The preventive effect of the impaired liver function for antiemetic therapy against chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in hepatocellular carcinoma patients

Symptoms experienced after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization in patients with primary liver cancer: A network analysis

Objective

This study aimed to establish a symptom network for patients with primary liver cancer posttranscatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE), identifying core and bridge symptoms. The goal is to provide a foundation for precise and comprehensive nursing interventions.

Methods

A total of 1207 post-TACE patients were included using a consecutive sampling method. Data collection involved a general information questionnaire, the Anderson Symptom Assessment Scale, and a primary liver cancer-specific symptom module. The symptom network was constructed using the R language.

Results

In the overall network, distress exhibited the highest strength (rs = 1.31) and betweenness (rb = 62). Fatigue had the greatest closeness (rc = 0.0043), while nausea and vomiting (r = 0.76 ± 0.02) had the highest marginal weights. Nausea had the highest bridge strength (rbs = 5.263). In the first-time TACE-treated symptom network, sadness (rbs = 5.673) showed the highest bridge strength, whereas in the non-first-time symptom network, fever (rbs = 3.061) had the highest bridge strength.

Conclusions

Distress serves as a core symptom, and nausea acts as a bridge symptom after TACE treatment in liver cancer patients. Interventions targeting bridge symptoms should be tailored based on the number of treatments, enhancing the quality of symptom management.

Effect of electrical stimulation for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in patients with liver cancer

BACKGROUND

This study will be proposed for assessing the effects of electrical stimulation (ES) for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) in patients with liver cancer (LC).

METHODS

We will identify the relevant literatures of ES for CINV in patients with LC from following databases: Cochrane Library, PUBMED, EMBASE, Web of Science, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, the Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure from inception to the date of literature searched without any language restrictions. Randomized controlled trials and case-control studies on assessing of effects and safety of ES for CINV in patients with LC will be included. Methodological quality for all included studies will be assessed by using Cochrane risk of bias tool. RevMan 5.3 software (Cochrane Community, London, UK) will be used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

This study will summarize current evidence for ES on CINV in patients with LC. Primary outcome includes symptoms severity. Secondary outcomes consist of appetite, performance status, health-related quality of life, and adverse events.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study will provide latest evidence to judge the effects and safety for ES on CINV in patients with LC.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER

PROSPERO CRD42019126379.

Gram-scale production of carrier-free fluorescent berberine microrods for selective liver cancer therapy

Berberine, a widely used isoquinoline alkaloid in traditional Chinese medicine, has been proved to be a potential candidate in liver cancer therapy. However, the low therapeutic dose in the tumor target which is due to the poor solubility and oral bioavailability has limited its clinical application. In this study, fluorescent self-carried Berberine microrods (Ber-MRs) were prepared in gram-scale through a facile and cheap antisolvent precipitation method. Ber-MRs exhibited good optical properties, pH-responsive drug release behavior and selective and safe antitumor performance in vitro and in vivo without obvious toxicity. These findings have demonstrated that Ber-MRs are promising for efficient and safe liver cancer therapy. © 2018 BioFactors, 44(5):496-502, 2018.