Running head: Annotated Bibliography
Annotated Bibliography
Jarrod Olafson
University of Central Florida
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Annotated Bibliography
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Abstract
After looking through medical journals through a preliminary genre analysis, I continued
analyzing the language and genres of my field by choosing the topic of cancer drugs. At first
I focused on the drug vincristine, and then I decided to expand my topic and focus on more
cancer drugs used in chemotherapy. I found academic articles relating to this topic, and
traced the arguments and patterns common to these articles. Through my research I found
articles that talk about vincristine, (Khan; Lennon; Moriyama) others that talk about
Rituximab, (Castro et al.; D'Arena et al.; Keating; Pamuk et al.) and others that talk about
Fludarabine (Bishop et al.; Long-Boyle et al.; Niermeijer et al.). These sources have helped
me identify the various aspects of the issue in relation to cancer research. In addition, these
articles have helped me continue exploring the genre conventions that I will need to learn
as I enter a new community through my major.
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Bishop et al. (2010). “Rapid vision loss associated with fludarabine administration.”
Retina, 30(8), 1272-1277.
Rachel Bishop, an ophthalmologist at the National Institutes of Health, suggests that
fludarabine toxicity can cause vision loss. Bishop supports this suggestion by
presenting three cases in which patients taking high doses of fludarabine have had
notably worse vision after administration. The purpose was to report the adverse
effects on these three cases in order to inform people to be on the lookout for these
side effects of Fludarabine toxicity. The intended audience is health professionals
who need to watch for these symptoms or researchers. This audience was targeted
by publishing in a medical journal and using specific cases.
Bishop states “Clinicians must consider the diagnosis of fludarabine toxicity in
patients who develop abrupt loss of vision several weeks after treatment with
fludarabine,” which shows she is writing to make doctors aware and wants them to
be on the lookout for this (Bishop 2010). This article is important to my topic
because vision loss is a very severe side effect and it can occur from this
chemotherapy drug. Also some patients don’t respond to fludarabine as well as
others, so other drugs are used. As Castro states, a few high doses of
methylprednisolone with rituximab is a very effective treatment in fludarabinerefractory patients (Castro 2009).
Castro et al. (2009). “Rituximab in combination with high dose methylprednisolone for the
treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia.” Leukemia, 23(10), 1779-1789.
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Januario Castro, a medical oncologist for the UC San Diego Health System, states
that a few high doses of methylprednisolone with rituximab is a very effective
treatment in fludarabine-refractory patients. Castro supports his statement by
presenting a twenty-eight patient study in which the results were very promising.
The purpose was to provide an alternative to patients who did not respond to
fludarabine in order to treat their disease better. The intended audience is doctors
wanting to offer their patients another alternative in chemotherapy, or researchers.
This audience was targeted by publishing in a medical journal and using data from
a study that had been done
Castro states, “Toxicity consisted primarily of fatigue, hyperglycemia, sinusitis, and
dyspepsia,” showing there are a few minor side effects to this treatment pathway
(Castro 2010). This article is important to my topic because it shows the side effects
of this course of treatment are very minor. This shows some treatment methods
can avoid the crippling side effects known to come with chemotherapy. This is
unlike what Kahn talks about where vincristine can cause major nerve damage
(2012).
D'Arena et al. (2010). “Chronic lymphocytic leukemia-associated immune
thrombocytopenia treated with rituximab: a retrospective study of 21 patients.”
European Journal of Haematology, 85(6), 502-507.
Giovanni D’arena, an Italian hematologist, asserts that using rituximab is a good
treatment for a low platelet count in patients with chronic lymphocytic
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leukemia(CLL). D’arena supports his assertion by showing the results from a study
in twenty-one patients. The purpose was to treat a low platelet count in CLL
patients in order to provide a valid treatment for a side effect that has had no
treatment so far. The intended audience is doctors or researchers. This audience is
targeted by publishing in a medical journal and using data from a study that had
been done.
