Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Jul 2015
Observational StudyTherapeutic futility in cancer patients at the time of palliative care transition: An analysis with a modified version of the Medication Appropriateness Index.
Palliative Care professionals are often confronted with therapeutic futility, consisting in inappropriate strategies that do not add any advantage to the patient and may actually increase adverse events. Scientific literature concerning this issue is lacking. This article is one of the first to study therapeutic futility specifically at the time of transition to the palliative care setting. ⋯ This article tried to evaluate the main causes of therapeutic futility at the palliative care transition. The principal causes of inappropriateness were absence of clinical indication, clinically significant drug-disease/comorbidity interactions, and incorrect dosage/posology.
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Palliative medicine · Jul 2015
Use of nasal fentanyl for cancer pain: A pharmacoepidemiological study.
Breakthrough pain affects 40%-90% of patients with cancer pain. Nasal fentanyl is one of the recommended treatments, particularly if the breakthrough pain is of rapid onset. ⋯ The use of nasal fentanyl was surprisingly low. There is a need for clinical research addressing the use of nasal fentanyl without a long-acting opioid for background pain and the use of nasal fentanyl together with another short-acting opioid.