Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2019
Randomized Controlled TrialMinocycline for Symptom Reduction during Oxaliplatin-Based Chemotherapy for Colorectal Cancer: A Phase II Randomized Clinical Trial.
The most debilitating symptoms during oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) are neuropathy and fatigue. Inflammation has been suggested to contribute to these symptoms, and the anti-inflammatory agent minocycline is safe and readily available. ⋯ Minocycline treatment is feasible and has a low-toxicity profile. However, with 200 mg/day, it did not reduce numbness/tingling or fatigue nor moderate inflammatory biomarkers from this Phase II randomized study. Our results do not support further exploration of minocycline for fatigue or neuropathy symptom intervention in patients treated for CRC.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2019
Anxiety and depression in bereaved parents after losing a child due to life-limiting diagnoses: A Danish nationwide questionnaire survey.
Losing a child is the most burdensome event parents can experience involving risks of developing anxiety and depression. ⋯ The reporting of anxiety during the child's illness and prolonged depression in bereaved parents three to five years after the loss indicates a potential need for psychological interventions. In the process of implementing specialized pediatric palliative care in Denmark, our findings should be considered for future treatment programs.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2019
ReviewNarrative Interventions in the Palliative Care Setting: A Scoping Review.
This scoping review maps the existing literature on narrative interventions within a palliative care and end-of-life context. ⋯ Narrative interventions are actively being evaluated with the intention of improving communication and well-being among all parties within the palliative care and end-of-life experience. The field would benefit from selecting a subset of outcomes that are comparable across studies, and a common framework for describing narrative interventions. Scant literature exists regarding narrative interventions to assist providers in communication.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2019
Courses of change in good emotional preparedness for death and accurate prognostic awareness and their associations with psychological distress and quality of life in terminally ill cancer patients' last year of life.
Emotional preparedness for death is a distinct but related concept to prognostic awareness (PA). Both allow patients to prepare psychologically and interpersonally for death, but they have primarily been examined in cross-sectional studies. ⋯ Good emotional preparedness for death and accurate PA remained largely stable and improved substantially, respectively, in cancer patients' last year. Both measures were significantly associated with psychological distress. Health care professionals should not only cultivate accurate PA but also promote cancer patients' emotional preparedness for death, which may improve their psychological well-being.