Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0392680 (shortness of breath)
 5,217 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

BACKGROUND: Merkel cell (neuroendocrine) carcinoma is a small round blue cell malignant neoplasm that primarily presents in the skin. The diagnosis of Merkel cell carcinoma in a pleural fluid is challenging because of the morphological similarity to many other malignant neoplasms. Immunohistochemical stains can be essential to establish the diagnosis of Merkel cell carcinoma. CASE PRESENTATION: A 77 year-old woman presented with a mass in her right buttock thought clinically to be a boil or sebaceous cyst. Upon histopathologic review including immunohistochemical analysis, a diagnosis of Merkel cell carcinoma was rendered. Wide-excision and sentinel lymph node biopsy revealed negative margins and no evidence of metastasis. Ten months later she complained of bone pain and a bone scan revealed multiple lesions. An abdominal CT scan revealed a T4 vertebral mass and local radiotherapy was administered. Two months later the patient presented with shortness of breath. A chest radiograph showed an effusion and thoracentesis was performed. The fluid was confirmed to contain metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma by cytology and immunohistochemical analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Merkel cell carcinoma is an aggressive neoplasm that can, despite careful surgical management, occasionally present as a malignant pleural effusion in a relatively short time period. Immunohistochemical analysis can aid in confirming this rare outcome.
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PMID:Merkel cell carcinoma in a malignant pleural effusion: case report. 1555 Jan 73

Symptomatic endobronchial recurrence after treatment failure is common in advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Optimal palliation has yet to be defined. We examined the combination of near-simultaneous, high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy with stenting in this cohort of patients. Informed consent for intervention was obtained for 10 patients experiencing severely symptomatic (hemoptysis and oxygen-dependent shortness of breath), biopsy-proven endobronchial recurrence. All patients (eight men, two women, aged 52-77 years) had failed to respond to chemoradiotherapy for stage IIIB non-small cell lung cancer. Intervention consisted of placement of a self-expanding metallic stent (Nitinol/Ultraflex stent, Boston Scientific Co., Natick, MA) into the obstructing region. During that same bronchoscopy, HDR catheters were introduced. A dose of 6 Gy at 0.5 cm from the catheter was then delivered via an HDR unit. Two additional HDR sessions followed at weekly intervals for a total dose of 18 Gy. Patients under went follow-up bronchoscopes 1 month after the last HDR and when clinically indicated. All patients completed the prescribed therapy. No morbidity was noted from bronchoscopy, HDR, or stenting. All patients had rapid relief of signs and symptoms. At 1 week after stenting/first HDR, a statistically significant improvement in Karnofsky status was noted. Pulmonary palliation was maintained for the duration of their survival. The radio-opaque stent also offered significant advantages for catheter placement and verification during the HDR procedure. Although this series is small, the beneficial outcome obtained deserves further evaluation.
Cancer J
PMID:High-dose-rate brachytherapy in combination with stenting offers a rapid and statistically significant improvement in quality of life for patients with endobronchial recurrence. 1570 Dec 68

The purposes of this study were to describe the quality of life (QOL) of terminally ill patients in a home-based hospice program and to examine the relationship between QOL data and patients' symptom distress, ability to function, interpersonal communication (support from family and friends), well-being (their affairs in order), and transcendence (religious comfort/support) as recorded in their charts. QOL was measured by the Missoula-Vitas Quality of Life Index (MVQOLI), an instrument designed specifically for use with terminally ill patients. The study was conducted over a three-year period with 129 terminally ill patients enrolled in a home-based hospice program of care. The MVQOLI was administered to patients within 20 days of their admission to hospice. A retrospective chart review was conducted to determine patients' levels of symptom distress, ability to function, social support, whether or not their affairs were in order, and religious comfort/support. The mean age of participants in this study was 67, with 54.3 percent male and 45.7 percent female. Cancer was the primary diagnosis for 92.2 percent of the sample, and 35 percent of these patients had a diagnosis of lung cancer. Of the 7.8 percent non-cancer diagnoses, five were diagnosed with AIDS, four with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and one with chronic heart failure. The results of this study revealed positive scores on the five dimensions of the MVQOLI QOL scale, indicating that within 20 days of admission to hospice, patients rated their QOL as good to very good. Data obtained from the chart review also indicated that patients did not experience a great deal of symptom distress (e.g., pain, nausea, shortness of breath, and restlessness). A significant correlation existed between age and QOL; number of interventions and pain levels; and marital status, well-being, interpersonal relationships, and transcendence. Shortness of breath and well-being were significantly correlated with QOL. There was no significant correlation between gender, race, or closeness to death and the five dimensions of the MVQOLI and chart review assessments.
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PMID:The quality of life of hospice patients: patient and provider perceptions. 1585 87

