Health professionals’ perceptions of colorectal cancer patients’ treatment burden and their supportive work to ameliorate the burden

Abstract Background. Support is pivotal for patients in managing colorectal cancer treatment, as they might be overwhelmed by the burden of treatment. There is scarce knowledge regarding health professionals’ perceptions of colorectal cancer patients’ burdens and supportive needs. The study aims to describe health professionals’ perspectives on treatment burden among patients receiving curative surgical treatment for colorectal cancer during the hospital stay and how they support patients to ameliorate the burden.Methods: This study has a descriptive and explorative qualitative design, using semi-structured interviews with nine health professionals recruited from a gastrointestinal-surgery ward at a university hospital in Norway. Data were analysed by using systematic text condensation. Results: Data analysis identified the themes “capturing patients’ burdens of colorectal cancer treatment” and “health professionals’ support to ameliorate the burden”. Patients with colorectal cancer had to face burdens related to a challenging emotional situation, treatment complications and side effects, and an extensive need for information. A trusting patient-carer relationship was therefore perceived as the essence of health professionals’ support. Health professionals focused their support on safeguarding patients, motivating patients to self-manage, and involving family and peers as supporters. Patients’ journey characteristics and illness severity challenged health professionals’ supportive work. Conclusion: Support from health professionals includes providing patients emotional support and relevant treatment-related information and motivating patients for early post-surgical mobilisation. Health professionals should be aware of identifying colorectal cancer patients’ information needs according to the specific treatment stages, which may ameliorate the burden of colorectal cancer treatment and enable patients to self-manage.

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Health professionals’ perceptions of colorectal cancer patients’ treatment burden and their supportive work to ameliorate the burden - a qualitative study

10.21203/rs.2.10688/v1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Anne Marie Lunde Husebø ◽

Bjørg Karlsen ◽

Sissel I. Eikeland Husebø

Keyword(s):

Colorectal Cancer ◽

Cancer Treatment ◽

Hospital Stay ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Specific Treatment ◽

University Hospital ◽

Treatment Burden ◽

Colorectal Cancer Patients ◽

Colorectal Cancer Treatment

Abstract Background Support is pivotal for patients in managing colorectal cancer treatment, as they might be overwhelmed by the burden of treatment. There is scarce knowledge regarding health professionals’ perceptions of colorectal cancer patients’ burden in the treatment trajectory during the hospital stay and their views on supportive factors that may ameliorate the burden. Aim The aim of the study was to describe how health professionals perceive aspects of the treatment burden among patients receiving curative surgical treatment for colorectal cancer during the hospital stay and how they support patients to ameliorate the burden. Methods This study has an explorative, qualitative design, using semi-structured interviews with nine health professionals recruited from a university hospital. Data were systematised and coded by systematic text condensation.Results: Data analysis identified the themes “capturing patients’ burdens of colorectal cancer treatment” and “health professionals’ support to ameliorate the burden”. Patients with colorectal cancer had to face burdens related to a challenging emotional situation, treatment complications and side effects, and an extensive need for information. A trusting patient-carer relationship was therefore perceived as the essence of health professionals’ support. Health professionals focused their support on safeguarding patients, motivating patients to self-manage, and involving family and peers as supporters. Patients’ journey characteristics and illness severity challenged health professionals’ supportive work. Conclusion Support from health professionals includes providing patients emotional support and relevant treatment-related information and motivating patients for early post-surgical mobilisation. Health professionals should thus be aware of identifying colorectal cancer patients’ information needs according to the specific treatment stages, which may ameliorate the burden of colorectal cancer treatment and enable patients to self-manage at home.

