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A number of nonpharmacological interventions have been linked with improved breathlessness in advanced cancer patients.
December 15, 2020 10:03 GMT
Cancer patients may find some benefit from a common household fan. A new study showed that this drug-free treatment can help ease breathlessness in patients suffering from cancer in the advanced stage.
A new study titled, Nonpharmacological Interventions for Managing Breathlessness in Patients With Advanced Cancer published in JAMA Oncology, revealed that fan-blown air that reaches the face of a patient who is suffering from advanced cancer, could help relieve the symptoms of breathlessness. Aside from this, the researchers from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center also discovered that using medications like opioids only had a small impact on alleviating breathlessness in patients.
On the other hand, the researchers found medications, such as opioids, had limited impact in improving breathlessness.
In a systematic review of 29 randomized clinical trials of breathlessness in 2,423 adults with advanced cancer, researchers found several nonpharmacological interventions were associated with improved breathlessness, including fan therapy and bilevel ventilation (air pressure delivered through a face mask covering the mouth and nose).
The results appear in the journal
“Breathlessness, or dyspnea, is a common and distressing symptom in patients with advanced cancer,” says Arjun Gupta, chief medical oncology fellow at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and lead author of the article.
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The results of a large, retrospective study of patients who received a form of immunotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) revealed that patients may get more than one immune-related side effect, and identified a correlation between these multisystem immune-related adverse events (irAEs) and improved patient survival. In fact, patients who developed two irAEs did better, in terms of delaying the time to cancer progression and overall survival, than those who developed only one irAE. According to the researchers, this new information will be helpful in discussing with patients the spectrum of immune side effects that may occur from immunotherapy and the implications for their survival.
Multisystem immune-related adverse events linked with improved survival from immunotherapy in NSCLC
The results of a large, retrospective study of patients who received a form of immunotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) revealed that patients may get more than one immune-related side effect, and identified a correlation between these multisystem immune-related adverse events (irAEs) and improved patient survival. In fact, patients who developed two irAEs did better, in terms of delaying the time to cancer progression and overall survival, than those who developed only one irAE. According to the researchers, this new information will be helpful in discussing with patients the spectrum of immune side effects that may occur from immunotherapy and the implications for their survival.