Journal of pain and symptom management
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Therapeutic Reviews aim to provide essential independent information for health professionals about drugs used in palliative and hospice care. Additional content is available on www.palliativedrugs.com. Country-specific books (Hospice and Palliative Care Formulary USA, and Palliative Care Formulary, British and Canadian editions) are also available and can be ordered from www.palliativedrugs.com. The series editors welcome feedback on the articles (hq@palliativedrugs.com).
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Nov 2012
Review Meta AnalysisThe role of ondansetron in the management of cholestatic or uremic pruritus--a systematic review.
Pruritus associated with hepatic or renal failure can be a troublesome symptom, refractory to treatment and associated with significant physical and emotional distress and a reduction in quality of life for patients already burdened with chronic disease. Serotonin has been implicated as a possible pathological mediator, and, therefore, 5HT(3) antagonists have been suggested as a possible therapeutic intervention. ⋯ Ondansetron was demonstrated to have negligible effect on cholestatic or uremic pruritus on the basis of a limited number of studies.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Nov 2012
Review Meta AnalysisFatigue in hemodialysis patients: a review of current knowledge.
End-stage renal disease is a common chronic illness increasing in incidence and prevalence. Although kidney function is partially replaced through dialysis, patients endure many symptoms of the disease such as fatigue. Many factors have been studied regarding their relationship with fatigue in this population. ⋯ Further work in this area of inquiry would be of benefit and may shed light on the domains of life that are affected by fatigue for hemodialysis patients. It also may help deepen our knowledge regarding correlates that could identify hemodialysis patients who are at increased risk for fatigue.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Nov 2012
Randomized Controlled TrialSurvey burden for family members surveyed about end-of-life care in the intensive care unit.
Family surveys are an important source of information about quality of end-of-life care in the intensive care unit (ICU). The burden associated with completing such surveys is not well studied. ⋯ Most families reported no to low burden. Family members who live with their loved one are particularly vulnerable to survey burden and those of older patients report less burden. The association between low quality-of-care ratings and survey burden suggests that the response bias in this type of research is toward overestimating quality of care.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Nov 2012
Multicenter StudyAssessment of the psychometric properties of an English version of the cancer dyspnea scale in people with advanced lung cancer.
Dyspnea is a poorly understood subjective sensation. Existing dyspnea measures fail to adequately address its multidimensionality. A Japanese group developed and validated the Cancer Dyspnea Scale (CDS) for assessing dyspnea in patients with advanced lung cancer. ⋯ The CDS-E and r-CDS-E are reliable and valid measures of the sensation and the psychological components of dyspnea, with the shorter version having similar psychometric properties.