Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2014
ReviewConcepts and definitions for "actively dying," "end of life," "terminally ill," "terminal care," and "transition of care": a systematic review.
The terms "actively dying," "end of life," "terminally ill," "terminal care," and "transition of care" are commonly used but rarely and inconsistently defined. ⋯ We identified unifying concepts for five commonly used terms in palliative care and developed a preliminary conceptual framework toward building standardized definitions.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialA double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover pilot trial with extension using an oral mucosal cannabinoid extract for treatment of chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain.
Neuropathic pain caused by chemotherapy limits dosing and duration of potentially life-saving anti-cancer treatment and impairs quality of life. Chemotherapeutic neuropathy responds poorly to conventional treatments, and there is an urgent medical need for new treatments. Recent preclinical studies demonstrate that cannabinoid agonists suppress established chemotherapy-evoked neuropathy. ⋯ Chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain is particularly resistant to currently available treatments. This pilot trial found a number needed to treat of five and an average decrease of 2.6 on an 11-point NRS-PI in five "responders" (as compared with a decrease of 0.6 with placebo) and supports that it is worthwhile to study nabiximols in a full randomized, placebo-controlled trial of chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain.