Work-related medical rehabilitation in patients with cancer-Postrehabilitation results from a cluster-randomized multicenter trial.

Background: Effective multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs supporting the return to work have become increasingly relevant for cancer survivors. In Germany, inpatient work-related medical rehabilitation programs consider treatment modules of work-related diagnostics, work-related functional capacity training, psychosocial groups, and intensified social counseling. The authors tested the effectiveness of a work-related medical rehabilitation program compared with conventional medical rehabilitation using a cluster-randomized multicenter trial (German Clinical Trial Register: DRKS00007770).

Erlotinib in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: impact of dose reductions and a novel surrogate marker.

Erlotinib is a relatively well-tolerated treatment option for patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Some patients suffer from severe skin toxicity or diarrhea, making dose reductions or even treatment cessation necessary. Recent clinical trials usually defined a 100 mg daily dose as the lowest acceptable dose, whereas little is known about the efficacy with lower doses.

A phase II study of weekly docetaxel-cisplatin as first-line treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Introduction: The combination of docetaxel and cisplatin is an effective first-line regimen in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. However, the recommended three-weekly schedule is associated with frequent neutropenia and infections. Because of the toxicity of cisplatin, patients may need to be hospitalized to ensure adequate hydration.

Diagnosis and antimicrobial therapy of lung infiltrates in febrile neutropenic patients: Guidelines of the infectious diseases working party of the German Society of Haematology and Oncology.

Patients with neutropenia lasting for more than 10d, who develop fever and pulmonary infiltrates, are at risk of treatment failure under conventional broad-spectrum antibacterial therapy. Filamentous fungi are predominant causes of failure, however, multi-resistant gram-negative rods such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Stenotrophomonas maltophilia may be involved. Prompt addition of mould-active systemic antifungal therapy, facilitated by early thoracic computed tomography, improves clinical outcome.

Management of sepsis in neutropenia: guidelines of the infectious diseases working party (AGIHO) of the German Society of Hematology and Oncology (DGHO).

These guidelines from the infectious diseases working party (AGIHO) of the German Society of Hematology and Oncology (DGHO) give recommendations for the management of adults with neutropenia and the diagnosis of sepsis. The guidelines are written for clinicians and focus on pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of sepsis. The manuscript contains evidence-based recommendations for the assessment of the quality and strength of the data.

Prolonged infusion of gemcitabine in advanced solid tumors: a phase-I-study.

Background: Gemcitabine is a pro-drug that has to be phosphorylated to gemcitabine-triphosphate in order to exhibit its antineoplastic activity. This reaction involves the enzyme deoxycytidine kinase which is saturated at plasma concentrations following standard 30-min infusions. Pharmacological studies indicate that prolonged administration of gemcitabine might result in higher intracellular concentrations of active metabolites.

Aspects of lung cancer gene expression profiling.

Lung cancer is the most common cancer in the world. In the majority of cases, a tumor will have already become disseminated at the time of diagnosis, and extensive efforts to improve diagnosis and therapy have had no major success so far. Lung cancer gene expression profiling provides novel diagnostic and prognostic markers and a basis for targeted therapies involving small-molecule and antibody-based approaches.

Diagnosis and antimicrobial therapy of pulmonary infiltrates in febrile neutropenic patients--guidelines of the Infectious Diseases Working Party (AGIHO) of the German Society of Hematology and Oncology (DGHO).

Patients with severe neutropenia lasting for more than 10 days, who develop fever and pulmonary infiltrates, are at high risk of treatment failure and infection-related death, under conventional broad-spectrum antibiotics. Early supplementation by a systemic antifungal therapy active against Aspergillus spp. has been shown to markedly improve their clinical outcome.

Role of supportive care in the treatment of NSCLC: supportive care for myelotoxicity.

Chemotherapy-associated myelosuppression is a major limitation of anticancer therapy in both local advanced and metastatic NSCLC. In the past, primary prophylactic use of hematopoietic growth factors was administered in these patients to reduce the incidence of febrile neutropenia, to avoid dose reduction and dose delay, and to improve patient quality of life. However, so far, for myeloid growth factors significance is missing that response to treatment can be improved in terms of better outcome.