2023 CiteScore: 1.3
pISSN: 2008-3009
eISSN: 2008-2207
Editor-in-Chief:
Ardeshir Ghavamzadeh, MD.
This journal is a member of, and subscribes to the principles of, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Vol 10, No 4 (2016)
Articles
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Background: Social, occupational and emotional adjustment of Oncology nurses were assessed and compared with other nurses in this study.
Subjects and Methods: One hundred nurses including Oncology nurses (n=50) and non-Oncology nurses (n=50) participated in cross-sectional study conducted in Shariati Hospital. Bell's Adjustment Inventory was used to measure social, emotional and occupational adjustment. Survey data were entered into SPSS statistical software, version 18 and the Kruskal-Wallis test was used for data analysis.
Results: The study included nurses from Women’s Internal Medicine ward (14%), Men’s Internal Medicine ward (13%); Midwifery unit (17%), Operating room (15%) and Hematology-Oncology ward (41%). The mean age of the participants was 36.98 ± 8.28 years. In group of Hematology-Oncology nurses, the mean scores for occupational, social and emotional adjustment were 13.23 ± 1.99, 12.47 ± 1.79 and 18.19 ± 2.52, respectively. Data analysis showed that there is a statistically significant difference in the mean score of three areas of adjustment between Oncology nurses and their colleagues working in general wards (p-value=0.002, p-value<0.001, p-value<0.001 for occupational, social and emotional adjustment, respectively).
Conclusion: The results of the study indicated that Oncology nurses had significantly lower social, occupational and emotional adjustment compared with nurses working in other wards. -
Background: Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) are defined as breast cancers with lack of estrogen and progesterone receptors and no overexpression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). This study was performed to determine the frequency and pathologic features of TNBC in Iranian patients.
Subjects and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on patients with breast cancer who referred to Cancer Institute, affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences, from April 2014 to April 2015. Data about the demographics, the status of gene receptors and the pathologic features were extracted from patients’ records.
Results: Of 214 pathology samples of patients with malignant breast cancer, TNBCs account for 14% of cases. The mean age in N-TNBC group was 50 ± 12 years. Significant difference was seen between the age of two groups (p=0.03). No significant difference was observed regarding the number of involved lymph nodes between two groups (p=0.058). Presence of vascular and nerve invasion and involvement of surgical margins at the time of diagnosis were significantly more frequent in TNBC group comparing with N-TNBC. Grade III of histologic and nuclear grading was significantly more common in TNBC.
Conclusion: TNBC group was significantly associated with higher grade, higher mitotic indices and higher rate of P53 positivity and higher level of Ki-67 at the time of diagnosis. High grade breast cancers are more seen in TNBC. The presence of aforementioned characteristics in a patient highlights the need for evaluating TNBC biomarkers to better predict prognosis and consider appropriate treatment. -
Background: Children suffering from cancer always require pain relief and reduce anxiety when undergoing painful procedures. The aim of this study is to compare the effect of pethedine and ketamine administration in cancer-diagnosed children undergoing bone marrow aspiration and biopsy procedures.
Subjects and Methods: A randomized, double-blinded, crossover trial was carried out on 57 children undergoing painful procedures (bone marrow aspiration/biopsy). Patients were randomly assigned in a double-blinded fashion to receive either intravenous pethedine (1 mg/kg/dose) or ketamine (1 mg/kg/dose), respectively. The effectiveness of the drug was measured utilizing three parameters; perception of procedural pain with Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale and Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS), hemodynamic changes and respiration and the frequency of vomiting nausea score.
Results: Additionally, hemodynamic stability and pain control were significantly better in the patients receiving ketamine (p<0.05, at 0, 15, 30 min). Nausea and vomiting were more frequent in Group K than in Group M but there were no significant differences. No serious complications were observed.
Conclusion: This study showed that intravenous ketamine generated a superior clinical effect in decreased pain. Ketamine may also be recommended as a reasonable option before oncology procedures in children suffering from cancer. -
Background: Combination chemotherapy is accepted as a high efficacy treatment for gastric cancer, whereas choice of standard treatment is unclear. Multiple chemotherapeutic regimens have been used to achieve higher efficacy and lower toxicity. This study was designed to evaluate the treatment results of advanced gastric cancer with Capecitabine and Oxaliplatin regimen.
Subjects and Methods: All cases with documented gastric adenocarcinoma and advanced disease were candidates for receiving Xelox regimen (Capecitabine – 750 mg/m2/twice daily/ 1-14 days and Oxaliplatin 125 mg/m2 in 1st day).
