nutrition in cancer pain

The basis of any complementary therapy should be the recommendation of a healthy lifestyle (diet, nutrition, exercise, stress-reduction), and appropriate self-help techniques (e. g. thermotherapy, herbal OTC-products) aimed at releasing the patients' most debilitating symptoms. For therapy-resistant or strong symptoms, more invasive interventions or medical treatments with an acceptable evidence base can be used (e. g. acupuncture for cancer pain, herbal prescriptions). The effects of any complementary intervention should be controlled for a period of six weeks after its administration...

BACKGROUND: Higher survival rates for breast cancer patients have led to concerns in dealing with short- and long-term side effects. The most common complications are impairment of shoulder functions, pain, lymphedema, and dysesthesia of the injured arm; psychological consequences concern: emotional distress, anxiety, and depression, thereby, deeply impacting/affecting daily living activity, and health-related quality of life. OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic review for assessing the efficacy or effectiveness of interventions aiming at improving health-related quality of life, return to daily activity, and correct lifestyles among breast cancer patients...

We describe the characteristics of patients attending an Australian tertiary multidisciplinary pain service and identify areas for nutrition interventions. This cross-sectional study targets patients experiencing chronic pain who attended the service between June-December 2014. Self-reported data was captured from: (1) an Electronic Persistent Pain Outcomes Collaboration (ePPOC) referral questionnaire, incorporating demographics, pain status, and mental health; (2) a Pain Assessment and Recovery Plan (PARP), which documents patients' perceived problems associated with pain and personal treatment goals...

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the cancers with poorest prognosis and represents the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Western countries. Despite advances in diagnostic procedures and treatment, diagnosis is made in most cases when the disease is locally advanced or metastatic. Supportive care aims to improve symptoms, reduce hospital admission rates, and preserve quality of life. Proper symptomatic management is critical to allow administration of chemotherapy and radiotherapy...

Malignant bowel obstruction (MBO) occurs in between 3% and 15% of patients with cancer, and portends a poor mean survival of four weeks for patients who are not able to undergo operative intervention. Surgical interventions may be fraught with complications since these patients typically have compromised nutritional status and progressive metastatic disease burden, with tumor type and degree of aggressiveness affecting outcomes. MBO is a dynamic and difficult process to treat, with adequate pain control being limited by unpredictable enteral absorption and need for prolonged parenteral analgesia (given limited enteral access) with its inherent risks...

Many studies examining the quality of life of stoma patients utilize questionnaires that have not been validated specifically for these patients in their native language. Owing to the large and increasing prevalence of intestinal stomas, a cross-sectional study was conducted among patients of a stoma patient health care service in Juiz de Fora, Brazil between September 2014 and August 2015 to validate the Stoma Quality of Life (Stoma-QoL) questionnaire in Portuguese (Brazilian variant). In addition, the effect of sociodemographic, clinical, and eating habit variables on the quality of life of people with a colostomy or ileostomy was assessed...

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BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Oral mucositis and esophagitis are common acute toxicities of radiotherapy (RT) for head and neck cancer (HNC). In order to decrease the rates of these toxicities, we compared quality of life in HNC patients that did and did not receive a glutamine and arginine-enriched solution (GAES) during RT. METHODS: A total of 29 patients received intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT); 15 used GAES b.i.d. during the treatment, and a matched cohort of 14 patients did not...

BACKGROUND: Effective and reliable venous access is one of the cornerstones of modern medical therapy in oncology. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a prospective observational study, which collected data of patients who require "PORT" catheter insertion for any cancer, at a tertiary care oncology hospital in Ahmadabad, Gujarat, India, during a 2-year period. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The main objective of this study was to study the various complications and outcomes related to "PORT" catheters...

BACKGROUND: Alvimopan is used in abdominal surgery to reduce postoperative ileus in patients undergoing small bowel resections with primary anastomosis. The role and efficacy of alvimopan in patients undergoing radical cystectomy with urinary diversion is not well understood. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of alvimopan in the context of enhanced recovery pathways compared to enhanced recovery pathways alone for perioperative bowel dysfunction in patients undergoing radical cystectomy...

