Nursing Interventions Improve Outcomes of RCC With Postoperative IL-2, Interferon

Nursing interventions improved treatment outcomes for patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) treated with postoperative interleukin-2 (IL-2) and recombinant human interferon, according to recent study’s findings reported in the Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare.

In this retrospective study, data on patients with RCC who received postoperative IL-2 and recombinant human interferon were obtained from medical records at a tertiary care hospital. Patients were assigned to a control group, which received standard postoperative care, or an intervention group, which received standard care plus additional nursing interventions — including psychological care, vital signs monitoring, dietary care, adverse reaction management, and postdischarge care. 

Patients who had additional major diseases or other malignancies were not included in the analysis. The study investigators focused on assessments related to clinical symptom improvement, treatment efficacy, and postoperative adverse reactions.

Ninety patients were included in the study (43 in the control group and 47 in the intervention group). Demographic characteristics and mean disease durations were considered similar between groups. 

Among the outcomes, fever resolution duration was significantly shorter in the nursing intervention group than in the control group (P =.031). Additionally, leukocyte normalization time (P =.041) and duration of postoperative hospital stay (P =.001) were significantly shorter in the nursing intervention group than in the control group. 

Overall effectiveness of treatment and care — including complete remission, partial remission, improvement, stability, and deterioration — were similar between the groups: 90.7% in the nursing intervention group, compared with 95.8% in the control group (P =.154). 

Postoperative adverse reactions were significantly lower in the nursing intervention group than in the control group (6.3% vs 23.2%; P =.036). Adverse reactions included in this analysis were fever, gastrointestinal symptoms, bone marrow suppression, and neurologic abnormalities. 

“Our findings suggest that nursing interventions may enhance treatment outcomes and reduce postoperative adverse reactions, although the overall effectiveness of treatment and care was similar between the intervention and control groups,” the study investigators concluded. 

“These findings underscore the importance of integrating comprehensive nursing care into the treatment regimen for these patients,” they continued. However, they also emphasized that the study findings were preliminary and that additional research in this area is needed to understand the influence of nursing interventions in this setting.