Increasing the benefits of chemotherapy by ameliorating the adverse effects.
When cancer is first diagnosed in most patients, it is usually incurable. Chemotherapy can cause remissions, prolonged disease-free survival, and prolonged survival in general, but it is associated with considerable toxicity to the physical and mental well-being of the patient. The number of side-effects increases when multiple drug combinations are used. In addition, financial and social problems add to the stress of coping with a fatal disease. Therefore both patients and physicians have asked whether survival (sometimes for extra months) with added side-effects of chemotherapy is worthwhile. The "soft" index of quality of life has been measured by many investigators, and a variety of interventions have been found to alleviate some distress.
L A
LA
Fernandez
J R Soc Med. 1986 Mar;79(3):165-9
3701753
N Engl J Med. 1979 Dec 27;301(26):1427-9
514322
J Clin Oncol. 1984 May;2(5):472-83
6374052
Cancer Treat Rev. 1980 Mar;7(1):17-27
7397706
Lancet. 1959 Jan 10;1(7063):73-5
13621643
Ann Intern Med. 1981 Jan;94(1):66-72
7004302
Semin Oncol. 1982 Mar;9(1):84-94
6176028
Semin Oncol. 1977 Jun;4(2):147-63
406677
Acta Otolaryngol. 1983 Sep-Oct;96(3-4):307-14
6637448