Palliative medicine
-
Palliative medicine · Feb 2025
Associations between physicians' personal preferences for end-of-life decisions and their own clinical practice: PROPEL survey study in Europe, North America, and Australia.
Physicians have significant influence on end-of-life decisions. Therefore, it is important to understand the connection between physicians' personal end-of-life care preferences and clinical practice, and whether there is congruence between what they prefer for themselves and for patients. ⋯ Physicians consider their own preferences when providing care and their preferences impact the recommendations they make to patients. Incongruence exists between what physicians prefer for themselves and what they prefer for patients.
-
Palliative medicine · Feb 2025
Multicenter Study Observational StudyChanges in perception of prognosis in the last year of life of patients with advanced cancer and its associated factors: Longitudinal results of the eQuiPe study.
Many patients with advanced cancer are unaware of their limited prognosis, however little is known about the change in awareness during the last year of their lives. ⋯ Becoming aware of their limited prognosis may make patients with advanced cancer more receptive to start end-of-life discussions. Although some patients prefer not to know their prognosis, it remains important to respectfully explore their preferences and wishes for end-of-life care.
-
Palliative medicine · Feb 2025
ReviewA scoping review of global patterns in reporting race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion in palliative care randomized controlled trials: Recommendations for transparency.
Though randomized controlled trials of non-pharmacological palliative care interventions have shown positive outcomes, findings are often generalized with limited consideration for the impact of the influence of race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion on said outcomes. ⋯ Improving greater transparency in study reporting of social and historical context about population demographics, including specific demographic data collected, may better identify unmet palliative needs, facilitate cross-cultural interpretation, and improve adaptation and implementation of non-pharmacological palliative care interventions.
-
Palliative medicine · Feb 2025
Randomized Controlled TrialOrally dissolving pilocarpine tablets for xerostomia in advanced cancer: A pilot N-of-1 feasibility study.
Xerostomia is a common and difficult symptom experienced by patients with cancer. Pilocarpine is a cholinergic agent that stimulates salivation. ⋯ Recruitment to an N-of-1 trial for xerostomia is feasible but attrition was high (50%). Early dropout may have been due to the trial length, complexity, appropriateness or number of questionnaires. Adverse events were generally mild. Two of 10 participants were considered to have benefited from pilocarpine warranting ongoing treatment.
-
Palliative medicine · Feb 2025
Palliative and end-of-life care for patients with pleural mesothelioma: A cohort study.
Pleural mesothelioma is a rare and incurable cancer, with complex physical and psychological symptoms. Despite recent advances in treatment, prognosis remains poor (average 8-15 months) with a lack of research on palliative and end-of-life care. ⋯ Patients with pleural mesothelioma have unplanned admissions to hospital towards the end of life, with possible inequalities; they receive late advance care planning and face challenges unique to their disease. It is important that patients receive high quality palliative end-of-life care through accessing specialist palliative care or have guidance/signposting to other potential sources of support.