Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2019
Personalized goal for dyspnea and clinical response in advanced cancer patients.
The clinical response after comprehensive symptom management is difficult to determine in terms of a clinically important difference. Moreover, therapies should try to reach the threshold perceived by the individual patient for the determination of a favorable response to a treatment. ⋯ Patient Dyspnea Goal Response and Patient Global Impression seem to be relevant for evaluating the effects of a comprehensive management of symptoms, including dyspnea, assisting decision making process. Some factors may be implicated in determining the individual target and clinical response. A personalized symptom goal may translate in terms of therapeutic intervention, according to the achievement of the patients' expectations. High values of dyspnea intensity, a lower Karnofsky level, as well as high level of Dyspnea Intensity Goal (that is less patients' expectations) favor the achievement of the target.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2019
Letter Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative StudyComparability of the Australian national Cancer Symptom Trials (CST) group's study populations to national referrals to non-CST specialist palliative care services participating in the Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC).
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2019
Family caregivers' subjective caregiving burden, quality of life, and depressive symptoms are associated with terminally ill cancer patients' distinct patterns of conjoint symptom distress and functional impairment in their last 6 months of life.
Family caregivers constitute a critical component of the end-of-life care system with considerable cost to themselves. However, the joint association of terminally ill cancer patients' symptom distress and functional impairment with caregivers' subjective caregiving burden, quality of life (QOL), and depressive symptoms remains unknown. ⋯ Patients' five distinct, conjoint symptom-functional states were significantly and differentially associated with their caregivers' worse subjective caregiving burden, QOL, and depressive symptoms while caring for patients over their last 6 months.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2019
Randomized Controlled TrialThe possible Preventive Role of Pregabalin in Post-mastectomy Pain Syndrome: A Double-Blinded Randomized Controlled Trial.
Chronic postmastectomy pain syndrome (PMPS) has a considerable negative impact on the quality of life of breast cancer patients. ⋯ Perioperative oral pregabalin 75 mg twice daily, starting at the morning of surgery and continued for one week, could reduce the frequency of postmastectomy pain syndrome.