The role of ketamine and its enantiomer in managing depression and pain in cancer patients: A narrative review.

Depression and pain are common comorbidities in cancer patients, and ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic, has shown potential in managing both. This review summarizes current literature on ketamine and its enantiomer, esketamine, in managing depression and pain in the oncologic population. Studies indicate that sub-anesthetic doses of intravenous ketamine and esketamine can alleviate postoperative depressive symptoms in cancer patients with a tolerable safety profile.

Real-World Patient-Reported and Neurocognitive Outcomes in the Year After Axicabtagene Ciloleucel.

Axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel), a chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, has significantly improved clinical outcomes in adult patients with relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma. However, few studies have examined patient-reported outcomes (PROs) or neurocognitive performance in patients treated with axi-cel. Moreover, no longitudinal PRO study has reported on patients treated with axi-cel as standard of care in the United States, to our knowledge.

Associations Between Dietary Patterns and Quality of Life in a Longitudinal Cohort of Colorectal Cancer Survivors.

Purpose: To characterize dietary patterns and examine associations with cross-sectional and longitudinal changes in quality of life (QOL) over approximately one year after colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis.

Methods: The ColoCare Study is an international, multi-center, prospective cohort study of newly diagnosed CRC survivors of any stage. A subset of participants with CRC in the United States completed patient-reported outcome measures at 6- and 12-months post-enrollment, including the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30).

Correction: Azari et al. The Efficacy of Ketamine for Acute and Chronic Pain in Patients with Cancer: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials. 2024, , 1560.

In the original publication [...

"It Was a Downward Spiral": A Qualitative Study of Young Adult Cancer Survivors' Experiences with Cognitive and Mental Health.

Cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) is common and distressing for young adult (YA) cancer survivors; however, subjective CRCI is often attributed to psychological distress rather than true cognitive change. Thus, we aimed to generate hypotheses regarding potential common biobehavioral mechanisms of CRCI and psychological distress. We conducted semi-structured interviews with YA cancer survivors in peak years for frontal neurocognitive development (ages 18-30), and we asked them to describe their experiences with cognitive and mental health changes during and after treatment for their cancer.