Articles: palliative-care.
-
Obstetrics and gynecology · Sep 1986
Palliation of small bowel obstruction by percutaneous gastrostomy in patients with progressive ovarian carcinoma.
Percutaneous gastrostomy is a useful palliative technique for treatment of patients with bowel obstructions in advanced ovarian carcinoma. A description of the technique is presented along with a review of ten cases in which the procedure was used at The University of Texas M. ⋯ In all patients, the procedure was well tolerated and associated with little morbidity. In applicable cases, percutaneous gastrostomy appears to be superior to both nasogastric suction and operative gastrostomy for palliation of small bowel obstruction in terminal ovarian cancer.
-
A 48-year-old woman with non-small cell lung cancer involving the mediastinum and producing extrinsic tracheal compression is presented. The patient failed to respond to all conventional therapy and presented with stridor and respiratory distress due to progressive airway obstruction. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) by mask was used to physiologically stent the airway until a mechanical Silastic stent could be placed by tracheostomy.
-
During the past 15 years, 143 systemic pulmonary shunt procedures have been performed in 117 patients. These have been evaluated for their clinical effectiveness, the need for a repeat operation and the mortality; particular attention was paid to the Teflon shunt. Variations were found in shunt performance, depending on the primary defect, the type of shunt that was employed and the year of operation. ⋯ Two of the four patients had patent shunts. Results in the early part of this experience were less than acceptable owing to inferior shunting techniques, postoperative management errors and, particularly, inadequate follow-up surveillance. With correction of these factors we find that the modified Blalock shunt provides very good early and late mortality results, with excellent clinical palliation and patency rates.