View clinical trials related to Cancer.
Filter by:Pain, in neoplastic disease, is a symptom with severe negative impact on the quality of life of patients and a high incidence, with values around 70-90% in advanced and metastatic stages. Than 20 years the main reference for the pharmacological treatment of cancer pain are the guidelines produced by the World Health Organization (WHO). This document shows that the use of opioid drugs is the mainstay of treatment, with particular reference to opioids "major" (3 rd step of the analgesic ladder). The 4 opioids more most commonly prescribed in Italy (oral morphine and oxycodone, fentanyl and buprenorphine transdermal), based on the data currently available, have an analgesic effect would partly overlap but with different percentages of non-responders (NR), a different need to increase the dose over time to maintain adequate analgesia, a different action to the switch to another molecule for ineffectiveness analgesic. The observations described suggest that opioids, although they belong to the same family drug may not be fully comparable with regard to the clinical effects products. Important differences are known on the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic and, more recently, also in terms of pharmacogenomics. This is a comparative study of analgesic strategies based on the use of the 4 mentioned opioids, going to look for possible differences in terms of analgesic efficacy, changes in dose over time, use of switch or permanent abandonment of treatment, parallel to the contour of the side effects. The associated sub-project will link the structure gene of patients and clinical results have emerged.
The investigators hypothesize that frailty assessment prior to concurrent chemotherapy and radiation therapy in the elderly will predict treatment-related toxicity and morbidity and that such assessment at serial time points will help improve treatment and outcomes for these patients.
The purpose of the study is to implement a randomized control trial testing effects of information scanning on cancer prevention and screening behaviors in a population sample of 50-70 year olds. Participants will receive one of five versions of an e-newsletter once/month for 12 months and will be asked to complete baseline, mid-point, and end-of-project surveys.
To assess the efficacy of Omega 3 Fatty acid (Omega 3 FA) augmentation of desvenlafaxine (DVS) compared to placebo augmentation of DVS when used to treat depression and anxiety symptoms in patients with select medical conditions (cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes).
A cancer diagnosis is a stressful phenomenon and a life-threatening experience that creates immediate psychosocial distress for the patient and his or her family. Distress is also experienced across the disease trajectory. Stress can manifest in a variety of psychological symptoms, such as anxiety and depression, intrusive cancer-related thoughts, or physical symptoms, such as fatigue, increased pain, and impaired sleep. Intensified stress in cancer patients has been associated with increased morbidity and mortality, decreased immune function, increased relapse, and decreased health-related quality of life. Given the known negative impact of stress on cancer patients, stress has become a priority issue in cancer treatment and research. Targeting stress-related variables with psychosocial interventions has been an important emphasis in cancer-care models. One of these care modalities is Inquiry-based stress reduction. The IBSR intervention, developed by Byron Katie, is a simple yet powerful process of inquiry that teaches the individual to identify and question the thoughts that cause him or her to experience stress and suffering. It is a way to understand what is hurting the individual, and to address the cause of his or her problems with clarity. This mindful-process, named "The Work", facilitates that through four questions and a turnaround, which is a way of experiencing the opposite of what the individual believes in. The Work provides skills for self-inquiry and management of stressful thoughts which can be easily implemented in daily life. The study will focus on breast, colorectal and prostate cancer patients. These types of cancers have high incidence along with high survival rates. The primary objective is to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of IBSR for breast, colorectal and prostate cancer survivors on quality of life. We hypothesize that this intervention will lead to significant improvements in all quality of life domains (physical well-being, psychological well-being, social well-being etc.) Effects on secondary outcomes will be assessed, including depressive symptoms, anxiety and stress levels, and fear of recurrence. Physical symptoms (disturbance in sleeping patterns, fatigue, and pain), will be assessed as well. Biological measurements will be measured in blood samples in order to observe effects on neural and immune components. Additionally, we are interested in evaluating whether positive effects achieved from the IBSR program are modified by specific patient characteristics measured at baseline (optimism, social support, and spirituality).
Our study aims to measure the impact of cognitive rehabilitation workshops on the development of cognitive functions and quality of life of patients expressing a cognitive complaint
Patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer in most of cases cannot benefit from percutaneous ablation modalities, due to high risk of procedure-related complications. Ultrasound-guided high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) ablation has been introduced as a feasible treatment option in these patients. However, in other anatomical regions US-guided HIFU has been replaced by the more accurate MR-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) ablation, but the applicability of this latter technique to the treatment of pancreatic cancer is still unexplored. The aim of this study is to explore feasibility and clinical performance of MRgFUS ablation of unresectable pancreatic cancer. Two are the main end-points: Pain palliation and local tumor control. As compared to conventional US-guided HIFU, MRgFUS could represent a more accurate, non-invasive ablation modality even for unresectable pancreatic cancer although, to date, no cases of pancreatic MRgFUS ablation have been reported.
The purpose of the study is to evaluate the impact of implementing a "Serious Illness Conversation Guide" to guide patient/family-clinician discussions and planning about end-of-life care decisions. The goal of the intervention is to improve achievement of patient care priorities and peacefulness at the end of life for patients with serious and life-threatening illness and their families. We hypothesize that patients whose physician is trained to use and adheres to the elements of the Serious Illness Conversation Guide will demonstrate enhanced consistency between documented key priorities and care received, and will experience greater peace in the final month of life; similarly, their families will experience higher satisfaction with care.
Cancer-related fatigue is one of the most common and distressing symptoms associated with a cancer diagnosis.Fatigue related to cancer often appears before a diagnosis, worsens during treatment, and lasts for years after treatment in up to 35% of patients. Despite the long-term effects of cancer-related fatigue, the treatment options available are not always appropriate or helpful for all patients.Light therapy is an effective treatment for other disorders related to fatigue. The purpose of the study is to investigate the role of light therapy on quality of life, sleep patterns, and physical measures of immune function and stress hormones in individuals with post-treatment cancer-related fatigue.
The purpose of this study is to observe the efficacy of chemotherapy combined with Traditional Chinese Medicine for elderly patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer, also to evaluate the adverse reaction and the reliability.