We conclude that fatigue induced by chemotherapy is common and consistently associated with higher fatigue scores before treatment. Screening for fatigue before chemotherapy may help to identify patients who are prone to develop CIF.

SUMMARY INTRODUCTION: Cancer patients and their caregivers incur costs not covered by the Sistema Único de Saúde – SUS(Unified Health System) during their treatment, with expenses related to transportation, symptomatic medications, food, loss of working days, and others. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the costs incurred and not covered for cancer patients and their caregivers during cancer treatment at SUS. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study of 110 cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and 88 caregivers in the last month prior to their inclusion in the study. We correlated costs with clinical and sociodemographic variables such as gender, race, age, marital status, education, occupation, place of birth, origin, monthly income, family income, housing, comorbidities, types of cancer, and staging. RESULTS: We observed that the average cost for study patients was R$ 747.92, which corresponds to 78.4% of the minimum wage, and the average cost for caregivers was R$ 118.86, which is 12.46% of the minimum wage. Among all variables analyzed, the average overall monthly cost for patients was positively correlated with the occupation (p = 0.021) and origin (p = 0.038) variables. For the other variables, no significant associations were detected. CONCLUSION: The positive correlation found between occupation and origin variables with costs incurred and not covered for patients suggests that the creation of programs that enable the payment of costs not covered by SUS and the decentralization of access to cancer treatment could potentially facilitate patients' adherence to cancer treatment.

; João dos Martírios de Araújo Moura Fé 3A adiaspiromicose é uma doença fúngica sistêmica que acomete usualmente roedores e raramente atinge o homem. É causada pelo fungo Emmonsia crescens e ocorre após a inalação da forma contagiante (conídios). Embora estas formas não se multipliquem nem se disseminem no organismo humano, induzem uma reação inflamatória crônica granulomatosa de padrão miliar que pode levar a falência respiratória e morte. Apresentamos aqui um caso de adiaspiromicose pulmonar humana em paciente imunocompetente que exibia infiltrado intersticial pulmonar difuso ao exame de imagem e fora diagnosticado mediante biópsia pulmonar. Adiaspiromycosis is a systemic fungal disease that usually affects rodents and rarely infects humans. It is caused by the fungus Emmonsia crescens and occurs after inhalation of its contagious form (conidia).Although these forms neither multiply nor spread in the human body, they cause a chronic granulomatous inflammatory reaction of miliary pattern, which may lead to respiratory failure and death. In this study we present a case of human pulmonary adiaspiromycosis in an immunocompetent patient that showed a diffuse pulmonary interstitial infiltrate diagnosed by pulmonary biopsy. key words Emmonsia crescens Adiaspiromycosis ConidiaPulmonary surgical biopsy Pathology J Bras Patol Med Lab • v. 45 • n. 4 • p. 313-316 • agosto 2009

Resumo: Schwannoma é um tumor benigno, originário das células de schwann, raramente encontrado no trato gastrointestinal. Relata-se o caso de uma paciente, feminina, submetida a gastrectomia parcial associada a linfadenectomia, onde o exame anátomo patológico da peça cirúrgica demonstrou neoplasia fusocelular de baixo grau e a a pesquisa imunohistoquímica confirmou Schwannoma de esôfago. Conclusão: Com base na literatura disponível, optou-se por seguimento oncológico clínico trimestral do paciente.Abstract: Schwannoma is a benign tumor, originating from schwann cells, rarely found in the gastrointestinal tract. We report the case of a female patient, submitted to partial gastrectomy associated with lymphadenectomy, where pathological anatomical examination of the surgical specimen showed low-grade fusocellular neoplasia and the immunohistochemical investigation confirmed Schwannoma of the esophagus. Conclusion: Based on the available literature, we opted for clinical follow-up of the patient on a quarterly basis.