D’arena stated “There are no standard therapies for chronic
lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)-associated immune thrombocytopenia (IT) so far,” so
he wanted to find a successful course of treatment for this complication of CLL
(D’arena 2010). This article is important to my topic because IT is a major
complication of CLL and affects a lot of people. So with the use of rituximab, the
treatment for many people would be better. Like in Pamuk’s article, this article
deals with rituximab being a great treatment for complications of CLL (2006).
Keating, G. M. (2011). “Spotlight on Rituximab in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, lowgrade or follicular lymphoma, and diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma.” BioDrugs,
25(1), 55-61.
Gillian Keating, a researcher from Ireland, claims rituximab is a very good drug to
add on top of other regimens and make them work much better. Keating supports
this claim by reviewing various cases in which rituximab was used in this manner.
The purpose was to research and make sure rituximab was working as it should in
most patients in order to keep using the right chemotherapy drugs. The intended
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audience is doctors or researchers. This audience is targeted by publishing in a
medical journal and talking about specific cases.
After Keating did her analysis of rituximab she concluded “rituximab remains a
valuable therapy in patients with CLL” (Keating 2011). So after scrutiny, the drug
held up as a useful treatment. This article is important to my topic because it shows
how valuable rituximab is to many patients. Like D’arena, this article mainly deals
with blood cancers, mostly CLL (2010).
Khan et al. (2012). “Vincristine and bortezomib cause axon outgrowth and behavioral
defects in larval zebrafish.” Journal of the Peripheral Nervous System, 17, 76-89.
Tahsin Khan, a researcher at MIT, suggests that vincristine causes damage to the
peripheral nervous system, and even deformation in large enough doses for
developing children. Khan supports this suggestion by showing the results of an
experiment involving giving vincristine to larval zebrafish. The purpose was to show
the side effects of vincristine in order to better understand how the drug works in
human cancer patients. The intended audience consists of health professionals or
researchers interested in these side effects. The audience is targeted by publishing
in a medical journal and citing research that had been done.
This article is relevant to my research because it talks about the side effects of a
cancer drug. In this article, Khan specifically shows the effects on the nervous
system, a lot like Lennon’s article but with an experiment instead of a single case
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study (2012). Khan states “Peripheral neuropathy can be caused by a number of
pharmaceutical compounds, including many with chemotherapeutic applications”
(Khan 2012). So vincristine is not the only chemotherapy drug to pose the risk of
nervous system damage.
Lennon, A. S., Norales, G., & Armstrong, M. B. (2012). “Cardiac arrest and possible seizure
activity after vincristine injection.” Am J Health-Syst Pharm, 69, 1394-1397.
Angela Lennon, a clinical pharmacist for Duke University, states that cardiac arrest
and possible seizure activity were noted shortly after vincristine injection. Lennon
supports this by showing the case in which it occurred, then talking about how
vincristine affects the nervous system. Her purpose was to propose a possible
adverse reaction to the drug in order to make people aware of what might occur
after administration of vincristine. The intended audience consists of health
professionals or researchers interested in these side effects. The audience is
targeted by publishing in a medical journal and using a specific patient’s case as an
example.
Lennon stated “She received multiple doses of the drug before and after this event
without a similar reaction,” implying that this was a onetime cardiac arrest event
and the drug will still be useful for this patient (Lennon 2012). This article is
important to my topic because it shows one extreme case of an adverse side effect of
vincristine. Unlike most of the other articles, this one only uses one patient as
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evidence. Like Khan, these are nervous system side effects, common to
chemotherapy drugs (2012).
Long-Boyle et al. (2010). “High fludarabine exposure and relationship with treatmentrelated mortality after nonmyeloablative hematopoietic cell transplantation.” Bone
Marrow Transplantation, 1, 55-65.