Results: Twenty five cases with advanced gastric cancer entered in study while 24 cases continued treatment protocol and were evaluated. Mean age was 59.5 ± 12.1 years (range: 20-75), male and female cases were 66.7% and 33.3%, respectively. All cases received at least four cycles of Xelox regimen. Overall response rate was 74.99% with 29.16% complete response. Overall survival rate was 13 ± 0.53 months and DFS (disease-free survival) was 6 ± 1.09 months. Extremities neuropathy (62.5%), headache (45.8%) and muscle cramps (29.2%) were the most common complains. Haematological changes were rare and 16.7% of cases had mild cytopenia. Treatment related death was not observed.
Conclusion: Xelox regimen is a safe and highly effective first line treatment for gastric cancer; however, considering it as first line therapy needs larger studies. -
Background: Oral Mucositis (OM) remains the most common side effect of chemotherapy affects negatively on patients' quality of life.
Subjects and Methods: Convenience samples of patients who received chemotherapy were followed from first or second cycle of chemotherapy until OM occurrence. We reviewed 75 female patients with breast cancer who received chemotherapy with mean age (47.2 SD ± 8.62861). We used WHO scale to assess the severity of OM. Demographic and other variables (age, number of cycle before appearance of signs of OM, WBC count, neutropenia count, creatinine and BMI) were filled in questionnaire.
Results: 81.3% of reviewed patients were suffering from OM and (52.4%) of them were shown score 2 according to WHO classification, Taxane included chemotherapy protocol was the only significant variable that associated with OM occurrence (p=0.009).
Conclusion: In this study; Taxane is the only risk factor that significantly associated with occurrence of OM. -
Background: Thalassemia is a chronic, inherited blood disorder, which in its most severe form, causes life-threatening anemia. Thalassemia patients not only engage with difficulties of blood transfusion and iron chelating therapy but also have some social challenges and health threatening factors. There are some reports on quality of life in thalassemia patients around the world from southeast of Asia to Italy in Europe and United States. In this study, we tried to evaluate and compare Health Related Quality of life (HRQoL) and the health utility in beta thalassemia major patients receiving different types of iron chelators and living in different socio-economical situations.
Subjects and Methods: EQ-5D-3L accompanied by a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) questionnaire was used. The respondents were patients with beta thalassemia major that were at least 12 years old selected from 3 provinces of Sistan-Blouchestan, Fars and Mazandaran. Comorbidities including heart complication, Diabetes Mellitus and Hepatitis and also types of iron chelators (oral, injection, combination of both) were also asked. Cross tab and ANOVA analysis conducted to evaluate each dimension score and health utility differences between provinces, iron chelation methods, comorbidities, age group and gender.
Results: 528 patients answered the questionnaires. The health utility of patients that received oral iron chelator were 0.87 ± .01 for oral iron chelators versus 0.81 ± .01 for injection dosage form (p<0.05). Increase in age was accompanied by decrease in health utility. Females faced more usual activity problems, anxiety and depression. Heart problems were more prevalent in males.
Conclusion: This study suggests that the quality of life of beta thalassemia major patients is dependent on type of iron chelation treatment which they received, the gender they have, the comorbidities they suffer and socio-economical situations they live in..
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Leiomyosarcoma is one of the soft tissue sarcomas that could originate from different parts of body and are mostly presented as retropritoneal mass. Leiomyosarcomas of vascular origin are particularly rare tumors occurring mainly in inferior vena cava (IVC). Here, we report the case of a 35-year-old male patient who presented with ascites and jaundice. Further evaluation revealed large hepatic and cardiac masses with extension to IVC. Since it was not possible to determine the point of origin of leiomyosarcoma, the patient received chemotherapy under diagnosis of metastatic leiomyosarcoma but unfortunately passed away.
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Treatment with intensification of chemotherapy using alkylating agents and Topoisomerase II inhibitors and radiotherapy has improved the outcome of patients with solid tumors such as Ewing’s sarcoma. However, there are several reports of secondary malignancy following treatment of these tumors. In this article, we describe a 12 years old girl with ALL who had Ewing’s sarcoma when she was 8 years old and underwent successful treatment but after two and half years at 12 years old, she came back with pallor and muscular pain.
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Iron chelation therapy is used to reduce iron overload development due to its deposition in various organs such as liver and heart after regular transfusion. In this review, different iron chelators implicated in treatment of iron overload in various clinical conditions have been evaluated using more up-to-date studies focusing on these therapeutic agents. Deferoxamine, Deferiprone and Deferasirox are the most important specific US FDA-approved iron chelators. Each of these chelators has their own advantages and disadvantages, various target diseases, levels of deposited iron and clinical symptoms of the afflicted patients which may affect their selection as the best modality. Taken together, in many clinical disorders, choosing a standard chelator does not have an accurate index which requires further clarifications. The aim of this review is to introduce and compare the different iron chelators regarding their advantages and disadvantages, usage dose and specific applications.
