Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Jul 2022
Prospective case series of neuropathic cancer pain in patients treated with an EGFR-inhibitor.
Novel treatments of neuropathic pain are urgently needed. Rapid relief of neuropathic cancer pain in patients treated with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors have been reported. Experiments in rodent models confirm the pain relief and reveal novel mechanisms critically involving the EGFR. Clinical pain research is complicated and patients with advanced cancer are heterogeneous, often with complex, deteriorating clinical pictures, hampering feasibility of drug-trial procedures. ⋯ Innovative research methods must be considered for much needed pivotal trials.
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Palliative medicine · Jul 2022
COVID-19: Challenges and solutions for the provision of care to seriously ill and dying people and their relatives during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic - perspectives of pandemic response team members: A qualitative study on the basis of expert interviews (part of PallPan).
During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic's initial waves, bans on visiting and isolation measures placed limits on providing services for seriously ill and dying people and their relatives. Pandemic response teams at governmental level (macro), at federal state and municipal level (meso) and in healthcare facilities (micro) played their role in pandemic management procedures. ⋯ Pandemic response teams evidently struggled to find appropriate solutions to ease pandemic-related impact on the care of seriously ill and dying patients and their relatives. We recommend bringing palliative care expertise on board.
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Palliative medicine · Jul 2022
Meta AnalysisThe utility of the surprise question: A useful tool for identifying patients nearing the last phase of life? A systematic review and meta-analysis.
The surprise question is widely used to identify patients nearing the last phase of life. Potential differences in accuracy between timeframe, patient subgroups and type of healthcare professionals answering the surprise question have been suggested. Recent studies might give new insights. ⋯ We found overall reasonable test characteristics for the surprise question. Additionally, this study showed notable differences in performance within patient subgroups. However, we did not find an indication of notable differences between timeframe and healthcare professionals.