European journal of gastroenterology & hepatology
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Patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer develop many symptoms as the disease progresses. However, the common problems of pain, nausea and vomiting, anorexia, constipation and intestinal obstruction can all be relieved by appropriate pharmacological treatment.
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Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol · Apr 2000
Short-acting general anaesthesia facilitates therapeutic ERCP in frail elderly patients with benign extra-hepatic biliary disease.
To ascertain whether therapeutic endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) for benign biliary disease in frail elderly patients with comorbid conditions can be safely undertaken in a district general hospital, and whether the procedure is facilitated by the use of short-acting general anaesthesia. ⋯ Bile duct clearance by therapeutic ERCP can be safely carried out in frail elderly patients in a district general hospital and the process is facilitated by the use of short-acting general anaesthesia. The importance of optimizing the patient's condition before ERCP, and not overfilling the pancreatic duct, is highlighted.