Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer
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Support Care Cancer · Feb 2010
Multicenter StudyConstruction of a new, objective prognostic score for terminally ill cancer patients: a multicenter study.
The goal of this study was to develop a new, objective prognostic score (OPS) for terminally ill cancer patients based on an integrated model that includes novel objective prognostic factors. ⋯ We developed the new OPS, without clinician's survival estimates but including a new prognostic factor (LDH). This new instrument demonstrated accurate prediction of the 3-week survival. The OPS had acceptable accuracy in this study population (training set). Further validation is required on an independent population (testing set).
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Support Care Cancer · Feb 2010
Randomized Controlled TrialEarly switching from morphine to methadone is not improved by acetaminophen in the analgesia of oncologic patients: a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.
This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of methadone as substitute for morphine and to investigate if the addition of acetaminophen could reduce the time to attain an equianalgesic dose of methadone and/or to improve the level of pain control in oncologic patients. ⋯ Early switching from morphine to methadone was a safe and efficient strategy for the reduction of side effects and improvement of analgesia, allowing for a comfortable dosing regimen. In this scenario, the association with acetaminophen did not improve pain control or reduce the time to achieve an equianalgesic dose of methadone.
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Support Care Cancer · Feb 2010
The life-sustaining treatments among cancer patients at end of life and the caregiver's experience and perspectives.
The goal of this study was to investigate the utilization of and attitudes toward life-sustaining treatments (LSTs) at the end of life. ⋯ Our findings underscore the importance of discussing LST with terminally ill patients based on adequate information.