Arthralgia

Breast cancer patients who receive endocrine therapy particularly aromatase inhibitors often experience aromatase inhibitors associated symptoms (AIMSS) such as joint and muscle pain along with stiffness and fatigue that can disrupt with daily activities and lead some patients to stop treatment early. A structured intervention program named AIMSS-CARE (Aromatase Inhibitor-associated Musculoskeletal Symptoms-Comprehensive Adapted Rehabilitation Evaluation) developed in China that combines exercise, education, symptom monitoring, and follow-up has been shown to reduce these symptoms and improve treatment adherence. This study will adapt this program for use in Ethiopia while testing its effectiveness to enhance pain management, treatment adherence and quality of life among Ethiopian breast cancer patients receiving endocrine therapy. The study will be conducted at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Eighty-eight patients will be randomly assigned to either the adapted intervention program or usual care. The research will also examine the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention to patients and healthcare providers, and what factors influence its successful implementation. Results will help determine whether this program can be used more widely in Ethiopia and other African cancer centers.

Many people develop joint pain, stiffness and swelling due to their cancer treatment that targets the immune system. The severity of symptoms ranges from mild to debilitating and sometimes requires delaying or stopping cancer treatment. The usual plan is to discontinue cancer treatment and give relatively high doses of a medication called prednisone (a steroid, which is an anti-inflammatory medication which may suppress the immune system) with a gradual lowering of the dose over several weeks. While this can be effective, prednisone can cause a number of side effects, and it is not known if this is the best or safest treatment. Hydroxychloroquine is a medication that is often used to treat inflammatory joint pain, such as rheumatoid arthritis, has relatively few side effects when compared to prednisone, and may be effective at treating this condition. The purpose of this study is to find out whether it is better to receive hydroxychloroquine and prednisone, or prednisone alone for joint pain. To do this, some participants will get hydroxychloroquine and some will receive a placebo (a substance that looks like the study drug but does not have any active or medicinal ingredients). A placebo is used to make the results of the study more reliable. This is a double-blinded study, which means that neither participants nor the study doctor or study staff will know which group participants are allocated. After 12 weeks of study treatment, the blind will be opened and participants will be informed which treatment was given.

This study aims to evaluate the impact of a 12-week hand exercise program on pain, manual dexterity, and hand function in women experiencing hand joint pain (arthralgia) due to hormone therapy after breast cancer. Participants will be randomly assigned to either an intervention group, where they will perform specific hand exercises, or a control group, which will not receive any exercise program. Pain levels, hand function, and manual dexterity will be assessed before and after the intervention using questionnaires and functional tests. The goal is to determine whether targeted hand exercises can improve pain and daily hand use in this population.

The investigators plan to conduct a pilot 4-arm, randomized study comprising the following interventions: muscle strengthening exercises (MSE) alone, estrogen therapy (ET) alone, and a combination of MSE and ET, compared to usual care in women with menopausal arthralgia. The aim of this pilot study is to assess the feasibility, patient acceptability, and patient perspectives and logistics of delivering interventions, and practicability of outcome assessment tools in this 4-arm study over a 12-week period.

The purpose of this RCT is to investigate whether high tibial osteotomy using 3D printed patient specific guides aiming at 55% correction is non-inferior to aiming at 62%.