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Evidence summaries

Interventions for Cough in Cancer

Brachytherapy, lasertherapy or photodynamic therapy and varying pharmacological agents including morphine and codeine might possibly be effective for palliation of cough in lung cancer, though evidence is insufficient. Level of evidence: "D"

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 assessed 17 trials for interventions for cough in 1 390 patients with mainly lung cancer. Heterogeneity of the studies precluded the use of RR or NNT calculation. Eight studies examined non-pharmacological interventions other than external beam radiation; brachytherapy, laser therapy or photodynamic therapy with varying doses. All interventions seemed to result in some palliation for cough in selected participants. Varying pharmacological interventions other than chemotherapy were assessed in nine studies. Some palliation was achieved with morphine, codeine, dihydrocodeine, sodium cromoglycate and cough syrup (butamirate citrate lingus).

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by study quality (inadequate or unclear allocation concealment, lack of blinding, limited study size), by indirectness (differences in studied interventions and reported outcomes) and by potential reporting bias.

References

  • Molassiotis A, Bailey C, Caress A et al. Interventions for cough in cancer. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2015;(5):CD007881. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords