Knowledge Of Cancer Treatment Research Articles

Mise en place de consultations pharmaceutiques d’initiation en oncologie digestive dans un centre hospitalo-universitaire : bilan à un an

IntroductionThe announcement of a cancer diagnosis is traumatic for the patient. In France, an announcement system has been in place, providing medical time for announcement and treatment proposal, nursing time for support, without including the pharmacist. In order to improve management of patients treated with intravenous anticancer drugs, we set up introductory pharmaceutical consultations in digestive oncology. The aims were to assess the situation one year after the introduction of these consultations, and to assess their contribution. MethodsWhen a patient was diagnosed with digestive cancer and receiving intravenous treatment, a pharmaceutical initiation consultation was scheduled. Indicators of activity (number of consultations, average duration, average preparation time and various delays) and results (number and type of pharmaceutical interventions, patient satisfaction) were collected in order to assess activity. ResultsForty-seven pharmaceutical initiation consultations were carried out. The average duration of the consultations was 39.3minutes. Consultations were carried out on average 12.1 days after the medical consultation and 9.6 days before the first chemotherapy treatment. Twenty-nine patients responded to the satisfaction questionnaire. All were satisfied, and the majority of patients said they had improved their knowledge of cancer treatment. DiscussionThis activity enables us to review with patients essential aspects of their care, such as implanting an implantable chamber catheter, anti-cancer treatment and managing potential side effects and improve their self-care skills.

Aspects of Physical and Mental Care for Cancer Patients and Family Caregivers

Cancer, the primary cause of death in Taiwan for 40 years, remains a disease that cannot be completely controlled by modern medicine. Although medical techniques are improving, involving family caregivers in the treatment of patients with cancer is very important to improving treatment outcomes. Family caregivers participate in the treatment process and help ensure treatment compliance and care continuity for patients. Cancer represents a major crisis not only for patients but also for their primary family caregivers. Family members often serve as informal caregivers to patients with cancer while also dealing with the related medical costs and physical and psychological burdens (Seo & Park, 2019). Providing care and support for family members is an extraordinary challenge during the treatment journey. Many family caregivers ignore their own needs and emotions, and focus their full attention on their beloved family members with cancer. However, this situation may impact their health-related quality of life (Abbasi et al., 2020). Cancer patients and family caregivers often have unmet needs related to cancer care, psychosocial health, daily activities, social life, and cancer-treatment knowledge (Tang, 2019; Wang et al., 2018). The important role shouldered by family caregivers is significantly related to their unmet needs and loadings, which may negatively impact their quality of life and care-delivery ability (Abbasi et al., 2020; Mirsoleymani et al., 2017). Therefore, healthcare providers should intervene to reduce both the burden on family caregivers and the indirect, negative impact on the health-related quality of life of care recipients. In light of the above, we have invited four experts in cancer nursing to share articles in this issue on patients and their family caregivers dealing with pancreatic, pediatric, and gynecological cancers as well as on the topic of cancer immunotherapy. We hope professional nurses and medical health caregivers obtain new and useful information from these articles and apply it in clinical practice.

Implementing Patient-Directed Cancer Education Materials Across Nigeria.

PURPOSEAs access to cancer care expands in low-income countries, developing tools to educate patients is paramount. We took a picture booklet, which was initially developed by the nonprofit Global Oncology for Malawi and Rwanda, and adapted it for use in Nigeria. The primary goal was to assess acceptability and provide education. The secondary goals were (1) to describe the collaboration, (2) to assess knowledge gained from the intervention, (3) to assess patient understanding of their therapy intent, and (4) to explore patient's experiences via qualitative analysis.METHODSWe piloted the original English booklet at a single site and requested feedback from patients and providers. The booklet was updated; translated into Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, and Pidgin English; and used at three additional sites. For the three-site cohort, we collected basic demographics, pretest and post-test assessing content in the booklet, and performed a qualitative analysis.RESULTSThe original booklet was widely acceptable and recommended by patients at site one (n = 31) and by providers (N = 26) representing all four sites. In the three-site cohort (n = 103), 94% of patients recommended the booklet. An immediate post-test focusing on when patients should present to care showed a statistically significant improvement in one of the seven questions. Fifty-one percent of the patients (n = 103) knew their treatment intent (curative v palliative). Qualitative analysis highlighted that the patient's thoughts on cancer are dominated by negative associations, although curability and modern therapy are also frequently cited.CONCLUSIONWe adapted an educational booklet to a novel context and had it delivered by local partners. The booklet was widely recommended to future patients. The booklet had an impact on patient's knowledge of cancer treatment, potentially allowing for decreased abandonment.

