Chemotherapy Used Too Often at End of Life [05/14/2001; Reuters Health] SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters Health) - Chemotherapy is used in approximately one third of patients who have cancers that are not likely to respond to the treatment during the last 6 months of their life, according to results of a new study. The finding ``strongly suggests overuse of chemotherapy at the end of life,'' lead author Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel told attendees here at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (news - web sites). ``Many are concerned with the quality of end-of-life care and specifically that patients should not be overtreated with ineffective therapies that won't improve their quality of life,'' Emanuel told Reuters Health. Chemotherapy can have a number of side effects, including nausea, vomiting, fatigue and hair loss. Emanuel, of the National Institutes of Health (news - web sites), and his team looked at the billing records of nearly 8,000 patients who died from cancer in the state of Massachusetts in 1996. ``What we found is that in the last year of life, 41% of patients received chemotherapy, 33% had chemotherapy in the last 6 months of life and 25% received chemotherapy in the last 3 months of life,'' he said. #311 beta-carotene,retinoic acid, quercetin & genistein Altered Nutritional/Inflammatory Status:Increased Toxicity Risk Supplement w/Magnesium, Potassium: Cisplatin Dietary Enhancement of Mitomycin C Multivitamin/Vit E Helped: Breast Ca Chemo Metab Abnormalities w/weight loss & Chemo/RTx Head/Neck ABC News, December 2007 as presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium Patient perspective from Jean about Fred's colon cancer experience Annals of Internal Medicine, 7/01 Older Adults Receive Intensive Chemo at End of Life Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology January 2008 Annals of Oncology, 1/02 Optimal Duration of CMF-Treatment Failure/Overall Survival Source: Bionumerik Pharmaceuticals 6/04 PK Analysis of 5-FU Predicts Life-threatening Toxicities Warfarin (Coumadin ) & Some Chemotherapies CLASH Hiccups: Adverse Reaction to Chemo Unusual Complication: Herpes Simplex... Severe Nail Changes From Docetaxel Risk Factors: Chemo-associated Venous Thromboembolism Hearing Loss: Cisplatin (Esp Every Two Weeks) Anthracyclines: Children's Arteries Damaged Serious Adverse Events GREATER Than Prior Reporting 'Side' Effects of Chemotherapeutic Agents Alternative Medicine Reviews, 1999 and more articles, IMPORTANT stuff Introduction and Conflicting Views Antioxidant Supplementation on Chemotherapeutic Efficacy:systematic review Antioxidant Supplementations in Men Reduces Incidence CA References Use of Antioxidants & Cytotoxic Treatments Dietary Antioxidants & Chemotherapy Antioxidants Resolve Rtx Adverse Effects Review of Italian Studies on Veg/Fruit/Antioxidants Multiple Antioxidants Improve Efficacy Systemic Screening of Total Antioxidants in Dietary Plants High Oxidation/Low Antioxidant Levels... Herbs, Vitamins & Antioxidants w/Cancer Treatments:TCM Garlic (Allium sativum) & Pharmacokinetics of Docetaxel Article References Molec targets of dietary agents 4 prvntn & thrpy of cancer. High Doses of Antioxidants Do NOT decrease efficacy of Chemo MEDSCAPE 3/02 Oncology Issues, 2/02 Lower Dose Capecitabine Better in Mets BCa Ralph Moss, Weekly CancerDecisions.com #36 5/14/02 Br J Cancer, 6/02 Discussion: Adj Therapy Postmenopausal Women Editorial:Adjno Chemo Postmeno Lymph-Node Neg Br J Cancer, 5/02 "Cancer Chemotherapy is Limited" Written and submitted by Gregory D. Pawelski Letter re Ethics/Conflicts of Interest Oncology Oncology, 12/02 Acral Erythrodysesthesia Syndrome:Docetaxel J Clin Oncol, 4/03 Therapy-related Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia Synergistic Effects: Grape Seed Extract & Doxorubicin 12/84 Breast Cancer Res Treat, 7/03 ASCO Abstract #45 Weekly Docetaxel Causes Eye Problems AACR Abstract #2721, 2003 Vit E & Paclitaxel w/Various Cancers Eur J Cancer, 10/03 Abstract # 3541 ASCO, 2004 Abstract # 3017 ASCO, 2004 Abstract #6128 ASCO, 2004 Intl Conf on Molecular Targets & Cancer Therapies, 11/04 Heated Chemotherapy w/Surgery More Effective Bone Marrow Transplant, 6/06 Patient Perspective on High-dose Chemo New England Journal of Medicine, Oct, 2007 Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.