Articles: palliative-care.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
A prospective, randomised double-blind crossover study to examine the efficacy of strontium-89 in pain palliation in patients with advanced prostate cancer metastatic to bone.
The palliative efficacy of strontium-89 chloride has been evaluated in a prospective double-blind crossover study comparing it with stable strontium as placebo in 32 patients with prostate cancer metastatic to bone. Response was assessed 5 weeks after each treatment. 26 patients were evaluable. Complete pain relief was only reported following strontium-89 injection. Statistical comparison between placebo and strontium-89 showed clear evidence of a therapeutic response to strontium-89 compared with only a limited placebo effect (P less than 0.01).
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Embert Van Tilburg, a specialist in palliative care, shares his insights about the total care of those who are terminally ill due to cancer or AIDS, or of the many elderly who are "dying in the slow lane" in so many of our chronic care institutions.
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We describe a simple method for the assessment of symptoms twice a day in patients admitted to a palliative care unit. Eight visual analog scales (VAS) 0-100 mm are completed either by the patient alone, by the patient with nurse's assistance, or by the nurses or relatives at 10:00 and 18:00 hours, in order to indicate the levels of pain, activity, nausea, depression, anxiety, drowsiness, appetite, and sensation of well-being. The information is then transferred to a graph that contains the assessments of up to 21 days on each page. ⋯ S.), nurse alone (p = N. S.), or relative (p less than 0.01) respectively. We conclude that this is a simple and useful method for the regular assessment of symptom distress in the palliative care setting.