Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialComplex Decongestive Lymphatic Therapy With or Without Vodder II Manual Lymph Drainage in More Severe Chronic Postmastectomy Upper Limb Lymphedema: A Randomized Non-Inferiority Prospective Study.
Complex decongestive lymphatic therapy (CDT) has been the method of choice in conservative management of lymphedema. Although effective, it is time consuming and manual lymph drainage (MLD) usually requires skilled therapists. ⋯ These results indicate that parallel (immediate and delayed) results may be obtained by CDT without the use of Vodder MLD and CB may be an essential part of lymphedema management.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2015
The Association Between Depressive Symptoms and Age in Cancer Patients: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study.
There is controversy around the association between depressive symptoms and age in adult cancer patients. ⋯ The finding that depressive symptoms in cancer patients decreased with age was concordant with our first hypothesis, but the second hypothesis was not supported. Younger cancer patients were vulnerable to depressive symptoms and should be monitored carefully. Further studies using more representative samples are needed to examine in detail the association between depressive symptoms and age in older cancer patients.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2015
Correlates and Predictors of Changes in Dyspnea Symptoms Over Time Among Community-Dwelling Palliative Home Care Clients.
Dyspnea is a frequently reported and highly distressing symptom for persons nearing end of life, affecting the quality of living and dying. ⋯ Results highlight that dyspnea is not inevitable as persons progress toward death. Accordingly, dyspnea should be identified and prioritized during the care planning process. Integrated approaches using the interRAI PC dyspnea clinical assessment protocol may assist clinicians to make informed decisions addressing dyspnea at the person-level and thereby improve quality of life at the end of life.
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Therapeutic Reviews aim to provide essential independent information for health professionals about drugs used in palliative and hospice care. Additional content is available on www.palliativedrugs.com. Country-specific books (Hospice and Palliative Care Formulary USA, and Palliative Care Formulary, British and Canadian editions) are also available and can be ordered from www.palliativedrugs.com. The series editors welcome feedback on the articles (hq@palliativedrugs.com).
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2015
ReviewThe Business Case for Palliative Care: Translating Research Into Program Development in the U.S.
Specialist palliative care (PC) often embraces a "less is more" philosophy that runs counter to the revenue-centric nature of most health care financing in the U. S. ⋯ These principles are relatively well established for inpatient PC but are only now emerging for community-based PC. Three developments that are key for the latter are the increasing penalties from payers for overutilization of hospital stays, the variety of alternative payment models such as accountable care organizations, which foster a population health management perspective, and payer-provider partnerships that allow for greater access to and funding of community-based PC.