Dwarf elder ( Sambucus ebulus L) is one of the best known medicinal herbs since ancient times. In view of its benefits as a widely applicable phytomedicine, it is still used in folk medicine of different parts of the world. In addition to its nutritional values, dwarf elder contains different phytochemicals among which flavonoids and lectins are responsible for most of its therapeutic effects. Dwarf elder has been used for different ailments including: joint pains, cold, wounds, and infections. Nevertheless, recent evidence has revealed its potentials for making attempts at treating cancer and metabolic disorders...

BACKGROUND: Patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer can have significant dysphagia. Nutritional support during neoadjuvant therapy is often delivered via nasoenteric or percutaneous feeding tubes. These approaches do not allow for per-oral feeding. AIMS: Evaluate the safety and efficacy of fully covered self-expanding metal esophageal stents for nutritional support during neoadjuvant therapy. METHODS: This was a pilot, prospective study at a single tertiary center...

INTRODUCTION: A multidisciplinary approach in the management of complex malignancies is becoming more common, and likewise, adopting such an approach to the care of patients with locally advanced esophageal is recommended in order to optimize clinical outcomes. METHODS: In this review, we discuss both the surgical and medical oncology perspectives in the management of patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer. We review the data supporting the current standard-of-care approach, namely trimodality therapy with neoadjuvant chemo-radiotherapy followed by surgery...

Multiple myeloma accounts for 1.6% of all cancer cases and approximately 10% of hematologic malignancies in the United States. In 2015, an estimated 28,850 new cases of multiple myeloma were diagnosed in the United States, and the disease caused more than 11,000 deaths. Patients older than 65 years account for 85% of those diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and there is a twofold increased incidence in blacks compared with whites. Patients may present with bone pain or with symptoms that are often nonspecific, such as nausea, vomiting, malaise, weakness, recurrent infections, and weight loss...

Medical case management has improved in the past few decades, changing the dynamic interaction between depression and prevalent medical diseases. It is relevant to describe the comorbidity between depression and medical diseases to further improve the effectiveness of case management. We analyzed the data of adults aged 20 years and older, who completed depression screening as a part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2005 to 2012. Depression was ascertained using the Patient Health Questionnaire, a 9-item screening instrument asking about the frequency of depression symptoms over the past 2 weeks...

PURPOSE: Randomized trials have shown that honey is effective for the prevention of radiation-induced mucositis in head and neck cancer patients. Because there is no efficacious preventative for radiation esophagitis in lung cancer patients, this trial compared liquid honey, honey lozenges, and standard supportive care for radiation esophagitis. METHODS: The patients were stratified by percentage of esophagus receiving specific radiation dose (V60 Gy esophagus <30% or ≥30%) and were then randomized between supportive care, 10 mL of liquid manuka honey 4 times a day, and 2 lozenges (10 mL of dehydrated manuka honey) 4 times a day during concurrent chemotherapy and radiation therapy...

Oral mucositis is a common and often debilitating complication among cancer patients receiving radiation therapy to the head and neck or chemotherapy agents, or undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Pain and decreased oral function associated with oral mucositis may persist long after the conclusion of therapy. Although most patients respond to conservative management, a subset of patients develops intractable pain with severe consequences. For some, the use of total parenteral nutrition with insertion of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy feeding tubes is the only alternative...

Objective: To explore the clinical application value of prognostic nutritional index(PNI) for predicting overall survival(OS) in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: 123 patients with histologically confirmed non-small cell lung cancer were enrolled in this study, and their clinical and laboratory data were reviewed. The PNI was calculated as 10×serum albumin value+ 5×total lymphocyte countin peripheral blood.Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify the potential prognostic factors for advanced NSCLC...

141 Background: Cancer patients experience significant symptom and psychosocial burden (Temel JS, et. al. N Engl J Med. 2010 Aug 19; 363(8):733-42. Early palliative care for patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer.). Integration of supportive oncology programs within cancer centers has developed since the findings of Temel and Jackson. Addressing a growing need to manage patients comprehensively, the Northwell Health Divisions of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine and Hematology and Oncology partnered to initiate a community-based supportive oncology program...

146 Background: Emotional distress and poor symptom management are highly prevalent among patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). A high disease burden can further negatively impact these patients' quality of life. To address the evolving survivorship needs in their trajectory from initial diagnosis of advanced disease to end-of-life care, patients with MBC require prompt assessment, reevaluation, and specialized support services. Limited survivorship resources are devoted to this patient population and greater attention to their needs is warranted...