Journal of pain and symptom management
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2025
The distress and benefits of the Bereaved Family Survey: A mortality follow-back survey.
The Bereaved Family Survey is an important method for evaluating the quality of palliative care. ⋯ Bereaved family members experience both distress and benefits. There is need to devise ways to reduce distress and increase its benefits to continue assessing the quality of palliative care.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2025
Case ReportsHypothalamic Hyperphagia in the Hospice Patient: Case Report and Discussion.
We present a case of insatiable appetite and harmful overeating in a hospice patient that showcases the burden of hypothalamic hyperphagia, a rare complication of brain cancer. While confounders exist such as progression of disease and prior tapering of dexamethasone, in this case the initiation of metformin was associated with substantial appetite reduction and resolution of our patient's debilitating food-seeking behaviors. We will explore metformin as a potential cost-effective option for palliation in a hospice setting and explore some of the physiologic mechanisms involved.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2025
Pain in palliative cancer patients - Analysis of the German National Palliative Care Registry.
Palliative care aims to improve the quality of life in patients with progressive diseases such as cancer. Effective cancer pain management is a major challenge of palliative treatment. Empirical data on the prevalence of cancer pain, the efficiency of pain treatment and influencing factors are scarce. ⋯ Data from the German Palliative Care Registry confirmed that although increasingly better addressed over the years, insufficiently controlled cancer pain remains a challenge for palliative care units. Patient-specific (e.g. psychological comorbidity) and cancer-related (e.g. bone or cartilage cancer) risk factors for poor pain treatment underline the need for individualized multimodal pain management including psychological support.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2025
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyParent Views on Parent & Child-reported Outcomes in Pediatric Advanced Cancer: A Qualitative Study.
Research on concurrent parent and patient-reported outcomes has primarily focused on reaching agreement. However, little is known about how to interpret and address discrepancies, which are not uncommon, between both viewpoints. ⋯ gov NCT03408314.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2025
ReviewValidation of Pediatric Self-Report Pain Scales in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review.
Pediatric self-report pain scales must be validated in cultural/language contexts to provide optimal pain management. Sub-Saharan Africa included vast numbers of people groups, cultures, and languages. ⋯ 5 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have a self-report pediatric pain scale validated in their national language/context. Validation methods varied widely from qualitative to quantitative, including convergent, discriminant and face validity. Given the burden of pediatric pain in sub-Saharan Africa, further work is required to provide culturally appropriate and language-specific pain tools.