointestinais/tratamento farmacológico , Neoplasias dos Genitais Femininos/tratamento farmacológico , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/tratamento farmacológico , Masculino , Relações Médico-PacienteRESUMO
By retrospective analysis of 88 patients from the British Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation registry, we investigated the effect of in vivo T-cell depletion in HLA-identical sibling reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) allografts for adult AML by comparing patients who received alemtuzumab with those without alemtuzumab conditioning. Both groups were equivalent for age, sex, karyotype and disease status at transplant. With a median follow-up of 27 months (3-72 months) and 48 months (7-72 months), the 2- and 5-year overall survival, with or without alemtuzumab, is 60 and 60% (P=0.80) and 61 and 53%, respectively (P=0.85). The 2-year non-relapse mortality is 12% with alemtuzumab, and 17% without alemtuzumab (P=0.49). The 2-year relapse rate is 35% with alemtuzumab compared with 19% without alemtuzumab (P=0.28). Grades II-IV acute GVHD occurred in 22% (8/37) without alemtuzumab compared with 14% (7/51) given alemtuzumab (P=0.25). Extensive chronic GVHD occurred in 47% (14/30) not given alemtuzumab compared with 4% (2/45) who were given alemtuzumab (P=0.001). Among evaluable patients, the risk of infections was higher in those treated with alemtuzumab compared with those not treated with alemtuzumab (79 vs 57%, respectively, P=0.02). In conclusion, alemtuzumab has a beneficial effect by reducing chronic GVHD without affecting overall survival. Further studies are warranted before alemtuzumab can be recommended as standard in RIC allografts for AML.
Assuntos
Anticorpos Monoclonais/uso terapêutico , Anticorpos Antineoplásicos/uso terapêutico , Doença Enxerto-Hospedeiro/tratamento farmacológico , Transplante de Células-Tronco Hematopoéticas/métodos , Leucemia Mieloide Aguda/terapia , Condicionamento Pré-Transplante/métodos , Adolescente , Adulto , Idoso , Alemtuzumab , Anticorpos Monoclonais Humanizados , Antineoplásicos/uso terapêutico , Doença Crônica , Avaliação de Medicamentos , Feminino , Transplante de Células-Tronco Hematopoéticas/efeitos adversos , Transplante de Células-Tronco Hematopoéticas/mortalidade , Humanos , Técnicas In Vitro , Leucemia Mieloide Aguda/complicações , Leucemia Mieloide Aguda/mortalidade , Depleção Linfocítica/métodos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Sistema de Registros , Estudos Retrospectivos , Irmãos , Taxa de Sobrevida , Condicionamento Pré-Transplante/mortalidade , Transplante Homólogo , Adulto JovemRESUMO
Disease relapse following an allogeneic transplant remains a major cause of treatment failure, often with a poor outcome. Second allogeneic transplant procedures have been associated with high TRM, especially with myeloablative conditioning. We hypothesized that the use of reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) would decrease the TRM. We performed a retrospective national multicentre analysis of 71 patients receiving a second allogeneic transplant using RIC after disease relapse following an initial allogeneic transplant. The majority of patients had leukaemia/myelodysplasia (MDS) (N=57), nine had lymphoproliferative disorders, two had myeloma and three had myeloproliferative diseases. A total of 25% of patients had unrelated donors. The median follow-up was 906 days from the second allograft. The predicted overall survival (OS) and TRM at 2 years were 28 and 27%, respectively. TRM was significantly lower in those who relapsed late (>11 months) following the first transplant (2 years: 17 vs 38% in early relapses; P=0.03). Two factors were significantly associated with a better survival: late relapse (P=0.014) and chronic GVHD following the second transplant (P=0.014). These data support our hypothesis that the second RIC allograft results in a lower TRM than using MA. A proportion of patients achieved a sustained remission even when relapsing after a previous MA transplant.
