María Sacramento Díaz-Carrasco

Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca · Departamento de Farmacia Hospitalaria

Objective: To reach at an expert consensus, using the Delphi method, for classifying the tissue-damaging potential of antineoplastic drugs, in order to facilitate the decision-making process in the event of extravasations. Method: The panel of expert evaluators was made up of seven pharmacists belonging to the working group on extravasations. Ot...

Objective: The present paper provides a systematic review aimed at identifying studies on pharmacological interactions in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Secondary objectives include a characterization of the prevalence of such interactions and an investigation of their specific characteristics. Method: A search was...

Objective: The present paper provides a literature review aimed at identifying the tumor-dependent factors capable of influencing a subject's response to immune checkpoint inhibitors, with a special emphasis on those that may act as predictive biomarkers. Method: A search was performed of the terms biomarkers, PD-1, PD- L1, CTLA-4, and checkpoin...

Objective: To describe and analyze the variability in carboplatin dosing strategies in Spanish hospitals. Methods: We designed a questionnaire consisting of 19 multiple-choice items structured in two sections (hospital characteristics and carboplatin dosing data). The questionnaire was sent by e-mail to all the oncology pharmacists included in t...

Objective: To determine the prevalence of potential clinically relevant drug- drug interactions in adult oncological inpatients, as well as to describe the most frequent interactions. A standard database was used. Method: An observational, transversal, and descriptive study including patients admitted to the Oncology Service of a reference hospi...

Objective: To assess the toxicity of a standardized triple intrathecal chemotherapy in onco-hematological adult patients and to establish risk factors of toxicity. Method: Observational and prospective study of standardized triple intrathecal chemotherapy administrations in onco-hematologic adult patients for 18 months. Results: There were some a...

Introduction: Intrathecal chemotherapy is frequently used in clinical practice for treatment and prevention of neoplastic meningitis. Despite its widespread use, there is little information about practical aspects such as the volume of drug to be administered or its preparation and administration. Objective: To conduct a literature review about...

Background The administration of triple intrathecal therapy with methotrexate, cytarabine and a corticosteroid for the prophylaxis and treatment of neoplastic cell infiltration in the central nervous system in hematological malignancies is a widespread practice. There is limited information available about its toxicity profile. Several factors rela...

Background: Oncological patients are at high risk for drug-drug interactions (DDIs), which may contribute to therapeutic failure or lead to serious adverse events. Objective: To determine the prevalence of potential DDIs in medication lists, to describe the most frequent DDIs and to investigate the possible risk factors associated with them. A p...

Background: Doxorubicin-eluting bead transarterial chemoembolization is a palliative treatment option in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma and a bridge to liver transplantation. Purpose: Identified prognostic factors that improve overall and progression-free survival and help to achieve better tumour response in patients after chemoembolizatio...

Intrathecal administration of methotrexate, cytarabine, and hydrocortisone is commonly used to treat and prevent central nervous system involvement in leukemias and lymphomas. The use of intrathecal solutions with pH and osmolarity values close to physiologic range of CSF (pH 7.31-7.37, osmolarity 281-306 mOsm/kg) and standardization of the methotr...

Background Intrathecal administration of methotrexate, cytarabine and hydrocortisone (i.e. triple intrathecal therapy) is commonly used to treat and prevent central nervous system (CNS) involvement in leukaemias and lymphomas. The dose, volume and method of preparation and administration of intrathecal chemotherapy are highly variable in clinical p...

Background: Onco-hematological patients are particularly susceptible to drug-drug interactions (DDIs) because they often undergo multiple combined treatments. Some studies have analyzed the frequency of DDIs in adult patients with cancer; however, the prevalence of DDIs in children, and especially among pediatric cancer patients, remains unknown....

Background Little agreement exits between different drug interaction databases. Purpose To compare the frequency and severity of potential drug-drug interactions (DDIs) occurring in a haematological unit and detected by two drug interactions databases. Materials and methods A prospective, observational and descriptive study was carried out from Nov...

Background: Transarterial chemoembolization using microspheres is a new treatment option for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Objective: To assess the effectiveness of this technique, in terms of tumor response and overall survival rates, and to assess the procedure's safety. Setting: A General University Hospital in Spain. Methods: S...

Background: Due to their favorable toxicity profile and lack of interactions, benzodiazepines have been proposed as prophylaxis of busulfan induced seizures. Although they are broadly used in pediatric patients, the experience in adults is limited. Objective: To describe the effectivity for seizure prophylaxis of the fixed 1 mg every 8 h (q8h) i...

Background In recent years, many oral antineoplastic agents (OAAs) have appeared providing patient convenience. According to law, in the Autonomous Community of Región de Murcia (Spain), these drugs are dispensed at hospital pharmacies in the outpatient setting. Hospital pharmacists, because of their frequent contact with cancer patients on treatme...

Clofarabine is a purine nucleoside which has demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of relapsed leukemia in children. Among its adverse effects has been described the systemic inflammatory response syndrome development. This rare and potentially serious syndrome is due to the deregulation of inflammatory response. We described a case of a 10-year-o...

Background During the fourth year of training, pharmacy residents perform a rotation with the team doctor on various wards. Purpose To describe and to classify the interventions made during the rotation through the wards and to assess the level of acceptance of the interventions by the doctor. Materials and methods Prospective study of the interven...

