Study reveals sarcoma symptom burden
The authors of the research paper include (from left): Terence Ng, Assoc Prof Chan and Dr Quek
Sarcoma is a rare and debilitating cancer that in some cases, gives rise to large aggressive tumours. Patients with the disease experience significant symptoms such as pain, breathlessness and nausea. Despite their impact on the quality of life, little literature on the prevalence and severity of symptom burden, and medication usage is available on Asian patients.
To address this gap, the NUS Faculty of Science and the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) collaborated on the first-ever research to evaluate and document Asian adult sarcoma patients' physiological and psychological symptom burden on health-related quality of life.
Led by Associate Professor Alexandre Chan from the Department of Pharmacy, the team consisted of Pharmacy graduate student Terence Ng, former graduate student Dr Cheung Yin Ting, and undergraduate Eunice Lim, as well as Dr Richard Quek and Dr Vivianne Shih from NCCS. The findings were first published online late 2014 in Supportive Care in Cancer.
Even though the incidence of sarcoma constitutes only one per cent of all cancers, Dr Quek was supportive of Assoc Prof Chan's work. He explained: "I found the study to be very relevant, because in sarcoma patients, the tumours can grow to the size of a watermelon.
The study examined the symptoms and medication usage of 79 sarcoma patients in Singapore, the majority of whom were male, Chinese and living with a caregiver. The most widespread physiological symptoms experienced by the patients were tiredness, lack of energy and difficulty sleeping, with tiredness, difficulty sleeping and lack of appetite perceived as the most clinically important to them. Psychological symptoms which patients reported as the most common and clinically important were irritability, worrying and anxiety.
Numerous symptoms such as pain, breathlessness, insomnia and poor appetite were also undertreated among the subjects. All these negatively affected the patients' quality of life.
The authors found evidence of symptom clustering, where various symptoms, together with factors relating to the patient, disease and environment, as well as the patient's individual physical performance, impact one another. Assoc Prof Chan said: "If we are able to manage one of the symptoms well, hopefully, the severity of the other symptoms that are very closely related to that symptom will also be reduced.
Moving forward, the research team sees a need to understand the molecular basis of how some of the reported symptoms, such as tiredness, develop among patients. They also plan to develop psycho-social interventions that would help, in particular, the Asian Young Adult population.
