Posts tagged as:

cancer

Cancer Care Resources – RGH E-Bulletin

by Robbo on September 3, 2011

A number of resources and guidelines are available, relating to chemotherapy, management of symptoms of cancer and management of side effects related to treatment of cancer.

The Multinational Association of Supportive Care in cancer (MASCC) www.mascc.org produces a number of guidelines and tools for use in chemotherapy and radiotherapy patients.
· Antiemetic guidelines in conjunction with the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO): Guideline update for MASCC and ESMO in the prevention of chemotherapy and radiotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting: results of the Perugia consensus conference. F. Roila, J. Herrstedt, M. Aapro, R.J. Gralla, et al. , Annals of Oncology 21 (Supplement 5): v232 – v243, 2010)

· Mucositis: Perspectives and Clinical Practice Guidelines (reviewed 2011)

· MASCC Antiemesis Tool (MAT) to assist patients and oncology professionals in communicating accurately about the prevention and control of nausea and vomiting that may occur with chemotherapy.

· MASCC Teaching Tool for Patients Receiving Oral Agents for Cancer (MOATT) assesses patients’ understanding of their cancer and treatment regimen and ability to safely take an oral agent, then teaches them instructions specific to their anticancer agent.

· MASCC EGFR Inhibitor Skin Toxicity Tool (MESTT) to assist health professionals in the assessment and reporting of dermatologic adverse events in EGFR inhibitor-treated patients

Download the complete bulletin:

Download (PDF, 13.02KB)

A joint initiative of the Patient Services Section and the Drug and Therapeutics Information Service of the Pharmacy Department, Repatriation General Hospital, Daw Park, South Australia. The RGH Pharmacy E-Bulletin is distributed in electronic format on a weekly basis, and aims to present concise, factual information on issues of current interest in therapeutics, drug safety and cost-effective use of medications.

Editor: Assoc. Prof. Chris Alderman, University of South Australia – Director of Pharmacy, RGH © Pharmacy Department, Repatriation General Hospital, Daw Park, South Australia 5041.

Tagged as: Antiemetic, cancer, MASCC tools, Mucositis, resources, RGH E-bulletin

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Cancer and Indigenous Australians

by Robbo on November 4, 2010

in Indigenous,policy,Remote health

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Report “The health and welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples 2008” indicated that 15.1% of all Indigenous deaths was due to cancer. This is the second highest single cause of death.

Chemotherapy outside major hospitals is almost impossible to achieve, indeed most health service policies allow for oral dose forms only. For remote Indigenous Australians the choice is “finishing up on country” or moving away from friends or family for treatment. Whilst the Patient Assisted Transfer Scheme is federally funded it is state managed and varies from state to state. In some states it is impossible to have family travel in under the scheme to give support.

There is a distinct lack of policy in the areas of cancer and palliative care for Indigenous Australians. This is particularly noticeable in remote areas.

There is a great article by Daniel Vujcich over at Croakey on the dearth of policy in the area of cancer and Indigenous Australians.

He writes:

Last year I conducted interviews with current and former senior bureaucrats and Ministers directly responsible for the formulation of Indigenous health policy. Their responses led me to conclude that misplaced assumptions continue to play a role in the way in which Indigenous health issues are prioritised for government action.

One Minister described the dearth of cancer policies in the following way: “Well … if you don’t live very long, obviously trachoma is more of a problem than cancer”. Another Minister offered a virtually identical explanation: “Cancer was not seen to be such a particular issue for the very simple reason of life expectancy. It becomes a more acute issue the longer you live.”

Meanwhile a former Director-General of a State Health Department expressed surprise when told that cancer was one of the leading causes of Indigenous death, saying “I wouldn’t have put it as a high cause”, and a third Minister omitted it from his list of “biggest killers” of Indigenous people, instead citing cardiac disease, renal disease, diabetes, smoking and accidental or violent death.

I urge you to read the complete article “Cancer and Indigenous health: the pitfalls of assumption-based policy”

Tagged as: aboriginal, cancer, Indigenous, palliative care, policy

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Insulin Glargine and Associated Cancer Risk – RGH E-Bulletin

by Robbo on October 8, 2009

in Drug Information

There have been a few observational studies that have suggested there may be an increased risk of cancer while using glargine, a long acting insulin analogue.

There is a long term randomised controlled trial, Outcome Reduction with Initial Glargine Intervention (ORIGIN) study, that should provide more evidence on this matter.

The current RGH e-Bulletin summarises the evidence from four observational studies.

Download the small file: Insulin glargine and associated cancer risk (211)

The 2009 RGH E-Bulletins are archived here.

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Tagged as: cancer, glargine, insulin, RGH E-bulletin

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Indigenous Women and Breast Screening

by Robbo on October 7, 2009

in Indigenous,Remote health

Breast Screening Australia has reported that breast screening services are at ‘Overload‘

The program aims to achieve a participation rate of 70% among women aged 50-69 years. At present, the program is screening 56.9% of women in this age group. However it seems that with some younger prominent Australian women having publicised battles with breast cancer it seems many younger women are utilising the screening services limiting the amount of women in the more ‘at risk’ age group to participate.

It doesn’t rate a mention in the Breast screening Australia stats page or Evaluation Report, however The Australian newspaper report states:

Participation rates are lowest among indigenous and migrant women, women in remote areas, and, surprisingly, women living in major cities.

Lets look at a small sub group. Indigenous women living in remote communities. The Breast Screen bus with all it’s equipment does not leave the bitumen. A remote community, or group of communities may have a couple of hundred women in the at risk category.

There is not enough accommodation in the small community at the end of the bitumen road, and many do not want to stop in a community with alcohol. To get all these women into ‘civilisation’ means running a bus shuttle service over rough dirt roads, setting up and manning a temporary camp and setting up internal shuttles within the communities to transport the women to meeting point.

Hiring buses to work on dirt roads is not a cheap business.

In other areas it may be water, with people living on islands in Torres Strait that prevents them accessing services.

It is logistically and financially very difficult for remote women to reach the mobile breast screening service

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