Docetaxel (Taxotere) is one of the most active new generation chemotherapy agents against advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study aimed to determine the activity, toxicity and impact on the quality of life (QOL) in patients treated with docetaxel after failure with first-line platinum-based combination chemotherapy. Twenty-one patients with advanced NSCLC who had previously received the platinum-containing regimen were treated with docetaxel 75 mg/m2 every 3 weeks. QOL was assessed at intervals during the treatment period using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Treatment - Lung (FACT-L). Of the 21 patients enrolled, 16 were able to be evaluated for response and 20 were included in the toxicity analysis. The median age was 57 (range, 39-75 years). A median of 3 cycles was given (range, 1-9). Of the 16 evaluatable patients, there was one partial response (6.3%) and 4 with stable disease (25%). The median survival time was 8.1 months and the 1-year survival rate was 25%. Myelosuppression and peripheral neuropathy were the major toxicities. Grade 3/4 neutropenia and paresthesia occurred in 6 patients (30%) and 3 patients (15%), respectively. There was no significant improvement or deterioration in the overall FACT-L, TOI (Trial Outcome Index) and lung cancer symptom scores during the treatment. Symptom improvement was noted, in particular for shortness of breath and weight loss in the majority of patients. It is concluded that docetaxel is a well tolerated second-line treatment for recurrent NSCLC. Of particular importance was that the treatment did not negatively impact the overall quality of life, on the contrary, did palliate some of the lung cancer related dash symptoms in many patients.
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PMID:Doxetaxel in previously treated non-small cell lung cancer patients: clinical efficacy and quality of life. 1590 78

In the palliative care setting, the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) was developed for use in daily symptom assessment of palliative care patients. ESAS considers the presence and severity of nine symptoms common in cancer patients: pain, tiredness, nausea, depression, anxiety, drowsiness, appetite, well-being and shortness of breath plus an optional tenth symptom, which can be added by the patient. The aim of this study was to validate the Italian version of ESAS and to evaluate an easy quality of life monitoring system that uses a patient's self-rating symptom assessment in two different palliative care settings: in-patients and home patients. Eighty-three in-patients and 158 home care patients were enrolled. In the latter group, the Italian validated version of the Symptom Distress Scale (SDS) was also administered at the admission of the patients. The two groups of patients have similar median survival, demographic and clinical characteristics, symptom prevalence and overall distress score at baseline. ESAS shows a good concurrent validity with respect to SDS. The correlation between the physical items of ESAS and SDS was shown to be higher than the correlation between the psychological items. The association of ESAS scores and performance status (PS) showed a trend: the higher the symptom score was, the worse was the PS level. Test-retest evaluation, applied in the in-patient group, showed good agreement for depression, well-being and overall distress and a moderate agreement for all the other items. In conclusion, ESAS can be considered a valid, reliable and feasible instrument for physical symptom assessment in routine "palliative care" clinical practice with a potentially different responsiveness in different situations or care settings.
Support Care Cancer 2006 Jan
PMID:Edmonton symptom assessment scale: Italian validation in two palliative care settings. 1593 88

Erlotinib (Tarceva, OSI-774; Pfizer, Inc.) is an orally-active, targeted inhibitor of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR/HER1), which is part of a key regulatory pathway in cancer. Patients with advanced, incurable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) may derive a clinical benefit from first- and second-line chemotherapy, but third-line treatment with available cytotoxic agents is not effective. Remarkably, EGFR/HER1 antagonists have demonstrated activity as second- and even third-line treatment for this disease. Erlotinib is the first of this novel class of drug to demonstrate a statistically significant and clinically relevant difference in overall survival, progression free survival and time to disease related symptoms (cough, pain, shortness of breath) compared with treatment with best supportive care in patients who have failed standard first- or second-line chemotherapy. This paper reviews the pharmacology, preclinical and clinical data to support the use of erlotinib in NSCLC.
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PMID:Erlotinib in non-small cell lung cancer: a review. 1595 27

Clinical observation and preliminary reports suggest that higher scores for symptoms such as pain may be associated with shorter survival. We undertook a survival analysis to determine whether symptom expression in outpatients with complex cancer is related to the duration of their survival. Participants were 225 outpatients with cancer evaluated in our comprehensive cancer center for pain management or palliative care over a 10-week period ending June 2000. In addition to age and other clinical and demographic information, the patients completed the Anderson Symptom Assessment System (ASAS), which assesses pain, fatigue, nausea, depression, anxiety, drowsiness, shortness of breath (dyspnea), appetite, sleep, and feeling of well-being on a 0-10 scale. Univariate analyses showed that higher symptoms of dyspnea, drowsiness, problems with appetite, and nausea were significantly associated with shorter survival whereas pain, depression and other ASAS items were not. In multivariate analyses, only higher levels of dyspnea and drowsiness showed a significant association (P=0.01 and P=0.02, respectively) with shorter survival. Knowledge about these symptoms may be important in formulating adaptive randomization techniques for clinical trials and for research concerning estimates of survival.
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PMID:Association between symptom distress and survival in outpatients seen in a palliative care cancer center. 1596 65