IntroductionPeritoneal carcinomatosis is a form of intra-abdominal dissemination of several tumours, which is associated with a poor prognosis. Cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy is an alternative treatment. The aim of this study is to describe the toxicity associated with this procedure in patients with peritoneal...

IntroductionHepatocellular carcinoma is the most common and aggressive liver and biliary tumour. Hepatic chemoembolisation with doxorubicin-loaded DC Beads® is a local therapy for patients with localised nodes, which are not suitable for surgery. The objective of this study is to describe the clinical situations in which this procedure has been use...

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common and aggressive liver and biliary tumour. Hepatic chemoembolisation with doxorubicin-loaded DC Beads(®) is a local therapy for patients with localised nodes, which are not suitable for surgery. The objective of this study is to describe the clinical situations in which this procedure has been used and its...

Peritoneal carcinomatosis is a form of intra-abdominal dissemination of several tumours, which is associated with a poor prognosis. Cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy is an alternative treatment. The aim of this study is to describe the toxicity associated with this procedure in patients with peritoneal carcinomatos...

Since the publication of the MOSAIC test results in 2004, the FOLFOX4 regimen has been established as an adjuvant treatment which is recommended in stage III colorectal cancer. The aim of this study is to assess the use of this regimen in our field and to describe its toxicity. Descriptive study of treatments with FOLFOX4 prescribed between April 2...

Introducción: Desde la publicación de los resultados del estudio MOSAIC en 2004, el esquema FOLFOX4 se ha establecido como un tratamiento adyuvante recomendado en los cánceres colorrectales estadio III. El objetivo de este estudio es valorar la utilización de este esquema en nuestro ámbito y describir su toxicidad. Métodos: Estudio descriptivo de l...

Objective To describe and analyse the role of the pharmacy department in detecting errors in the prescription of cytostatic drugs. Method A retrospective study was carried out over a two year period (2003-2004), which reviewed the errors detected by pharmacists in chemotherapy prescriptions. Medication errors were classified according to the syste...

Objective To evaluate improvement in the quality of the prescription-transcription process of medical orders after the implantation of a pre-printed drug order. Method Nine quality criteria were defined: four were related to the drug prescription (name, dose, route of administration and regimen) and five were related to the transcription process (...

To report the case of a patient who developed a life-threatening agranulocytosis and acute tubular necrosis after the administration of allopurinol and rofecoxib. After minor surgery, a 70-year-old male underwent a routine blood test which encountered: anemia, leucopenia, neutropenia, thrombopenia, and altered creatinine levels. Both marrow and ren...

Objective: To evaluate improvement in the quality of the prescription-transcription process of medical orders after the implantation of a pre-printed drug order. Method: Nine quality criteria were defined: four were related to the drug prescription (name, dose, route of administration and regimen) and five were related to the transcription process...

The present article is the second of two ones in which a review about endectocides are reviewed out. In this second part, their pharmacologic activity, therapeutic use and toxicity are revised.

Gemcytabine is a new antineoplastic agent, a pyrimidine antimetabolite, which acts by inhibiting DNA synthesis. Its structure is similar to that of cytarabine, although its mechanism of action and tumoral activity are different. In this study we review its mechanism of action, pharmacokinetic characteristics, therapeutics efficacy, toxicity and dos...

The study consisted of evaluating the control of nausea and vomiting achieved with antiemetic schedules with granisetron, laid down in accordance with the emetogenic potency of the cytostatic agents. We carried out follow-up of all the cycles administered over six months in the oncology and hematology services and evaluated the results by direct in...

The study consisted in evaluating the control of nausea and vomiting achieved with an ondansetron plus dexamethasone versus a granisetron plus dexamethasone schedule, in cycles with phosphamide at severely emetic doses. The antiemetic response was classified as very good, good, fair and poor and it was assessed by means of a direct interview with t...

To describe and analyse the role of the pharmacy department in detecting errors in the prescription of cytostatic drugs. A retrospective study was carried out over a two year period (2003-2004), which reviewed the errors detected by pharmacists in chemotherapy prescriptions. Medication errors were classified according to the system published by Ote...

The aim of this study was to determine the incidence and severity of extrapyramidal side effects caused by treatment with moderate dose of haloperidol, alone or in association to biperiden, in patients suffering from recent schizophrenia. These adverse effects appeared in two groups of patients treated with haloperidol alone or with concomitant use...

The study has consisted in evaluating the control of nauseas and vomiting achieved with two antiemetic schedules in cycles of several days with iphosphamide at severely emetogenic doses. The antiemetic response was classified as very good, good, reasonable and poor and it was evaluated by direct patient interview. We compared two groups in accordan...

The study consisted of evaluating the control of nausea and vomiting achieved with antiemetic schedules laid down in accordance with the emetogenic potency of the cytostatic agents. We carried out follow-up of all the cycles administered over 3 months in the Oncology and Hematology Services and evaluated the results by direct interview of the patie...

El presente artículo es el primero de dos en los que se realiza una revisión sobre los endectocidas. En este primer artículo se habla del descubrimiento de estos productos y se señalan su estructura química, características fisico-químicas y farmacocinéticas.