Publications by authors named "Anne-Birgitte Jacobsen"
Background/aim: This study aimed to examine survival and surgical complications in patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) after multimodal treatment.
Patients And Methods: Since 2002, the recommended treatment strategy for ATC at our centre has been hyperfractionated accelerated radiotherapy (HART) with high doses to the neck (64 Gy), combined with weekly doxorubicin, and surgery after 4-8 weeks, if feasible.
Results: Between 2002 and 2014, 14 patients completed HART and thyroid surgery.
Background: Chemoradiotherapy is standard treatment for localized oesophageal cancer unsuitable for surgery. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of cetuximab in combination with chemoradiotherapy.
Methods: This non-randomised multicentre phase II trial recruited patients aged 18-75 with WHO performance status 0-2 having squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma in the oesophagus or gastro-oesophageal junction, T2-4, N0-3, M0 not suitable for surgery.
Anaplastic carcinoma of the thyroid gland (ATC) is one of the most aggressive cancers in humans. With insufficient treatment, the disease most often leads to death in suffocation. From 2002, our treatment strategy has been hyperfractionated accelerated radiotherapy (HART) with high doses (64 Gy) to the neck, followed by surgery 4-8 weeks later if feasible, with the aim to gain control in the neck.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients with esophageal cancer seldom achieve long-term survival. This prospective cohort study investigated the selection of patients likely to benefit from curative treatment and whether information on patients' health-related quality of life (HRQL) would assist treatment decisions in the multidisciplinary team.
Methods: Consecutive patients completed HRQL assessments and clinical data were collected before start of treatment.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to compare the effectiveness of a combination of self-expanding metal stents (SEMS) and brachytherapy to brachytherapy alone in improving swallowing difficulties (dysphagia) in patients with incurable oesophageal cancer.
- At the first follow-up, patients who received SEMS followed by brachytherapy reported significantly better dysphagia relief than those who had brachytherapy alone, while pain levels were similar across both groups.
- The combined treatment was deemed preferable for quick symptom relief and was generally safe, with manageable complications experienced by a few patients in the SEMS group, whereas no complications arose from the brachytherapy alone.
Background: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and assessments of treatment-related toxicity provide important information on the effect of palliative chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. The aim of this study was to review the effect of palliative radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy on symptoms and quality of life assessed by PROs and measurement of toxicity for patients with oesophageal cancer.
Methods: The Central, Medline and Embase databases (1990 to November 2011) were systematically searched for prospective studies of palliative chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy in patients with advanced oesophageal cancer with PRO- and/or toxicity outcomes.
Article Synopsis
- Several studies suggest that the volume of breast cancer surgeries at a hospital might impact patient outcomes, leading to the hypothesis that poor adherence to adjuvant therapy guidelines, rather than surgical quality, could be the main issue.
- A cohort of 1131 operable breast cancer patients from various hospitals in Norway was analyzed to assess the effect of hospital size on outcomes, categorizing hospitals by the number of surgeries performed and their teaching status.
- The study found no significant differences in relapse-free survival or overall survival among groups based on hospital size or whether they were university-affiliated, indicating that differences in outcomes are likely due to inadequate systemic treatment rather than the volume of surgeries performed.
Article Synopsis
- - Over a decade, 184 patients with esophageal cancer at the Norwegian Radium Hospital were treated with varying levels of care; many suffered from conditions that made surgery risky.
- - Treatment methods included standard preoperative radiotherapy followed by surgery for operable patients, while those unfit for surgery received radical hyperfractionated radiotherapy and brachytherapy.
- - Outcomes showed that patients undergoing radical surgery had a 3-year survival rate of 29% compared to 8% for those treated with radiotherapy alone, indicating that while radiotherapy relieved symptoms, surgery was more effective for survival.
Background: Health-related quality of life is a topic of current interest. This paper considers a randomized phase III study of radiation therapy with concurrent chemotherapy (docetaxel) versus radiation therapy alone in non-small cell lung cancer, stage III A/B. Longitudinal data on quality of life have been obtained through repeated administration of a multi-item questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) developed by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Penicillin G with an aminoglycoside is the standard initial empirical treatment in febrile neutropenia in Norway. It has been argued that giving the aminoglycoside once daily to neutropenic patients with Gram-negative bacteraemia may be hazardous when penicillin G is the beta-lactam antibiotic. We questioned this argument and hypothesized that tobramycin once daily was as efficacious as three times daily.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Due to its palliative effect and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) decrease, many clinicians have considered prednisolone monotherapy to be the standard systemic treatment in patients with androgen-independent prostate cancer (AIPC). This approach should be compared with docetaxel (Taxotere)+prednisolone.
Methods: A total of 109 eligible patients were entered into a randomized phase II study (arm A: Taxotere+prednisolone [30 mg m(-2) weekly during 5 of 6 wk+prednisolone 5 mg x 2 per os daily]; arm B: prednisolone [5 mg x 2 per os daily]).