Viola, R., Kiteley, C., Lloyd, N.S., Mackay, J.A., Wilson, J., Wong, R.K., & Supportive Care Guidelines Group of the Cancer Care Ontario Program in Evidence-Based Care. (2008). The management of dyspnea in cancer patients: A systematic review. Supportive Care in Cancer, 16(4), 329-337.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of four drug classes: opioids, phenothiazines, benzodiazepines, and systemic.
Databases searched were HealthSTAR, MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and Database of Abstracts and Reviews of Effects Issue 2, American Society of Clinical Oncology conference proceedings (1995-2006), Canadian Medical Association Infobase, and National Guidelines Clearing House. Reference lists from relevant articles were searched for additional trials
Search keywords were dyspnea, breathlessness, shortness of breath, respiratory distress, breath and shortness, and breath and difficult combined with terms for pharmacologic agnets, study designs, and publication types.
Inclusion criteria included
• Systematic reviews
• Meta-analyses
• Evidence-based practice guidelines
• Fully published or abstract reports of randomized or nonrandomized controlled studies of opioids, phenothiazines, or benzodiazepines administered by any route involving adult patients with dyspnea
• Subjects with any advanced disease
• Studies involving corticosteroids, only if the primary advanced disease was cancer
• Studies in which one of the outcomes reported was dyspnea, measured by a patient-reported scale.
Exclusion criteria included
• Studies in languages other than English
• Stuides eported in letters or editorials.
The total sample across 29 trials was 600 patients, with individual sample sizes ranging from 4-101. Trials included involved