Janel Long-Boyle, an assistant professor at UC San Francisco, suggests that
fludarabine should be used carefully around hematopoietic cell transplantation as
it is easy to develop toxicity and adverse side effects. Long-Boyle supports this by
presenting a study involving 86 patients. Her purpose was to show the possibility
of adverse interaction in this situation in order for future treatment to be adjusted
properly. The intended audience is doctors or researchers. This audience is
targeted by publishing in a medical journal and using data from a study that had
been done
Long-Boyle states “These data suggest that clinical strategies are needed to optimize
dosing of fludarabine to prevent overexposure and toxicity in HCT” (Long-Boyle
2010). Here, HCT refers to hematopoietic cell transplantation. She is saying toxicity
of fludarabine is much easier around HCT so the amount being giving should be
monitored closely. This article is important to my topic because adverse side effects
can happen very easily around HCT with Fludarabine. This article is like
Moriyama’s, because they both talk about how a cancer drug can interact and
toxicity can occur much easier (2012). Drug interactions need to be monitored
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closely to avoid overdose.
Moriyama et al. (2012). “Adverse interactions between antifungal azoles and vincristine:
review and analysis of cases.” Mycoses, 55, 290-297.
Brad Moriyama, a pharmacist who works at the National Institutes of Health,
asserts that antifungal medications in the azole group block the metabolism of
vincristine from the body and cause vincristine toxicity. Moriyama supports this
assertion by showing data collected from all reports of adverse reaction with the
combination of azole antifungal medication and vincristine. His purpose was to
show a trend of adverse reaction with the use of the two drugs together in order to
protect future patients from adverse reactions by using other antifungals in place of
azoles. The intended audience of this article is researchers wanting to test this data,
or doctors. The audience is targeted by publishing in a medical journal and using
data found connecting two drugs with adverse effects.
Moriyama stated “These adverse interactions occurred at standard dosages of
vincristine and antifungal agents.,” meaning adverse reactions could happen even
without an intense chemotherapy program (Moriyama 2012). This article is
important to my topic because doctors and pharmacists need to watch out for
combining these types of drugs and avoiding these side effects. This article is just
like Long-Boyle’s article as they both explain the hazard of cancer drugs interacting
with other drugs or procedures. It greatly increases probability of toxicity and
adverse side effects (Long-Boyle 2010).
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Niermeijer et al. (2006). “Neurologic and hematologic response to fludarabine treatment in
IgM MGUS polyneuropathy.” Neurology, 67(11), 2076-2079.
Martinus Niermeijer, a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the
Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam, asserts that fludarabine causes a low white
blood cell count while being administered but is reversible. Niermeijer supports
this by presenting a study in which this was the case. His purpose was to show an
adverse effects of fludarabine in order to make people aware they would be more
susceptible to infection. The intended audience of this article is researchers
wanting to test this data, or doctors. The audience is targeted by publishing in a
medical journal and using data from a clinical study.
Niermeijer stated “Patient 13 had a prolonged but reversible leucopenia without
infections and stopped therapy after four cycles with good response to therapy”
(Niermeijer 2006). This means that this patient was more susceptible to infections
but did not acquire one. This article is important to my topic because it shows the
side effect of a lower immune system with fludarabine. Like Khan’s article, this
article talked about one side effect. But unlike Khan’s article this side effect was
reversed when treatment stopped. Peripheral neuropathy caused by chemotherapy
can last a lifetime (Khan 2012).
Pamuk et al. (2006). “The successful treatment of refractory autoimmune hemolytic anemia
with rituximab in a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.” American Journal
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of Hematology, 81(8), 631-633.
Pamuk, a researcher at Trakya University in Turkey, asserts that rituximab has
fewer side effects than other drugs in the treatment of complications with chronic
lymphocytic leukemia. Pamuk supports this by presenting a patients case in which
autoimmune hemolytic anemia was cured in a patient with CLL using rituximab.
The purpose was to propose an alternative treatment in order to give certain
patients a better option for treatment. The intended audience of this article is
researchers wanting to test this data, or doctors. The audience is targeted by
publishing in a medical journal and using a specific case example.
Pamuk states “The most frequent autoimmune complication in chronic
lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA)” (Pamuk
2006). Because this is the most common complication, Pamuk wanted to find many
courses of treatment to suit different patients. This article is important to my topic
because it shows a course of treatment with less side effects using rituximab. Like
Keating, this article talks about how Rituximab can be a better treatment for many
patients with blood cancers that have an excess number of B-cells (2011). It often
has less severe side effects.