Premium
Patients' experiences of chemotherapy: side‐effects associated with 5‐fluorouracil + folinic acid in the treatment of colorectal cancer
Author(s) -
Dikken Clare,
Sitzia John
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of clinical nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.94
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1365-2702
pISSN - 0962-1067
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2702.1998.00159.x
Subject(s) - folinic acid , medicine , fluorouracil , side effect (computer science) , colorectal cancer , chemotherapy , incidence (geometry) , cancer , surgery , physics , computer science , optics , programming language
• The purpose of this study was to investigate the side‐effects experienced by patients with colorectal cancer receiving 5‐fluorouracil + folinic acid chemotherapy. A primary objective was to provide quantitative data on the incidence and severity of side‐effects at each cycle of chemotherapy treatment. • Twelve patients with Duke's B or Duke's C adenocarcinoma participated. Data collection was via a self‐report questionnaire listing 61 possible side‐effects. Participants completed a questionnaire following each cycle of chemotherapy. • The response rate was 100%. Seventy‐eight side‐effects were reported by the sample. Fatigue was the most common side‐effect (incidence = 97%) and achieved the highest C score (59/100). However, patients ranked mouth ulceration as the worst side‐effect overall. Several previously unreported problems were identified, including nose bleeding, change in taste and weight loss. • Although limited by a small sample size, this study suggests the problems experienced by patients undergoing 5‐fluorouracil chemotherapy are many and diverse. It is concluded that investigation is needed into associations between side‐effects and the role of patient characteristics in the onset of side‐effects.