JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Postmenopausal estrogen use is associated with increased risk of endometrial and breast cancer, 2 hormone-related cancers. The effect of postmenopausal estrogen use on ovarian cancer is not established. ⋯ In this population, postmenopausal estrogen use for 10 or more years was associated with increased risk of ovarian cancer mortality that persisted up to 29 years after cessation of use.
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Despite a critical presumption of reliability, standards of interpathologist agreement have not been well defined for interpretation of cervical pathology specimens. ⋯ Interpretive variability is substantial for all types of cervical specimens. Histopathology of cervical biopsies is not more reproducible than monolayer cytology, and even the interpretation of LEEP results is variable. Given the degree of irreproducibility that exists among well-trained pathologists, realistic performance expectations should guide use of their interpretations.
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Dyspnea is a common problem among patients with interstitial fibrosis, lung cancer, cystic fibrosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The slow but steady progression of such diseases, often punctuated by acute exacerbations or secondary illnesses, can lead to decision-making dilemmas among patients and their caregivers, such as when to accept mechanical ventilation, when to forgoe aggressive therapies, and when to make formal end-of-life care plans. ⋯ Four management strategies for dyspnea are discussed: reducing ventilatory impedance, reducing ventilatory demand, improving respiratory muscle function, and altering central perception. Physicians should encourage end-stage lung disease patients and their families to discuss issues such as hospitalization and mechanical ventilation, to prepare advance directives, and to participate in a plan to manage their dyspnea.
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Improving health-related quality of life (HRQL) is an important goal of palliative treatment, but little is known about actual patient-physician communication regarding HRQL topics during palliative treatment. ⋯ Despite increasing recognition of the importance of maintaining patients' HRQL as a goal of palliative treatment, the amount of patient-physician communication devoted to such issues remains limited and appears to make only a modest contribution, at least in an explicit sense, to the evaluation of treatment efficacy in daily clinical practice.