Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Aug 2016
Multicenter StudyQuality of Life in Children with Advanced Cancer: A Report from the PediQUEST Study.
Modifiable factors of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) are poorly described among children with advanced cancer. Symptom distress may be an important factor for intervention. ⋯ Symptom distress is strongly associated with HRQOL. Future research should determine whether alleviating distressing symptoms improves HRQOL in children with advanced cancer.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Aug 2016
ReviewWhat Aspects of Quality of Life Are Important from Palliative Care Patients' Perspectives? A Systematic Review of Qualitative Research.
Despite the availability of numerous tools professing to measure quality of life (QOL) in the palliative care setting, no single instrument includes all patient-valued domains. ⋯ A broad range of domains are important to the QOL of people with life-limiting illnesses receiving palliation. Refinement of measures is needed to help ensure services address issues valued by patients such as preparation for death and aspects of health care provision, elements which are seldom included in currently available preference-based measures used to inform value for money decisions in palliative care.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Aug 2016
Observational StudyBispectral Index (BIS) Monitoring in Terminally Ill Patients: A Validation Study.
If regular therapies cannot relieve symptoms sufficiently in the last days of life, continuous palliative sedation may serve to reduce consciousness. Sedation level can be measured with EEG monitoring with the bispectral index (BIS) monitor. ⋯ This is one of the first validation studies in which BIS monitoring in end-of-life patients is described. BIS monitoring is feasible in unconscious terminally ill patients. However, based on our results, the wide range of BIS values in deeply sedated and comfortable patients seems to hamper its use in daily clinical practice.