BACKGROUND For ambulatory cancer patients, Ontario has standardized symptom and performance status assessment population-wide, using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) and Palliative Performance Scale (PPS). In a broad cross-section of cancer outpatients, the authors describe the ESAS and PPS scores and their relation to patient characteristics. METHODS This is a descriptive study ...

BACKGROUND Health-related quality of life (HRQL) is an important outcome in the treatment of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and appears to be highly associated with patient self-report of symptom burden. This study examines the longitudinal validity of the modified Edmonton symptom assessment system (ESAS) to determine the impact of change in symptom burden on the change in HRQL of haemodialysi...

PURPOSE To update American Society of Hematology/American Society of Clinical Oncology recommendations for use of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) in patients with cancer. METHODS An Update Committee reviewed data published between January 2007 and January 2010. MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library were searched. RESULTS The literature search yielded one new individual patient data anal...

In endothelial cells, erythropoietin receptors (EPORs) mediate the protective, proliferative and angiogenic effects of EPO and its analogues, which act as EPOR agonists. Because hormonal receptors undergo functional changes upon chronic exposure to agonists and because erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) are used for the long-term treatment of anemia, it is critical to determine the mechan...

Introduction Our department's standard work-flow includes assessment of all the patients with the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS), a one-sheet questionnaire addressing 11 major symptoms and wellbeing on a numeric scale of zero-10, before the palliative radiotherapy (PRT). Based on previous research, we hypothesized that the patients with minimal or moderate total symptom burden might ...

S ince March 24, 2010, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been requiring a “Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy” (REMS) for all patients who are treated with erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) (1). Although regulatory authorities elsewhere in the world have not as yet taken this approach, experience suggests that these agencies often take their cues from the FDA. Most nephrolo...

BACKGROUND Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) reduce anemia in cancer patients and may improve quality of life, but there are concerns that ESAs might increase mortality. OBJECTIVES Our objectives were to examine the effect of ESAs and identify factors that modify the effects of ESAs on overall survival, progression free survival, thromboembolic and cardiovascular events as well as need...

The ESAS will provide an opportunity to compare and contrast treatment provision with colleagues who achieve similar levels of quality outcome and there may be differences, for example, in treatment duration or levels of decalcification. All this can be achieved using the ESAS database and simple analyses. Achieving recognition in providing high quality care on your routine cases can compliment...