Efficacy and safety of fentanyl patch in cancer patients from the active treatment period to the terminal stage

Telling the truth to the terminal-stage cancer patients differs socio-culturally based on the priorities assigned to patients’ autonomy and the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence. After conducting in-depth interviews with 108 terminal-stage adult cancer patients, 306 family members, and 25 physicians, in private and public hospitals in both rural and urban areas, in the state of West Bengal, India it has been found that even though 85.60% of the patients prefer full disclosure, only 22.03% are actually informed. Though demographic characteristics, like age, gender, education etc., have marginal influences over the pattern of truth-telling, the main factor behind non-disclosure is the family members’ preference for principles of beneficence and non-maleficence over patient autonomy. Hence, only 9.32% of those 118 patients’ family members have agreed to full disclosure. Physicians comply with this culture of non-disclosure as family, in India, is the centre of decision-making and acts as the primary unit of care.

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Efficacy and safety of 5 mg olanzapine for nausea and vomiting management in cancer patients receiving carboplatin: integrated study of three prospective multicenter phase II trials

BMC Cancer ◽

10.1186/s12885-021-08572-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Senri Yamamoto ◽

Hirotoshi Iihara ◽

Ryuji Uozumi ◽

Hitoshi Kawazoe ◽

Kazuki Tanaka ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Logistic Regression ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Phase Ii ◽

Low Dose ◽

Nausea And Vomiting ◽

Efficacy And Safety ◽

Multivariable Logistic Regression ◽

Related Risk ◽

Total Control

Abstract Background The efficacy of olanzapine as an antiemetic agent in cancer chemotherapy has been demonstrated. However, few high-quality reports are available on the evaluation of olanzapine’s efficacy and safety at a low dose of 5 mg among patients treated with carboplatin regimens. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the efficacy and safety of 5 mg olanzapine for managing nausea and vomiting in cancer patients receiving carboplatin regimens and identified patient-related risk factors for carboplatin regimen-induced nausea and vomiting treated with 5 mg olanzapine. Methods Data were pooled for 140 patients from three multicenter, prospective, single-arm, open-label phase II studies evaluating the efficacy and safety of olanzapine for managing nausea and vomiting induced by carboplatin-based chemotherapy. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the patient-related risk factors. Results Regarding the endpoints of carboplatin regimen-induced nausea and vomiting control, the complete response, complete control, and total control rates during the overall study period were 87.9, 86.4, and 72.9%, respectively. No treatment-related adverse events of grade 3 or higher were observed. The multivariable logistic regression models revealed that only younger age was significantly associated with an increased risk of non-total control. Surprisingly, there was no significant difference in CINV control between the patients treated with or without neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist. Conclusions The findings suggest that antiemetic regimens containing low-dose (5 mg) olanzapine could be effective and safe for patients receiving carboplatin-based chemotherapy.

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