Tryptophan, cytokines and anorexia in cancer patients before and after surgical tumor eradication

INTRODUCTION: Head and neck cancer patients are frequently malnourished at the time of diagnosis and prior to the beginning of treatment. Deterioration of the nutritional status results in an increase in chemo radiotherapy related toxicity and this may increase the prolonged treatment time, which has been associated with poor clinical outcome. The present study aims to do nutritional assessment before and after chemo radiotherapy in head and neck cancer patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The present study was undertaken at the Department of Radiation Oncology, Shri Ram Murti Smarak Institute of Medical Sciences, Bareilly. In this study, 50 patients of Head and neck tumours were enrolled and their nutrition was assessed before and after chemoradiotherapy. Nutrition assessment was done using different laboratory parameters like haemoglobin, total leukocyte count, blood urea, serum creatinine and serum bilirubin. Anthropometric parameters used are Body mass index, Skin fold thickness, and Mid-arm circumference. Nutritional risk indicator and PG-SGA score is measured before and after chemoradiotherapy. All the parameters were assessed and analysed using different statistical tests- Chi-square test, Fisher Exact test and paired t test.RESULTS: Haemoglobin decrease was statistically significant during treatment (p less than 0.001) and the decrease in total leukocyte count during treatment was showing trend towards significance (p value-0.056). There was deterioration in other parameters like blood urea, serum creatinine and serum bilirubin but was not statistically significant. Anthropometric parameters- Body mass index, mid-arm circumference and skin fold thickness and percent body fat showed a significant change (p less than 0.00001). Nutritional risk indicator and PG-SGA class has decreased for majority of patients during treatment, the change is statistically significant (p less than 0.00001 and p=0.0251) respectively.CONCLUSION: The nutrition has important role to play in the management of head and neck cancers by chemo radiotherapy. It helps to reduce the complications and improve the tolerance of chemo radiotherapy, thus avoiding treatment breaks which may lead to failure of treatment.

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The potential role of an activity-based guitar program on the anxiety and fulfillment levels of younger relatives of cancer patients: A pilot study

International Journal of Music Education ◽

10.1177/02557614211027316 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 025576142110273

Author(s):

Erkan Sülün ◽

Hüseyin Olgaçer ◽

Hakkı Cengiz Eren

Keyword(s):

Cancer Patients ◽

Trait Anxiety ◽

Potential Role ◽

Rank Test ◽

Satisfaction Scale ◽

Before And After ◽

Signed Rank Test ◽

Total State ◽

Rank Differences

In this study, the authors evaluated the potential role of an activity-based guitar training program on reducing anxiety and providing fulfillment for younger relatives of cancer patients. Ten active members of KHYD (The Society for Relatives of Cancer Patients), between ages 11 and 17 participated in an 8-week guitar education program. The participants filled out two questionnaires before and after their engagement in the 8-week program, one to measure changes in their anxiety levels (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) and the other to measure changes in their general fulfillment levels (Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale). Wilcoxon signed rank test, as well as descriptive statistics were used in the analysis of data. Mean rank differences were observed to be statistically significant with respect to total state and trait anxiety scores; in both cases, the participants’ scores decreased after their engagement in the program. Statistically significant mean rank differences were also observed in the overall MSLSS scores and its “friends” and “environment” sub-dimensions; with respect to these, participants’ scores increased after their engagement in the program. Recommendations for more comprehensive, larger-scale studies are given at the end.

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Physical Comorbidities and Depression in Recent and Long-Term Adult Cancer Survivors: NHANES 2007–2018

Cancers ◽

10.3390/cancers13133368 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (13) ◽

pp. 3368

Author(s):

Dafina Petrova ◽

Andrés Catena ◽

Miguel Rodríguez-Barranco ◽

Daniel Redondo-Sánchez ◽

Eloísa Bayo-Lozano ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cancer Survivors ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Cancer Diagnosis ◽

Depression Symptoms ◽

Depression Risk ◽

Adult Cancer Survivors ◽

Before And After ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

Risk Of Cancer

Many adult cancer patients present one or more physical comorbidities. Besides interfering with treatment and prognosis, physical comorbidities could also increase the already heightened psychological risk of cancer patients. To test this possibility, we investigated the relationship between physical comorbidities with depression symptoms in a sample of 2073 adult cancer survivors drawn from the nationally representative National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (2007–2018) in the U.S. Based on information regarding 16 chronic conditions, the number of comorbidities diagnosed before and after the cancer diagnosis was calculated. The number of comorbidities present at the moment of cancer diagnosis was significantly related to depression risk in recent but not in long-term survivors. Recent survivors who suffered multimorbidity had 3.48 (95% CI 1.26–9.55) times the odds of reporting significant depressive symptoms up to 5 years after the cancer diagnosis. The effect of comorbidities was strongest among survivors of breast cancer. The comorbidities with strongest influence on depression risk were stroke, kidney disease, hypertension, obesity, asthma, and arthritis. Information about comorbidities is usually readily available and could be useful in streamlining depression screening or targeting prevention efforts in cancer patients and survivors. A multidimensional model of the interaction between cancer and other physical comorbidities on mental health is proposed.

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