Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift
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Wien Med Wochenschr · May 2006
Case Reports[Is it possible to avoid pathological grief if relatives of patients with palliative diseases are supported?].
The transition from normal to pathological grief is smooth. If it is almost impossible to define normal grief with all the existing descriptions of grief phases and systematic models, then it is all the more difficult to define pathological or complicated grief, especially as the existence of remaining grief, or remaining grief that rises to the surface again through memories, are considered normal processes of grief. ⋯ The response to grief in this case report seems to be pathological or complicated because the process involved in grieving has been replaced by a kind of emotional stagnation, marked by aggression and a feeling of guilt. The family-centred therapeutic approach, taking in the whole family and aimed at discovering potential risk factors for the relatives and the strain they are under, as well as a recognition of the next-of-kin as "secondary patients" have an important role to play in the avoidance of pathological grief.
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Wien Med Wochenschr · May 2006
Case Reports[Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis--when planning is almost too late].
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a disease with progressive muscle weakness, also affecting respiratory muscles. In the terminal phase most patients experience a progression. Nutrition, speech and breathing capacity decrease. ⋯ Prolonging life is only possible by invasive long-term ventilation with all the problems of intensive care measures. The patient could have been given low dose morphine from the time of the family conference. Ventilation by CPAP-mode was insufficient for him.
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Psycho-oncology -- as the diction suggests -- is a multidisciplinary sub-specialty of oncology concerned with the emotional responses of patients at all stages of the disease, their families and staff. Psycho-oncology does not assume the responsibility of cancer cure but attends to the psychological, social and behavioural variables that influence cancer prevention, risk and survival. ⋯ Cancer-related fatigue, for example, disturbs patients' quality of life more often than pain. However, all too often doctors fail to pay enough attention to this unknown symptom.
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The aim of this study was to evaluate forearm and hand injuries in multitrauma patients and to compare this group of patients to the overall multitrauma population. ⋯ Multiple trauma patients with hand- and forearm injuries showed a statistically significant decreased injury severity and were younger compared to the overall multitrauma population.