[Assessment of psychological distress in cancer outpatients treated with chemotherapy].

Purpose: Few studies have been conducted to elucidate the psychological distress of cancer outpatients being treated with chemotherapy. In this study, we attempted to determine the types of psychological distress endured by cancer outpatients being treated with chemotherapy.

Methods: We investigated 194 outpatients with various malignancies, including hematological, esophageal, gastric, pancreatic, colon, lung, breast, ovarian, uterine and skin cancers, using the Japanese version of the Self-Rating Depression Scale, from June through December 2010, in our hospital.

[A retrospective analysis of neurotoxicity induced by vinca alkaloids combined with azole anti-fungal agents in hematological malignancies].

Vinca alkaloids (VA) are some of the key anti-tumor agents for patients with hematological malignancies, and various adverse events such as paralytic ileus, peripheral neuropathy, and constipation were now recognized as adverse VA effects. Furthermore, azole anti-fungal agents are known to enhance VA toxicity because they delay the metabolism and excretion of VA by inhibiting CYP3A4. However, their clinical relationship has not been clearly described.