Abstract 5108: Investigation of how extracellular matrix composition affects pancreatic cancer chemoresistance through the use of biomimetic models

Abstract Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal and malignant type of cancer with few effective treatments. Despite recent advancement in knowledge of cancer treatment, median survival of PDAC patients remains within 2 years, and less than 8% patients live beyond 5 years after diagnosis. The main factor that drives PDAC lethality is the development of chemoresistance in nearly all clinical PDACs. While intrinsic factors that facilitates chemoresistance have been studied extensively, few studies have illustrated how complex and unique microenvironment surrounding the PDAC tumor affects therapeutic responses. Moreover, a physiologically relevant co-culture model of PDAC and stromal cells remained challenging. To address this issue, we have developed a Matrigel-based, orthogonally tunable 3-dimensional (3D) culture system to culture established human PDAC cell lines, cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) cells and mouse model-derived organoids. Individual matrix parameters can be customized to mimic actual tumor matrix composition and mechanical properties. Moreover, we have optimized a co-culture medium to maintain viability of both organoid tumor and cancer associated fibroblasts. Through our 3D culture system, our data suggests that matrix-induced exosome secretion directly facilitate gemcitabine resistance in PDAC cells. By directly increasing stiffness of our 3D culture platform, we have observed that PDAC cells potentially display more invasive phenotype. Moreover, in the co-culture systems, we have seen that CAF cells cultured in different stiffness substrates affect PDAC drug response in organoid cultures. Our investigation provides insight into how matrix composition and stiffness together affect therapeutic outcome in PDAC. We believe that specific therapeutic strategies aimed at targeting the matrix microenvironment will be instrumental in order to overcome matrix-mediated chemoresistance in PDAC. Citation Format: Weikun Xiao, Chae-Young Eun, Charlene Dekalb, Kexin Zhang, Reginald Hill. Investigation of how extracellular matrix composition affects pancreatic cancer chemoresistance through the use of biomimetic models [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 5108.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF MEDICAL STUDENTS ABOUT RADIOTHERAPY AND PALLIATIVE CARE

Objective: To assess the knowledge of undergraduate medical students aboutradiotherapy, cancer and palliative care in cancer. Method: A descriptive study to assess theknowledge of radiotherapy, cancer and palliative care is conducted among undergraduatemedical students of Dow Medical College. 300 students from each batch of fourth and final yearwere assessed for knowledge of radiotherapy, palliative care, cancer knowledge, cancerprevention, students’ visits to radiotherapy units, source of cancer information, teachingprograms of radiotherapy in medical college, choice of career and participation in palliative carecourse during their undergraduate years. Results: 246 questionnaires were returned. 41% ofstudents correctly answered to different questions related to the knowledge about radiotherapy.Data regarding cancer treatment knowledge among students showed an average of 32%. Thegeneral knowledge regarding cancer among the students was present in approximately twothirds(60%) of participants. The knowledge regarding cancer prevention prevailed around36.04%. Conclusions: There is a need to change the perception of palliative care and radiationtherapy among medical students. Teaching of radiotherapy should begin early in theundergraduate curriculum of MBBS, and it should be mandatory for all the students. Oncologyrotations should be constructed where the principles of radiotherapy and palliative care can beconveyed.

Scientific Activity and Needs Among Medical Oncology Units in Sicily: A Survey of The Italian Association of Medical Oncology

In the era of targeted therapies and combined modalities of treatment, scientific research plays a role of paramount importance in improving knowledge of cancer treatment. The aim of this survey was to review the scientific activity of medical oncology units in Sicily and to analyze their needs and possible pitfalls in order to improve future scientific cooperation.The regional section of the Italian Association of medical Oncology (AIOM) approved this survey in November, 2007. A systematic review of scientific activity produced by medical oncology units in Sicily during the last 5 years has been reviewed. Papers dealing with solid tumors reported in the pubmed web site have been included in the analysis. Data were reported as absolute number of published papers and impact factor per medical oncology unit and also as a ratio between global impact factor and the number of personnel working in each single unit to analyze scientific production according to the workforce of each institution.We identified a total of 283 papers reported in pubmed between 2004 and March, 2009. The mean number of publications/unit was 10.9 with a range of 0-50. The mean number of publications/year was 11.7 with a range of 0.2-10. The 15 units included in the impact factor evaluation published 252 papers with a total impact factor of 1014.6 points in 5 years with a mean of 63.4 points per institution and a mean of 4.02 points/paper. However only four medical oncology units reported a cumulative 5-year impact factor ≥100 points.This survey has shown that a minority of medical oncology units in Sicily is constantly involved in clinical research although at different levels of activity. Overall the percentage of patients enrolled in clinical trials is very low. The main reasons for lack of participation in clinical trials include insufficient medical personnel, the absence of a specifically dedicated research unit inside the medical oncology structures and in some cases lack of research experience and of specific interests in this field.