Articles: palliative-care.
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Cancer pain, one of the most common symptoms for patients with advanced cancer, is often refractory to maximal medical therapy. A controlled clinical trial is needed to provide definitive evidence to support the use of ablative procedures such as cordotomy for patients with medically refractory cancer pain. ⋯ This randomized clinical trial comparing cordotomy with a control intervention will provide the level of evidence necessary to determine whether cordotomy should be the standard of care intervention for patients with advanced cancer pain.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Aug 2020
CommentPalliative Care Utilization among Patients with COVID-19 in an Underserved Population: A Single-Center Retrospective Study.
As health-care institutions mobilize resources to address the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, palliative care may potentially be underutilized. It is important to assess the use of palliative care in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ There was a low utilization rate of palliative care in patients with COVID-19. Conscious utilization of palliative care is needed at the time of COVID-19.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Aug 2020
Availability of Internationally Controlled Essential Medicines in the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Section 2 of the 2019 World Health Organization Model List of Essential Medicines includes opioid analgesics formulations commonly used for the control of pain and respiratory distress, as well as sedative and anxiolytic substances such as midazolam and diazepam. These medicines, essential to palliative care, are regulated under the international drug control conventions overseen by United Nations specialized agencies and treaty bodies and under national drug control laws. Those national laws and regulations directly affect bedside availability of Internationally Controlled Essential Medicines (ICEMs). ⋯ The most prevalent symptoms in COVID-19 are breathlessness, cough, drowsiness, anxiety, agitation, and delirium. Frequently used medicines include opioids such as morphine or fentanyl and midazolam, all of them listed as ICEMs. This paper describes the issues related to the lack of availability and limited access to ICEMs during the COVID-19 pandemic in both intensive and palliative care patients in countries of all income levels and makes recommendations for improving access.