Predicting Severe Haematological Toxicity in Gastrointestinal Cancer Patients Undergoing 5-FU-Based Chemotherapy: A Bayesian Network Approach.

Purpose: Severe toxicity is reported in about 30% of gastrointestinal cancer patients receiving 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU)-based chemotherapy. To date, limited tools exist to identify at risk patients in this setting. The objective of this study was to address this need by designing a predictive model using a Bayesian network, a probabilistic graphical model offering robust, explainable predictions.

Observational study of clinical toxicity with different formulations of docetaxel in breast cancer patients.

Objective: To analyze the excipients and impurities contained in the various docetaxel products available on the market and find out  whether they may be responsible for any of the different adverse events  associated with the use of docetaxel in patients with breast cancer  receiving adjuvant or neoadjuvant treatment.

Method: This is a prospective, multicenter, longitudinal observational, study carried in 26 hospitals in Madrid, Catalonia, Andalusia, and the Valencia Region. The different docetaxel formulations were  characterized in terms of their pH, amount of the active ingredient and  impurities.

Evaluation of a non-parametric modelling for meropenem in critically ill patients using Monte Carlo simulation.

Purpose: In critically ill patients treated with meropenem, the proposed pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) efficacy index is to keep the free drug concentration 4-5 times above the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the germ isolated, for 100% of the interval regimen. The objectives were to design a population pharmacokinetics model for meropenem in critically ill patients and to evaluate different dosage schemes that achieve the optimal PK/PD objectives.

Methods: This retrospective, observational, single-centre study included 80 critically ill patients (154 samples) treated with meropenem between May 2011 and December 2017.

Reality of the emetogenic level of irinotecan.

Purpose: To assess the emetogenic potential of different chemotherapy (CT) regimens in daily clinical practice in an outpatient setting. To optimize antiemetic prophylaxis if necessary METHODS: Prospective and retrospective review of the emetogenic potential of CT regimens used in adult patients in an outpatient setting RESULTS: We assess the chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) of 50 different CT regimens used on 157 different patients in an outpatient setting. We found that the CT usually classified as highly emetogenic, including cisplatin and anthracycline-cyclophosphamide combination, had the higher incidence of CINV (37.

Determination of docetaxel and Paclitaxel in human plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography: validation and application to clinical pharmacokinetic studies.

Taxanes, docetaxel and paclitaxel, represent important antineoplastic agents with broad spectra of antitumor activity. The authors developed and validated a high-performance liquid chromatography method with ultraviolet detection for quantifying both taxanes in human plasma. The assay uses liquid-liquid extraction as sample treatment and an isocratic mobile phase and reversed-phase chromatography to determine docetaxel with paclitaxel as internal standard and vice versa.