Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Mar 2024
Review Meta AnalysisEfficacy and safety of ketamine to treat cancer pain in adult patients: A systematic review.
Ketamine is a well-characterized anesthetic agent, and subanesthetic ketamine possesses analgesic effects in both acute and chronic pain. ⋯ Ketamine may be used as an effective therapy to relieve cancer pain. However, more rigorously designed RCTs with larger sample sizes are required to verify the above conclusions.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Mar 2024
Multicenter StudyGabapentin for pain in pediatric palliative care.
Gabapentin is commonly used to treat pain in children receiving pediatric palliative care. This study describes the real-world use of gabapentin and the associated benefits and adverse effects/events (AEs). ⋯ Gabapentin prescribed at standard doses for advanced cancer and severe neurological injury in children under a pediatric palliative care service was associated with generally improved pain intensity at previously described levels of adverse effects.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Mar 2024
Observational StudyFactors associated with family surrogate decisional-regret trajectories.
The scarce research on factors associated with surrogate decisional regret overlooks longitudinal, heterogenous decisional-regret experiences and fractionally examines factors from the three decision-process framework stages: decision antecedents, decision-making process, and decision outcomes. This study aimed to fill these knowledge gaps by focusing on factors modifiable by high-quality end-of-life (EOL) care. ⋯ Surrogate membership in decisional-regret trajectories was associated with decision antecedent, decision-making process, and decision outcome factors. Effective interventions should target identified modifiable factors to address surrogate decisional regret.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Mar 2024
Review Meta AnalysisUnmet supportive care needs among cancer patients in Sub-Saharan African countries: a mixed method systematic review and meta-analysis.
Supportive cancer care is vital to reducing the current disparities in cancer outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), including poor survival and low quality of life, and ultimately achieving equity in cancer care. This is the first review aimed to evaluate the extent of unmet supportive care needs and identify their contributing factors among patients with cancer in SSA. ⋯ In SSA, optimal cancer care provision was low, up to two-thirds of patients reported unmet needs for one or more domains. Strengthening efforts to develop comprehensive and integrated systems for supportive care services are keys to improving the clinical outcome, survival, and quality of life of cancer patients in SSA.