Publications by authors named "S Kaasa"
Background: European cancer programmes and policies lack a unified health-related quality of life (HRQoL) assessment tool. The European oncology quality of life toolkit (EUonQoL-Kit) is a novel set of HRQoL questionnaires, co-designed with cancer patients and survivors, translated and culturally adapted into 31 European languages, and with both static and dynamic electronic administration modes. The main aim of this study is the psychometric assessment of the static version.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Opioids in step III of the WHO analgesic ladder are the standard of care for treating cancer pain. However, a significant minority of patients do not benefit from therapy. Genetics might play a role in predisposing patients to a good or poor response to opioids.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancer is one of the leading causes of mortality, with new cases expected to rise. Medical advances increase cure rates and prolong patient lives, but survivorship involves high symptom burden, loss of function and emotional distress. Improving patient-centred care (PCC) and quality of life throughout the care process is essential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Opioids are commonly used to manage cancer pain, but 10%-20% of patients either do not respond well or suffer from negative side effects, potentially due to genetic differences.
- A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted on cancer patients across Europe to find genetic markers related to opioid-induced nausea and vomiting.
- The study identified 65 genetic variants linked to nausea-vomiting scores, including variants in the NPAS2 gene, paving the way for more personalized cancer pain management strategies through further research.
Background: The decision to administer palliative radiotherapy (RT) to patients with bone metastases (BMs), as well as the selection of treatment protocols (dose, fractionation), requires an accurate assessment of survival expectancy. In this study, we aimed to develop three predictive models (PMs) to estimate short-, intermediate-, and long-term overall survival (OS) for patients in this clinical setting.
Materials And Methods: This study constitutes a sub-analysis of the PRAIS trial, a longitudinal observational study collecting data from patients referred to participating centers to receive palliative RT for cancer-induced bone pain.