To prospectively assess patient-rated symptoms in patients with brain metastases treated with whole brain radiotherapy, these patients were asked to rate their symptoms on the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) before, and 1, 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks following the radiation treatment. ESAS evaluates pain, fatigue, nausea, depression, anxiety, drowsiness, appetite, sense of well-being, and shortness of breath on a scale of 0-10 (0=absence of symptom and 10=worst possible symptom). Patients with a language barrier or significant cognitive impairment were excluded. The mean difference of ESAS symptoms at each follow up were compared with baseline and P < 0.01 was considered statistically significant. One hundred seventy patients (102 female and 68 male) were included between January 1999 and January 2002. Their median age was 66 years (range 33-84) and the median Karnofsky performance score (KPS) at baseline was 60 (range 20-90). The most common primary cancer sites were lung (99; 58%), breast (32; 19%), gastrointestinal (16; 9%), unknown (14; 8%) and others (9; 6%). One-third had significant weight loss (> or =10% over the last 6 months). All patients were prescribed dexamethasone at varying doses during radiotherapy. The dose fractionations were 20 Gy in 5 fractions, 138 (81%); 30 Gy in 10 fractions, 7 (4%); and others, 25 (15%). The baseline mean +/- SD for ESAS scores were: pain 2.4 +/- 2.8, fatigue 5.3 +/- 2.8, nausea 1.3 +/- 2.2, depression 2.8 +/- 2.7, anxiety 3.6 +/- 3.0, drowsiness 3.5 +/- 2.9, appetite 3.0 +/- 3.2, sense of well-being 3.8 +/- 2.7, and shortness of breath 2.3 +/- 2.5. For the entire cohort, after the delivery of palliative radiotherapy for brain metastases, there were statistically significant deteriorations in the mean differences from the baseline for the following ESAS domains: fatigue 1.0 to 1.8; drowsiness 1.2 to 1.8; and appetite 2.2 to 2.4. The data demonstrate that certain parameters of quality of life worsen after whole brain radiotherapy.
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PMID:Prospective assessment of patient-rated symptoms following whole brain radiotherapy for brain metastases. 1604 3

The results of a multicenter phase II study investigating carboplatin and pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) in patients with recurrent/metastatic uterine and cervical malignancies (UCM) are presented here. Fifty-three subjects with measurable, untreated, advanced UCM were enrolled. Fifty-one were evaluable for response. Prior combined-modality treatment was permitted if a component of primary therapy. Patients received carboplatin AUC = 5 with PLD 35 mg/m(2) intravenously once every 4 weeks. Overall response rate was 33% (35% stable disease). Overall survival (OS) at six months was 86% (95% CI 76%-96%). Six-month progression-free survival (PFS) was 43% (95% CI 30%-57%). Median PFS was 22.9 weeks (range 16.0-35.3) and median OS was 49.1 weeks (range 41.4-75.1). The most frequent grade 3-4 nonhematological adverse events were: abdominal pain (n = 7), fatigue (4), vomiting (4), nausea (3), and shortness of breath (3). There was 1 report of grade 3 hand-foot syndrome and none of grade 4. Twelve patients had first infusion reactions with only 1 discontinuing treatment. Grade 3-4 neutropenia occurred in 26/230 cycles (11.3%). There were no treatment-related deaths. The combination of carboplatin and PLD is well tolerated with sufficient activity to justify additional evaluation in clinical trials and might be suited to the addition of a taxane.
Int J Gynecol Cancer
PMID:Phase II multicenter open-label study of carboplatin and pegylated liposomal doxorubicin in uterine and cervical malignancies. 1617 27

A 54-year-old woman complained of dyspnea, due to complete obstruction of the left main bronchus caused by recurrent esophageal carcinoma, was transferred to our department about two months after curative resection (with preoperative chemotherapy for T4 cancer) in July 2004. She suddenly developed a severe shortness of breath with anxiety, and arterial blood gas analysis revealed a PaO2 of 25 mmHg (FiO2 1.0). The presence of pulmonary embolism was diagnosed by pulmonary perfusion scintigraphy. Thrombolytic therapy with urokinase was started to keep the air way. Fogarty catheter and bronchoscopic Nd-YAG laser treatment was performed. After that, an expandable metallic stent (EMS) was placed at the site of obstruction without any troubles, and there was a striking improvement in her condition of respiration and atelectasis. The radiation therapy was initiated and completed safely. The tumor lesion had disappeared on CT scan after the radiation therapy (a total dose of 50 Gy). We experienced a case that could be rescued from an advanced respiratory failure caused by one side air way obstruction and another side's blood circulation disorder.
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PMID:[A case report of complete obstruction of the left main bronchus caused by recurrent esophageal carcinoma with pulmonary embolism of right lung after surgery for esophageal cancer]. 1631 25


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