Ilena Rose
August 18th 06, 04:56 PM
http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/EMIHC268/333/21291/491039?d=dmtICNNews
(thanks to CFM)
Chemo Harms More Breast Cancer Patients
August 16, 2006
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Younger breast cancer patients seem to suffer more
serious side effects from chemotherapy than previously thought.
Roughly one in six of those women wind up at the emergency room or
hospitalized because of such side effects as infection, low blood
counts, dehydration or nausea, researchers reported Tuesday.
Some of the side effects occurred at rates three to four times higher
than earlier research had predicted.
Tuesday's study marks the first attempt to assess the real-world risks
of chemotherapy for some 35,000 breast cancer patients under age 64
who get the drugs each year.
Most side-effect information comes from clinical trials of medications
that can underestimate toxicity. Those trials are designed to prove if
the drugs fight cancer and therefore should be sold, and they tend to
enroll only the best candidates instead of women who might be
particularly sensitive to side effects.
Adding to that conundrum: Many breast cancer patients don't need
chemotherapy in the first place; surgery, radiation and hormone
treatment are enough. But doctors don't always have an easy way to
tell who would benefit from chemo on top of all that.
And for women in the to-treat-or-not gray zone, age sometimes is the
deciding factor -- because those under 64 are thought to tolerate
chemotherapy better than older women.
"We don't believe our study is saying that chemotherapy is not
helpful," stressed Dr. Michael Hassett of Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute, who led the research, published in Tuesday's Journal of the
National Cancer Institute.
But, "we've been struggling as a professional community to understand
which women benefit from chemotherapy," he added.
If a woman knows how often she is likely to be admitted to the
hospital, it may help her decide whether to gamble on the drugs or
skip them, he explained.
Hassett and colleagues culled a massive database of insurance claims
to study how often breast cancer patients under 64 wound up at the
hospital in the year after diagnosis, and how often some leading
chemotherapy side effects were blamed.
A total of 16 percent of chemo recipients received either emergency
room care or hospitalization for those side effects. Most common:
infection and fever, afflicting 8 percent of the patients. That's not
a high number - but it is four times what previous clinical trials had
predicted, the researchers reported.
Moreover, 61 percent of the chemo recipients had an ER visit or
hospitalization for some reason -- not just a chemotherapy-related
side effect -- compared with 42 percent of breast cancer patients not
on the drugs. The study couldn't explain the difference.
"The study highlights the importance of studying how drugs affect
people in everyday medical care" so they can "make informed decisions
about the risks and benefits of their treatment options," said Dr.
Carolyn Clancy, director of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality, which funded the work.
Better understanding of the risks is especially important for those
patients who choose chemo despite a good prognosis, when it may
increase their chances of survival by less than 5 percent, Dr. Joseph
Lau of the Tufts-New England Medical Center wrote in an accompanying
editorial.
The extra care of course meant extra medical bills. Hassett estimated
that serious chemo side effects could cost health plans up to $45
million a year.
~~~~
www.BreastImplantAwareness.org
(thanks to CFM)
Chemo Harms More Breast Cancer Patients
August 16, 2006
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Younger breast cancer patients seem to suffer more
serious side effects from chemotherapy than previously thought.
Roughly one in six of those women wind up at the emergency room or
hospitalized because of such side effects as infection, low blood
counts, dehydration or nausea, researchers reported Tuesday.
Some of the side effects occurred at rates three to four times higher
than earlier research had predicted.
Tuesday's study marks the first attempt to assess the real-world risks
of chemotherapy for some 35,000 breast cancer patients under age 64
who get the drugs each year.
Most side-effect information comes from clinical trials of medications
that can underestimate toxicity. Those trials are designed to prove if
the drugs fight cancer and therefore should be sold, and they tend to
enroll only the best candidates instead of women who might be
particularly sensitive to side effects.
Adding to that conundrum: Many breast cancer patients don't need
chemotherapy in the first place; surgery, radiation and hormone
treatment are enough. But doctors don't always have an easy way to
tell who would benefit from chemo on top of all that.
And for women in the to-treat-or-not gray zone, age sometimes is the
deciding factor -- because those under 64 are thought to tolerate
chemotherapy better than older women.
"We don't believe our study is saying that chemotherapy is not
helpful," stressed Dr. Michael Hassett of Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute, who led the research, published in Tuesday's Journal of the
National Cancer Institute.
But, "we've been struggling as a professional community to understand
which women benefit from chemotherapy," he added.
If a woman knows how often she is likely to be admitted to the
hospital, it may help her decide whether to gamble on the drugs or
skip them, he explained.
Hassett and colleagues culled a massive database of insurance claims
to study how often breast cancer patients under 64 wound up at the
hospital in the year after diagnosis, and how often some leading
chemotherapy side effects were blamed.
A total of 16 percent of chemo recipients received either emergency
room care or hospitalization for those side effects. Most common:
infection and fever, afflicting 8 percent of the patients. That's not
a high number - but it is four times what previous clinical trials had
predicted, the researchers reported.
Moreover, 61 percent of the chemo recipients had an ER visit or
hospitalization for some reason -- not just a chemotherapy-related
side effect -- compared with 42 percent of breast cancer patients not
on the drugs. The study couldn't explain the difference.
"The study highlights the importance of studying how drugs affect
people in everyday medical care" so they can "make informed decisions
about the risks and benefits of their treatment options," said Dr.
Carolyn Clancy, director of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality, which funded the work.
Better understanding of the risks is especially important for those
patients who choose chemo despite a good prognosis, when it may
increase their chances of survival by less than 5 percent, Dr. Joseph
Lau of the Tufts-New England Medical Center wrote in an accompanying
editorial.
The extra care of course meant extra medical bills. Hassett estimated
that serious chemo side effects could cost health plans up to $45
million a year.
~~~~
www.BreastImplantAwareness.org