Cancer and quality of life

International Conference & Exhibition on Cancer Science & Therapy

15-17 August 2011 Las Vegas, USA

Sibel Eyigor

Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Turkey

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Cancer Sci Ther

Abstract :

There has been an increase in the life span of cancer patients, thanks to the advances in diagnostic tools and treatment modalities. Most of these patients gain functional capacity and return to their normal life. Recently, however, it has been emphasized that an improvement in the quality of life is a prerequisite to conclude that a treatment is successful. Consequently, there has been an increase in studies on quality of life and factors influencing it. Many adverse events can be observed in cancer patients, either due to the disease itself or the treatment. Cancer related symptoms may affect the biological behavior of the tumor and therefore may be important for prognosis. Pain is one of the major problems faced by cancer patients. It has been argued that pain is present in 30% of the patients at the time of diagnosis, increasing to 65-85% as the disease progress. Meanwhile, fatigue, observed in some 61% of cancer patients, is the most common complaint. Pain and fatigue are important because they stand at the forefront of factors adversely affecting these patients with regard to general health, function and quality of life. It has been reported that pain and fatigue are particularly important for survival. It should be kept in mind that if the clinicians do not have the knowledge on quality of life and symptoms such as pain and fatigue, they may be mistaken in their choice of appropriate and realistic treatment and estimation of survival.

Biography :

Sibel Eyigor has been graduated from Ege University, Faculty of Medicine in 1996. She received her residency training in Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation (June 1997-December 2001) in the Ege University School of Medicine. She has been appointed as an Associate Professor in 2008 in the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation at Ege University Faculty of Medicine. She is also working in Oncology Department and Geriatric Division. She interests palliative care in cancer patients. She is also member of executive committe of “ Ege University Palliative Care Unit”. Her main research interests are oncologic rehabilitation, dysphagia and rehabilitation, and geriatric patients and rehabilitation. She attended the graduate course in Normal and Disordered Swallowing at the University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign during the spring semester of 2004. She spent extended hours observing instrumental evaluations and treatment of dysphagia at Northwestern University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinosis. She was an observer on the Geriatric Rehabilitation program at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute in 2007. She is member of executive committe of Agean Geriatric Society and local division of Turkish Society of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation. She is member of Turkish Society of Rheumatism, Turkish Society of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Turkish Society of Osteoporosis. She was the author or co-author of numerous articles and book chapters in Turkish and English. She is still working in Ege University Faculty of Medicine in Izmir, TURKEY.