Articles: palliative-care.
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Patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have a poor quality of life and limited life expectancy. This study examined whether these patients were relatively disadvantaged in terms of medical and social care compared with a group with inoperable lung cancer. ⋯ This study suggests that patients with end stage COPD have significantly impaired quality of life and emotional well being which may not be as well met as those of patients with lung cancer, nor do they receive holistic care appropriate to their needs.
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Gan To Kagaku Ryoho · Dec 2000
Case Reports[Home drug therapy for a patient who rejected use of morphine--management of dyspnea and pain by codeine phosphate].
We encountered a terminal lung cancer patient with severe back pain and dyspnea who refused the use of morphine, and succeeded in home palliative care with the use of an original prescription (CA), the main ingredient of which was codeine phosphate.
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Dec 2000
The short- and mid-term results of bidirectional cavopulmonary shunt with additional source of pulmonary blood flow as definitive palliation for the functional single ventricular heart.
The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the early and late outcomes of bidirectional cavopulmonary shunt (BCPS) as a definitive procedure for the functional single ventricular heart. ⋯ Due to the high mortality after conversion to Fontan circulation in patients whose conditions had deteriorated, we could not demonstrate the clear superiority of long-term BCPS over the construction of Fontan circulation for management of the functional single ventricular heart. If deteriorated conditions were successfully managed in the late period, the outcome of long-term BCPS would have been better.
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Although morphine is the mainstay of pharmacological therapy in cancer pain, it remains feared and suboptimally used. Different formulations and the advent of 'new' opioids facilitate the attainment of pain control. ⋯ The optimal application of opioids is governed by their clinical pharmacology and hindered by unfounded fears and misunderstanding. Different formulations within different types of opioids augment a favourable balance in the pain relief versus adverse effects equation and used within a four point approach, should serve to deliver optimal pain control.