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Health professionals’ perceptions of colorectal cancer patients’ treatment burden and their supportive work to ameliorate the burden – a qualitative study

BMC Health Services Research ◽

10.1186/s12913-020-05520-y ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Anne Marie Lunde Husebø ◽

Bjørg Karlsen ◽

Sissel Eikeland Husebø

Keyword(s):

Colorectal Cancer ◽

Qualitative Study ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Treatment Burden ◽

Colorectal Cancer Patients

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Pharmacokinetics-based Dose Management of 5-Fluorouracil Clinical Research in Advanced Colorectal Cancer Treatment

Mini-Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry ◽

10.2174/1389557519666191011154923 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 161-167

Author(s):

Rong Deng ◽

Lin Shi ◽

Wei Zhu ◽

Mei Wang ◽

Xin Guan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Colorectal Cancer ◽

Cancer Treatment ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Advanced Colorectal Cancer ◽

Control Group ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Dose Management ◽

Colorectal Cancer Patients ◽

Experimental Group ◽

Colorectal Cancer Treatment

Objective: The study aimed to explore the efficacy of pharmacokinetic-based 5-fluorouracil dose management by plasma concentration test in advanced colorectal cancer treatment. Methods: 153 samples of advanced colorectal cancer patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to a control group and an experimental group. All patients received double-week chemotherapy with 5- fluorouracil (four weeks were used as one period), and chemotherapy duration ranged from 2 to 6 periods. In the first period, all patients were administered with the classic strategy of body surface area (BSA). Results: In the subsequent periods, the control group (77 samples) continued with BSA guided chemotherapy, while the experimental group (76 samples) received pharmacokinetic AUC-based chemotherapy. The efficacy and toxic side effects were assessed during chemotherapy, and survival was recorded in a follow-up. In the AUC experimental group, the rate of diarrhea significantly decreased (37.50% vs. 70.00%, P=0.010), and incidence of oral mucositis reduced (54.17% vs. 82.50%, P=0.014). Compared with the control group, the clinical benefit rate of experimental group was much higher (90.79% vs. 79.22%, P=0.046). Conclusion: There was no significant difference in other 5-fluorouracil related toxic side effect events (nausea, vomiting, hand-foot syndrome) and progression-free survival between the two groups. Pharmacokinetic- based dose management of 5-Fluorouracil reduces the toxicity of chemotherapy and improves long-term efficacy of chemotherapy for advanced colorectal cancer patients.

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Clinical and pathological characteristics of elderly colorectal cancer patients over 70 years old and comparison with patients under 50 years old.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2012.30.15_suppl.e14174 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 30 (15_suppl) ◽

pp. e14174-e14174

Author(s):

Betul Erismis ◽

Nadire Kucukoztas ◽

Samed Rahatli ◽

Selim Yalcin ◽

Omer Dizdar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Colorectal Cancer ◽

Elderly Patients ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Systemic Disease ◽

Performance Status ◽

The Elderly ◽

University Hospital ◽

Individual Treatment ◽

Pathological Characteristics ◽

Colorectal Cancer Patients

e14174 Background: Incidence of colon cancer increases with age and generally is diagnosed at the age of between 60-75. Because of comorbidities in elderly patients who are older 70 years of age, lower doses of adjuvant or metastatic therapy is given them or the other option can be the chemotherapeutics which had less side effects. Methods: We aim to identify clinical and pathological characteristics of elderly colorectal cancer patients over 70 years of age who were followed at Baskent University Hospital and compare with CRC patients under the 50 years of age. Results: 182 CRC patients were assigned to the study who were followed between 1998-2011. We classified the patients into two categories according to the age. 91 participants were over 70 years of age and 91 participants were under 50 years of age. There were no significant differences between two groups for gender and percentage of patients having surgery (p=0.65/0.732). History of having systemic disease was significantly higher in the elderly group (p<0.001). Adjvuvant chemotherapy was given to the 38 (53.5%) patients aged over 70 and 66 (91.7%) patients aged under 50 (p<0.001). We compared the both groups for progression free and overall survival time for all stages. However, there were no statistically significant differences between two groups. Conclusions: Our study confirms that elderly CRC patients get benefit from the adjuvant chemotherapy treatment as the same as patients under 50 years of age. Therefore, physcians should consider about performance status and systemic disease in elderly patients and give an individual treatment to them.

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