Assuntos
Neoplasias Hematológicas/terapia , Transplante de Células-Tronco Hematopoéticas , Recidiva Local de Neoplasia/terapia , Sistema de Registros , Condicionamento Pré-Transplante/métodos , Adolescente , Adulto , Idoso , Criança , Doença Enxerto-Hospedeiro , Humanos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Estudos Retrospectivos , Análise de Sobrevida , Transplante Homólogo , Adulto JovemRESUMO
This study aimed to assess the proportion of patients with advanced breast cancer who report benefit from first-line palliative chemotherapy using a simple global measure of wellbeing and to identify factors predicting benefit. A consecutive series of women with advanced breast cancer undergoing first-line palliative chemotherapy was evaluated. The main outcome measure was patient report of overall wellbeing assessed at post-treatment interview. Physical, psychological and functional status were assessed using the Rotterdam Symptom Checklist (RSCL) on three occasions (pretreatment, at the start of the third cycle and post treatment). It was planned that treatment would be discontinued after six cycles (i.e. 18-24 weeks). One hundred and sixty patients started treatment, of whom 155 were assessable for quality of life. After treatment, 41 (26%) patients reported they felt better, 29 (19%) felt the same and 34 (22%) felt worse than they did before treatment. The other 51 (33%) patients either died or stopped attending the hospital before the post-treatment interview and were assigned as treatment 'failures'. Patients who reported feeling better after treatment had improvements in psychological distress (P < 0.0001), pain (P = 0.01), lack of energy (P = 0.02) and tiredness (P = 0.02), as well as improvement in functional status (P = 0.07). Feeling better was also correlated with disease response (P = 0.03). Feeling worse after treatment or treatment 'failure' was predicted by the pretreatment presence of a dry mouth (P = 0.003) and high levels of psychological distress (P = 0.03). Pretreatment lack of energy (P = 0.01), dry mouth (P = 0.02), presence of liver metastases (P = 0.03) and breathlessness (P = 0.03) predicted treatment 'failures'. The results of this study suggest that first-line palliative chemotherapy for advanced breast cancer confers benefit on a substantial proportion of patients, with about one-quarter feeling better after treatment and nearly a half feeling better or the same some 4-6 months after the start of treatment. Factors identified in this study may assist clinicians in deciding which patients should not be offered treatment, because of high risk of feeling worse or treatment 'failure'. This work now needs to be validated on a further cohort of women receiving chemotherapy for advanced breast cancer.
Assuntos
Antineoplásicos/uso terapêutico , Neoplasias da Mama/tratamento farmacológico , Qualidade de Vida , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Neoplasias da Mama/patologia , Neoplasias da Mama/psicologia , Progressão da Doença , Feminino , Humanos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Estadiamento de Neoplasias , Satisfação do Paciente , Análise de Regressão , Resultado do TratamentoRESUMO
Iododoxorubicin 80 mg m-2 i.v. was given 3 weekly for a maximum of six cycles as first-line chemotherapy to 14 evaluable women with metastatic breast cancer. The response rate was 14% (95% confidence intervals 4-40%); median time to progression was 3.5 months (range 0.7 to > 9.3) and median survival was 10.2 months (range 2.3 to > 20.4). Neutropenia was the main toxicity but was not associated with severe sepsis. Two patients had a significant (> 10%) but asymptomatic fall in cardiac ejection fraction; other toxicities were mild. Plasma pharmacokinetics was studied during the first cycle of treatment. Iododoxorubicin was extensively metabolised to iododoxorubicinol. Neutropenia and thrombocytopenia were both significantly correlated with the area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) for iododoxorubicin and the total AUC for iododoxorubicin and iododoxorubicinol. Quality of life (QOL), evaluated by self-report questionnaire and interview, showed little evidence of benefit in terms of physical symptom relief, level of activity, psychological symptoms or global evaluation of QOL during treatment. Iododoxorubicin is subjectively less toxic than standard anthracyclines, but at the dose and schedule used has limited activity in metastatic breast cancer, possibly because iododoxorubicinol is not clinically active.
Assuntos
Neoplasias da Mama/tratamento farmacológico , Doxorrubicina/análogos & derivados , Adulto , Idoso , Neoplasias da Mama/patologia , Carcinoma Ductal de Mama/tratamento farmacológico , Carcinoma Ductal de Mama/patologia , Carcinoma Lobular/tratamento farmacológico , Carcinoma Lobular/patologia , Doxorrubicina/efeitos adversos , Doxorrubicina/uso terapêutico , Feminino , Humanos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Metástase Neoplásica , Recidiva Local de Neoplasia , Neutropenia/etiologia , Qualidade de Vida , Análise de SobrevidaRESUMO
Studies in animal models of mouse mammary carcinoma have shown that ovine submaxillary mucin, which carries multiple sialyl-Tn (STn) epitopes, is effective in stimulating an immune response and inhibiting tumour growth. In similar studies using carbohydrate antigens, pretreatment with low-dose cyclophosphamide has been shown to be important in modulating the immune response to antigen possibly by inhibiting suppresser T-cell activity. In a clinical trial assessing the efficacy and toxicity of synthetic STn, patients with metastatic breast cancer were randomised to receive 100 micrograms STn linked to keyhole limpet haemocyanin (KLH) with DETOX-B adjuvant given by subcutaneous injection at weeks 0, 2, 5 and 9 with or without low-dose cyclophosphamide (CTX, 300 mg m-2) pretreatment, 3 days before the start of immunotherapy. Patients with responding or stable disease after the first four injections were eligible to receive STn-KLH at 4 week intervals. The main toxicity noted was the development of subcutaneous granulomata at injection sites. Of 23 patients randomised, 18 received four injections, 5 patients having developed progressive disease during the initial 12 week period. Two minor responses were noted in the 18 patients who received four active specific immunotherapy (ASI) injections and a further five patients had stable disease. Six patients continued ASI at 4 week intervals and a partial response was noted in a patient who had previously had stable disease. All patients developed IgG and IgM responses to sialyl-Tn and levels of IgM antibodies were significantly higher in those patients who were pretreated with CTX. Measurable tumour responses have been recorded following ASI with STn-KLH plus DETOX and the immunomodulatory properties of low-dose CTX have been confirmed.