Evidence Report on the Occurrence, Assessment, and Treatment of Fatigue in Cancer Patients (original) (raw)

Annals of Oncology, 2011

Fatigue is an exceedingly common often treatable problem in cancer patients that profoundly affects all aspects of quality of life. Prevalence estimates have ranged from 50% to 90% of cancer patients overall. After addressing reversible or treatable contributing factors, such as hypothyroidism, anemia, sleep disturbance, pain, emotional distress, climacterium, medication adverse events, metabolic disturbances, or organ dysfunction such as heart failure, myopathy, and pulmonary fibrosis, patients may be screened with a brief fatigue self-assessment tool. All cancer patients should be screened regularly for fatigue. Those with moderate or severe fatigue may benefit from both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions, while mild fatigue that does not interfere with quality of life can be treated with nonpharmacologic measures alone. Physicians often have insufficient knowledge about fatigue and its treatments or underestimate the impact of fatigue on quality of life, while patients may consider it an unavoidable and untreatable side-effect and fear that reporting it may incite a change toward less aggressive cancer treatment. A practical review may therefore be useful to health care professionals in order to avoid the common barriers to its treatment that exist on the sides of both physicians and patients.

Factors Associated to Cancer Related Fatigue: A Literature Review

Journal of A Sustainable Global South

Cancer related fatigue is one of the common problems that occur in patients with cancer. This condition is also experienced by cancer patients who receive chemotherapy, radiation therapy, bone marrow transplantation, or other cancer treatments. Continued of cancer related fatigue can disturb the quality of life of patients so that a good assessment and management of this condition is needed. The purpose of this study is for factors related to fatigue in cancer patients. These factors can be new scientific evidence for the treatment of fatigue in cancer patients. This was literature review study. Research data is collected from books, research results, journals, magazines and articles related to the research objectives. The results show that various factors associated to cancer related fatigue discussed in patients are hemoglobin level, type and amount of therapy, sleep quality, nutritional status, level of physical activity, psychological pressure, stress, infection status and comor...

Cancer-related fatigue

European Journal of Cancer, 2008

Fatigue is a common symptom in patients with cancer and in disease-free survivors. It has a significant impact on the quality of life. Although subjective fatigue is often related to objective changes in physical functioning or impaired performance status, the two phenomena are not synonymous and need to be distinguished. A number of robust and reliable assessment instruments to measure fatigue severity are now available and criteria for cancer-related fatigue syndrome have been proposed. The underlying mechanisms and pathophysiology of cancer-related fatigue are unclear. Management strategies include the use of psycho-educational interventions, exercise programmes and pharmacological treatments. The best evidence for the effectiveness of drug treatments is for the haematopoietic agents in anaemic patients undergoing chemotherapy and for methylphenidate in an ontreatment population.

European Journal of Cancer

This aim of this systematic review was to determine the prevalence and pattern of cancer-related fatigue (CRF), and identify factors associated with its development. Relevant literature was identified through an electronic database search using specified keywords. Included studies investigated CRF in adult cancer patients using a multidimensional fatigue measure. The methodological quality was assessed using six published standards. CRF is apparent both during and after anti-cancer therapy, however, the prevalence of CRF varied between studies. The variables associated with the development and persistence of CRF remain to be identified. Inconsistencies were evident in the pattern of CRF and its associated factors. This is likely to have arisen from the inherent difficulties in the measurement of a subjective sensation, further complicated by the myriad of outcome measures used. More methodologically sound research; assessing CRF from the commencement of therapy, considering all pert...

ASSESSMENT OF CANCER-RELATED FATIGUE ON THE LIVES OF PATIENTS

Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a debilitating, multi-faceted biopsychosocial symptom experienced by the majority of cancer survivors during and after treatment. CRF begins after diagnosis and frequently persists long after treatments end, even when the cancer is in remission. The etiological pathopsychophysiology underlying CRF is multifactorial and not well delineated. Mechanisms may include abnormal accumulation of muscle metabolites, dysregulation of the homeostatic status of cytokines, irregularities in neuromuscular function, abnormal gene expression, inadequate ATP synthesis, serotonin dysregulation, abnormal vagal afferent nerve activation, as well as an array of psychosocial mechanisms, including self-efficacy, causal attributions, expectancy, coping, and social support. An important first step in the management of CRF is the identification and treatment of associated comorbidities, such as anemia, hypothyroidism, pain, emotional distress, insomnia, malnutrition, and other comorbid conditions. However, even effective clinical management of these conditions will not necessarily alleviate CRF for a significant proportion of cancer survivors. For these individuals, intervention with additional therapeutic modalities may be required. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines recommend that integrative nonpharmacologic behavioral interventions be implemented for the effective management of CRF. These types of interventions may include exercise, psychosocial support, stress management, energy conservation, nutritional therapy, sleep therapy, and restorative therapy.

South Asian Journal of Cancer, 2015

Background: Cancer related fatigue (CRF) is a problem that is highly under reported, under recognized and thus, under treated. About 80% of patients receiving chemotherapy/radiotherapy experience CRF, making it the most common side effect of cancer treatment. Functional assessment of chronic illness therapy fatigue (FACIT-F) version-4 is a 13 item questionnaire that has been used to measure the level of fatigue of cancer patients during their daily activities over the past 7 days. Materials and Methods: 92 patients of age 18 years and above attending the oncology Out Patient Department (OPD) of a regional cancer center were recruited in this study and were given FACIT-F questionnaire. The relevant sociodemographic parameters were obtained from the medical records of the patients. The internal consistency of the 13 items was measured using the Cronbach′s alpha. Results: The Cronbach alpha coefficient for FACIT-F scale in our study was found to be 0.74. Kendall′s coefficient of concor...

2015

Cancer-related fatigue is defined as a distressing, persistent, subjective sense of physical, emotional, and/or cognitive tiredness or exhaustion related to cancer or cancer treatment that is not proportional to recent activity and interferes with usual functioning. It is one of the most common side effects in patients with cancer. Fatigue has been shown to be a consequence of active treatment, but it may also persist into posttreatment periods. Furthermore, difficulties in end-of-life care can be compounded by fatigue. The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Cancer-Related Fatigue provide guidance on screening for fatigue and recommendations for interventions based on the stage of treatment. Interventions may include education and counseling, general strategies for the management of fatigue, and specific nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic interventions. Fatigue is a frequently underreported complication in patients with cancer and, when reported, is ...

The Oncologist, 2007

Fatigue is one of the most common and debilitating symptoms experienced by patients with cancer. Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is characterized by feelings of tiredness, weakness, and lack of energy, and is distinct from the “normal” drowsiness experienced by healthy individuals in that it is not relieved by rest or sleep. It occurs both as a consequence of the cancer itself and as a side effect of cancer treatment, although the precise underlying pathophysiology is largely unknown. CRF may be an early symptom of malignant disease and is reported by as many as 40% of patients at diagnosis. Virtually all patients expect fatigue from cancer therapy. Up to 90% of patients treated with radiation and up to 80% of those treated with chemotherapy experience fatigue. CRF continues for months and even years ollowing completion of treatment in approximately one third of the patients with cancer. The impact of CRF on a patient's quality of life (QoL), particularly in relation to physical fu...

Evidence Report on the Occurrence, Assessment, and Treatment of Fatigue in Cancer Patients (original) (raw)

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