Journal of palliative medicine
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Olanzapine is commonly utilized in palliative care for the treatment of nausea, and a known side effect of olanzapine is increased appetite. Olanzapine is also known to cause re-emergence of eating disorders (EDs) in patients utilizing olanzapine for its antipsychotic effects. It is unclear to what extent this may also occur in patients with serious/life-limiting illness. ⋯ It is important to recognize that recurrence of EDs can occur when using olanzapine in the palliative care setting.
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Advance care planning (ACP) is recommended for people with cystic fibrosis (CF), yet guidance for optimal implementation is lacking. ⋯ People with CF worry about advanced disease and feel comfortable discussing ACP, but need more guidance to understand and document ACP choices. CF patient experiences and preferences support implementation of an early, active approach to ACP for people with CF.
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Prognosis communication is one hypothesized mechanism by which effective palliative care (PC) promotes preference-concordant treatment near end of life (EOL), but little is known about this relationship. ⋯ Talking about expectations for remaining length of life during PC consultations is associated with six-month hospice enrollment among people with advanced cancer who endorse preferences for EOL treatment that favor comfort over longevity.
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The utilization of the health care system varies in relation to cohabitation status, but conflicting results have been found in studies investigating the association in relation to specialized palliative care (SPC). ⋯ Cohabiting individuals were favored in admittance to SPC. Compared with cohabiting patients it is unlikely that patients living alone have lower needs for SPC: results point toward inequity in admittance to specialist health care, a problem that should be addressed.
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Cancer pain remains a difficult problem, for which opioids are often necessary. At present it is difficult to predict the effectiveness of opioid therapy. ⋯ Careful analyses of patient attributes, treatment, and pain type of patients with head and neck cancer resulted in a prediction model that allowed to predict short-term pain relief and the opioid treatment response in neuropathic and nociceptive pain owing to cancer.