Trust in physician in relation to blame, regret, and depressive symptoms among women with a breast cancer experience.

Following a diagnosis of breast cancer women experience considerable distress and often present with elevated symptoms of depression. A woman's relationship with her oncologist, and particularly trust in the physician, might influence depressive symptoms, as well as emotional and cognitive reactions to medical decisions made concerning treatment. To assess these relationships, women currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer (n = 40) and women who had previously been treated for breast cancer (n = 74) were asked about (1) trust in their physician, (2) who they blamed for negative events during treatment, (3) who made the treatment decisions, (4) regret, and (5) depressive symptoms.

A Phase II Study of Flavopiridol in Patients With Previously Untreated Advanced Soft Tissue Sarcoma.

Purpose. Flavopiridol is a potent cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor that has preclinical activity in many tumours. This synthetic flavonoid was tested in a phase II nonrandomized, nonblinded multicentre clinical trial to determine its activity and toxicity in patients with previously untreated metastatic or locally advanced soft tissue sarcoma.

Maximizing clinical benefit with trastuzumab.

To optimize patient management in breast cancer a number of factors are considered, including hormone receptor and HER2 status. A feasible approach for women with less aggressive, estrogen receptor/HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer is to consider trastuzumab (Herceptin; F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Basel, Switzerland) combined with endocrine therapy.

Pharmacokinetics, safety, and efficacy of trastuzumab administered every three weeks in combination with paclitaxel.

Purpose: This phase II study evaluated the pharmacokinetics and safety of trastuzumab and paclitaxel given every 3 weeks to women with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-overexpressing metastatic breast cancer.

Patients And Methods: Thirty-two patients received a loading dose of trastuzumab 8 mg/kg intravenously (day 1) and paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 (day 0). Thereafter, trastuzumab 6 mg/kg was administered on the same day as paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 every 3 weeks for seven cycles.