Cochrane

The issue Cancer may result in extensive emotional, physical and social suffering. Current cancer care increasingly incorporates psychosocial interventions to improve quality of life. Music therapy and music medicine interventions have been used to alleviate symptoms and treatment side effects and address psychosocial needs in people with cancer. In ...

Review question Does molecular-targeted therapy (a type of treatment specifically targeting cancer cells) benefit people with late-stage stomach cancer? Background Due to the lack of clinical symptoms, many stomach cancers are diagnosed at a very late stage (stage III or stage IV), for which surgery cannot be the best option anymore. The effects ...

Review question We asked if giving fewer radiation treatments (using a higher radiation dose at each visit) was as effective as the conventional 25 to 30 radiation treatments for women with early breast cancer who have breast conserving therapy (keep their breast). Background Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women, with one in ...

What is the issue? Women with early breast cancer who choose to keep their breast need to have radiotherapy (RT) as well as surgery to remove the cancer to make sure it does not regrow in the breast. RT is treatment with high energy x-rays. Having RT for breast cancer usually means 25 to 30 visits to the RT department, five times per week. If breast ...

Review question We assessed the effects of different types of breast implants on short-term and long-term surgical complications, cosmetic outcomes, satisfaction with the surgical procedure and the quality of life in women undergoing breast reconstruction following a mastectomy (breast removal). Background An estimated 28% to 60% of women affected ...

Review question: Is iron alone or iron as a supplement to erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) superior to ESAs alone in the management of people diagnosed with chemotherapy-induced anemia (CIA)? Background: The current treatment of CIA is ESAs, which increase the production of red blood cells (erythropoiesis), and in some cases ESAs and iron. ...

Background In women sexual dysfunction is a potential complication of many types of cancer treatments. This review evaluated the effectiveness of treatments (interventions) of any kind, for example drugs or exercise, for treating sexual dysfunction in women following cancer treatment. The review is an update of one published in 2007 that assessed ...

Review question: Cochrane authors investigated whether the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) can reduce the risk of endometrial polyps, abnormal thickening of the lining of the uterus and endometrial cancer in women taking tamoxifen following breast cancer. The review also investigated whether use of the LNG-IUS influences the ...

The issue: Depressive states are frequent complications among people suffering from cancer. Often depressive symptoms are a normal reaction or a direct effect of such a severe and life-threatening illness. It is therefore not easy to establish when depressive symptoms become a proper disorder and need to be treated with drugs. Current scientific literature ...

Background When people have surgery on their abdomen, the digestive system can stop working for a few days. This is called ileus, and can be painful and uncomfortable. There are different causes of ileus, and several ways of treating or preventing it. One possible way of preventing ileus is by chewing gum. The idea is that chewing gum tricks the body ...