Search

Case 1: An 86-year-old woman had an invasive breast cancer with dermal infiltration. Bone metastases were found in the femur and lumbar vertebrae. She was treated with 2 courses of 70 mg docetaxel (DOC) chemotherapy every 3 weeks, after which the tumor dramatically decreased in size. Following this treatment, she underwent a radical mastectomy. Case 2: An 80-year-old woman had a 10 cm tumor in the right breast. Lung and bone metastases were also found. Two 80 mg courses of DOC reduced the lung and bone metastases, and the size of the breast tumor. She underwent a local excision. Hormonal therapy is a standard treatment for hormone-sensitive breast cancer in elderly patients. It is suitable for patients who have a declining quality of life (QOL), although chemotherapy shows a higher response rate and takes less time than hormonal therapy. However, it is difficult to continue chemotherapy until pCR is achieved, even for chemotherapy-effective patients because the side effects of chemotherapy are severe. Therefore, local excision after chemotherapy is necessary for breast cancer patients to improve their QOL, even if there are distant metastatic lesions.

A survey of nutrient and food oral intake was undertaken to clarify problems in nourishment support of chemotherapy outpatients with cancer diseases. The ingestion frequency survey (Food Frequency Questionnaire Based on Food Groups: FFQg) of nutrient and food intake was carried out in 54 patients, after chemotherapy at an outpatient clinic in Hyogo Prefectural Nishinomiya Hospital during three weeks from June 25,2007 to July 13,2007. Among them, 50 patients (92.6%) reported a valid response (14 breast, 13 colon, 6 stomach, 9 pancreas, and 8 other cancers). Body mass index (BMI; kg/m2, mean +/-SD) grouped by the type of the cancer was 22.3+/-3.1 in breast, 21.3+/-2.6 in colon, 17.9+/-2.0 stomach, 18.0+/-1.2 in pancreas and 22.6+/-1.8 in other cancers. BMIs in stomach or pancreas cancer patients were significantly low compared to those in patients with breast, colon, or other cancers. Each group's caloric intake per standard weight (kcal: mean+/-SD) was 31.4+/-5.3 in breast, 27.7+/-5.6 in colon, 34.2+/-10.3 in stomach, 29.1+/-5.0 in pancreas, and 26.8+/-6.4 in other cancers. No significant differences were recognized among them. In conclusion, oral intake in chemotherapy outpatients was secured from the result for each type of cancer; however, BMI was low in outpatients with stomach or pancreas cancer in spite of ingestion of food enough to maintain standard weight.