Cochrane

Review question What is the evidence for the effects of early palliative care on quality of life, survival, depression, and symptom intensity in people with advanced cancer? Background Frequently, cancer is diagnosed at a late stage, and the disease might have progressed through anticancer treatment. Patients can choose to start or continue anticancer ...

Review question We reviewed the evidence about the effect of exercise training undertaken before lung surgery on the risk of developing a postoperative lung complication, the number of days needing a chest drain after surgery, length of hospital stay, fitness level, and lung function in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Background Lung ...

What was the aim of this review? The aim of this Cochrane Review was to find out if focal laser therapy in addition to treatment by systemic chemotherapy for retinoblastoma reduces the risk of tumour recurrence. Key messages There were no data comparing systemic chemotherapy alone to systemic chemotherapy with laser therapy. What was studied in the ...

Background: cancer patients develop neutropenia, a decrease in the subset of leucocytes responsible for protection against bacteria, as a result of chemotherapy or cancer. Neutropenia predisposes the patients to severe bacterial infections. Standard antibiotic regimens for cancer patients with neutropenia and fever are directed at most of the bacteria ...

Review question For the treatment of early unfavourable and advanced stage Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) two different international standards are commonly used, either chemotherapy with escalated (intensified) BEACOPP (bleomycin, etoposide, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, prednisone) regimen or chemotherapy with ABVD (doxorubicin, ...

Review question We aimed to answer the question "how good are drugs at treating anxiety and worry in adults who have an illness which is getting worse and are in the last year of their life?" Background Anxiety or worry is a common problem for people who have an illness which is getting worse and are in the last year of their life. People may be ...

Bottom line No firm conclusions could be drawn about the effectiveness or harms of tramadol, alone or with paracetamol, in cancer pain. Background One person in two or three who gets cancer will suffer from pain that becomes moderate or severe in intensity. The pain tends to get worse as the cancer progresses. Tramadol hydrochloride is an opioid ...

Review question Kidney cancer is rarely curable once it has spread to other organs at the time of diagnosis. Targeted agents are currently considered as the standard treatment for advanced kidney cancer that has spread to other organs. This review examines clinical studies that have directly compared immunotherapies or combination therapies to current ...

Review question We reviewed the evidence to compare the effects of removing only the tumour (partial nephrectomy) versus removing the entire kidney (radical nephrectomy) in individuals with a small kidney cancer that has not spread to other parts of the body. Background Small kidney tumours are often discovered on imaging studies (like CT scans) ...

Review question In patients who have their bladder removed, does the drug alvimopan compared to placebo help them recover their bowel function more quickly? Background Surgical removal of the bladder is a major operation that requires a stay of several days in hospital. One of the issues that keeps patients in hospital is not being able to eat normal ...