Journal of palliative medicine
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Many seriously ill patients undergo surgical interventions. Palliative care clinicians may not be familiar with the nuances involved in perioperative care, however they can play a valuable role in enabling the delivery of patient-centered and goal-concordant perioperative care. ⋯ Palliative care clinicians may also be called upon to direct discussions around perioperative management of modified code status orders and to engage around the goal-concordance of proposed interventions. This article, written by a team of surgeons and anesthesiologists, many with subspecialty training in palliative medicine and/or ethics, offers ten tips to support palliative care clinicians and facilitate comprehensive discussion as they engage with patients and clinicians considering surgical interventions.
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Background: Rectal prolapse is a circumferential, full-thickness protrusion of the rectum through the anus, which, if not properly managed, may become incarcerated and pose a risk of strangulation. This pathology is rarely a medical emergency unless a complication is encountered. Such complications include infection, necrosis, perforation, incarceration, and uncontrolled pain. ⋯ Conclusion: Topical MB may be an effective analgesic for the management of pain associated with chronic rectal prolapse. This treatment might be extrapolated to other clinical scenarios of tegumentary pain. Similar use has been shown to be safe and effective in other pathologies, including pain in oral mucositis associated with cancer therapy.
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In this report, we present the case of an older adult with severe obesity and multiple comorbidities, including heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), who experienced a prolonged decline complicated by recurrent hospitalizations and skilled nursing facility stays during the two years preceding death. This case highlights challenges in prognostication attributed to severe obesity complicated by HFpEF, which likely delayed goals of care conversations, and access to palliative care and hospice, despite high symptom burden. We discuss prognostic uncertainty among those with severe obesity and outline potential future directions.