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Aims and objectives To gain insight into cancer survivors' needs towards an e Health application monitoring quality of life and targeting personalised access to supportive care. Background Supportive care in cancer addresses survivors' concerns and needs. However, many survivors are not taking advantage of supportive care provided. To enable cancer survivors to benefit, survivors' needs must be identified timely and effectively. An e Health application could be a solution to meet patients' individual supportive care needs. Design A qualitative approach. Methods Thirty cancer survivors (15 head and neck and 15 breast cancer survivors) participated. The majority were female ( n = 20·67%). The mean age was 60 ( SD 8·8) years. Mean time interval since treatment was 13·5 months ( SD 10·5). All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. During the interviews, participants were asked about their unmet needs during follow-up care and a potential e Health application. Data were analyzed independently by two coders and coded into key issues and themes. Results Cancer survivors commented that they felt unprepared for the post-treatment period and that their symptoms often remained unknown to care providers. Survivors also mentioned a suboptimal referral pattern to supportive care services. Mentioned advantages of an e Health application were as follows: insight into the course of symptoms by monitoring, availability of information among follow-up appointments, receiving personalised advice and tailored supportive care. Conclusions Cancer survivors identified several unmet needs during follow-up care. Most survivors were positive towards the proposed e Health application and expressed that it could be a valuable addition to follow-up cancer care. Relevance to clinical practice Study results provide care providers with insight into barriers that impede survivors from obtaining optimal supportive care . This study also provides insight into the characteristics needed to design, build and implement an e Health application targeting personalised access to supportive care from the survivors' perspective. Future studies should address the viewpoints of care providers, and investigate the usability of the e Health application prototype to facilitate implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Antiangiogenic cancer therapy is likely to be administered long term for sustained suppression of tumor outgrowth. Surgeons will encounter more patients undergoing such therapy. Therefore, it is essential to know the effects of antiangiogenic agents on physiological angiogenesis, as occurs during the healing of colonic anastomoses., Methods: Angiostatin was generated from human plasma and administered continuously. In 38 mice, the right colon was anastomosed after transection: group 1 (n = 13), anastomotic healing under angiostatin treatment from surgery until death (day 7); group 2 (n = 13), phosphate-buffered saline controls. For healing on discontinuation of treatment, group 3 (n = 6) received angiostatin treatment preceding surgery during 4 days; group 4 (n = 6) included controls. On day 7, all mice were inspected for signs of anastomotic leakage. Bursting pressure measurements were performed to test anastomotic strength. Neovascularization was assessed semiquantitatively by immunohistochemistry., Results: Mice treated with angiostatin postoperatively showed significantly more signs of leakage, more adhesions, and peritonitis. One mouse died on day 5. Five mice had paralytical ileus. The bursting pressure in group 1 was 135 +/- 20 mm Hg, versus 175 +/- 12 mm Hg in group 2 (mean +/- SEM). Significantly fewer new vessels were found surrounding the anastomosis in the treated group (6.6 +/-.9) versus controls (16 +/- 1.6). All controls, as well as those animals treated with angiostatin only until surgery (group 3), displayed normal healing and showed no signs of peritonitis or ileus., Conclusions: Angiostatin impairs anastomotic healing in mice. However, on discontinuation of antiangiogenic therapy, normal anastomotic healing is promptly restored.