Search

Capecitabine is an oral pro-drug of 5-flourouracil used in treatment of different cancers. It has cardiotoxicity incidence of 3-35%, which can be significant enough to cause myocardial infarction. To evaluate the efficacy of glyceryl trinitrate in reducing cardiac events when given concomitantly with capecitabine for at least 3 months in various tumors. A quasi-experimental study was conducted in Hameed Latif Hospital from January 2019 to December 2023. A total of 65 patients with various malignancies and ECOG 0-2 were included. Glyceryl trinitrate was given before capecitabine for at least 3 cycles with 2.6 mg dosage twice a day. Cardiotoxicity was assessed after each 21-days cycle by taking history and ECG. Echocardiogram was done at 3-month follow up Patients aged from 49 to 86 years. Adverse events were noted in 3 (4.6%) patients. Two patients (3.1%) suffered from angina (grade 2 cardiotoxicity) while 1 (1.5%) suffered from a myocardial infarction (grade 3 cardiotoxicity). On stratification, only treatment in adjuvant setting (p<0.001) was found to be a possible risk factor. Glyceryl trinitrate may have potential to be used concomitantly with capecitabine to reduce the frequency of serious cardiac events in cancer patients. However, further studies are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine the frequency of patients with complete pathological response (pCR) after neo adjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in locally advanced triple negative breast cancer. Study Design: Descriptive cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Oncology, Hameed Latif Hospital, Lahore, from Aug 2019 to Feb 2020. Methodology: After taking approval from hospital ethics committee, 100 patients coming through Out-patient department who fulfill the selection criteria were enrolled and written informed consent were taken from them. Results: A total of 100 fulfilling the inclusion/exclusion criteria were enrolled to study to determine frequency of patients with complete pathological response after neo adjuvant chemotherapy in locally advanced triple negative breast cancer. Age distribution of the patients was done, it shows that out of 100 patients, 38 (38%) were between 18-40 years of age whereas 62 (62%) in were between 41-70 years of age, mean age was calculated as 44.18 ± 9.71 years. The data was stratified for age, stage of disease and eastern cooperative oncology group (ECOG) grade of the patients. When associated with grades of the disease, it was found to be statistically significant (p=0.003). Conclusion: Hence we concluded that about one third of the patients with neo adjuvant chemotherapy showed complete pathological response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]