Fatigue in older cancer patients: etiology, assessment, and treatment.

Semin Oncol

Division of Medical Oncology and Cell Therapy, Division of Geriatrics, Duke University Medical Center and Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.

Published: December 2008

Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is one of the most common and debilitating symptoms experienced by elderly cancer patients and by cancer survivors. However, this has not translated into an increase in clinical trials for assessment and therapy of CRF in this population. The early recognition and formal assessment of this symptom is important in order to be able to treat it, before it negatively impacts the patient's quality of life. All reversible causes like anemia, depression, anxiety, and hypothyroidism should be ruled out and treated appropriately. CRF can be treated with pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic measures and possibly a combination of both measures. Pharmacologic measures that have been studied in cancer patients with fatigue include hematopoeitics, antidepressants, donepezil, modafinil, methylphenidate, and other agents. Exercise programs continue to be the most popular and widely studied nonpharmacologic intervention for CRF. Psychosocial interventions, energy conservation measures, and improvement of sleep also can lead to less fatigue in cancer patients. However, there continues to be a need for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating CRF specifically in elderly patients with cancer. This review provides a brief overview of CRF in elderly cancer patients and highlights the areas of required research in this patient population.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/j.seminoncol.2008.08.005DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

cancer patients
20
elderly cancer
8
patients cancer
8
crf elderly
8
cancer
7
patients
6
crf
6
fatigue
4
fatigue older
4
older cancer
4

Similar Publications

Introduction: Complete radical resection is crucial for successfully treating thymic carcinomas. However, when the invasion of the great vessels or the heart in Masaoka III and IV stages occurs, the management poses more challenges. The R0 resection often requires neoadjuvant treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Otherwise, inoperable. The role of ECMO in thoracic surgery - focus on the mediastinum.

Port J Card Thorac Vasc Surg

January 2025

Thoracic surgeon, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milano, Italy.

The use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in surgery is expanding as the medical community started adopting it, with good results, for procedures with high risk of respiratory and hemodynamic instability. This technique provided the possibility to reduce the number of patients previously considered inoperable because of these limitations. Thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) are rare neoplastic mediastinal lesions, with a reported incidence of 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Prostate cancer (PCa) is the commonest urologic cancer worldwide and the leading cause of male cancer deaths in Nigeria. In Nigeria, orchidectomy remains the primary androgen deprivation therapy. Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is the active prostatic androgen, but its relationship with PCa severity has not been extensively studied in Africa.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The objective of this retrospective observational study was to estimate the prevalence of actinic keratosis (AK) in individuals aged ≥ 40 years in France, to describe the characteristics of affected patients, and to describe treatments. A representative panel of 20,000 households with ≥ 1 member aged ≥ 40 years were invited to participate. Participants who reported AK lesions diagnosed by a physician were eligible.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Malnutrition is common with esophagogastric cancers and is associated with negative outcomes. We aimed to evaluate if immunonutrition during neoadjuvant treatment improves patient's health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and reduces postoperative morbidity and toxicities during neoadjuvant treatment.

Methods: A multicenter double-blind randomized controlled trial (RCT) was undertaken.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!