Author | David Cella, PhD

January 01, 2007

Anemia raises special concerns in older cancer patients. This review addresses the prevalence, causes, and mechanisms of anemia in older individuals, the complications of anemia in this population (including its impact on cancer treatment), and the appropriate management of anemia in the elderly.

July 01, 2006

Fatigue is common in cancer patients treated with chemotherapy, and it has detrimental effects on their quality of life. Chemotherapy-induced anemia, however, is often under-recognized and under-treated. There is a clear association between hemoglobin (Hgb) levels and fatigue, with fatigue being greater in patients with lower Hgb levels. Managing fatigue requires that its causes be determined and corrected, and it is important that patients report their fatigue. Patients, however, are unlikely to mention such adverse events unless they are asked about them. In addition, busy practitioners generally have very little time to discuss anemia-related fatigue with their patients. Many studies have used the validated quality-of-life instrument Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Fatigue (FACT-F) to assess fatigue and quality of life in patients treated with chemotherapy; these studies have shown a relationship between chemotherapy-induced anemia, fatigue, and quality of life. Studies of erythropoiesis-stimulating proteins to treat chemotherapy-induced anemia have shown increases in patients' hemoglobin levels, improvement in their FACT-F and FACT-General scores, and improvements in their quality of life.

April 01, 2006

In today's regulatory review environment, how do we keep the patient at center stage?

October 01, 2004

Fatigue, the most common symptomreported by people withcancer, is associated with functionalimpairments and decrements inquality of life. As Drs. Lipman andLawrence have pointed out, researchon the etiology of cancer-related fatigueis scant. Morrow et al[1] conducteda detailed review of theevidence to support four hypothesesfor cancer-related fatigue and highlightedindependent findings that implicatecytokines, 5-HT, and thehypothalamic-pituitary axis in the developmentof cancer-related fatigue.Additional research is needed in thisarea to articulate the pathophysiologyof fatigue and the associated clinicalimplications.