Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer
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Support Care Cancer · Mar 2012
ReviewIntegrative oncology research in the Middle East: weaving traditional and complementary medicine in supportive care.
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has an important role in supportive cancer care in the Middle East and is often used in association with traditional medicine. This article provides a comprehensive review of published data on CAM research in supportive cancer care in the Middle East. ⋯ CAM-related supportive care research is prevalent in the Middle East, a fact that may serve as a basis for future multinational-multidisciplinary research work in supportive care in oncology.
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Support Care Cancer · Mar 2012
Comparative StudyComparing baseline symptom severity and demographics over two time periods in an outpatient palliative radiotherapy clinic.
The primary objective of this study was to compare the symptom severity in two different patient populations assessed in an outpatient palliative radiotherapy clinic over two time periods spanning 10 years. The secondary objective was to assess any changes in the baseline demographics of these patients. ⋯ There have been statistically significant lower scores in the severity of the majority of symptoms as scored by the latter patient cohort; however, whether this difference in magnitude is clinically significant is debatable. The reason for referral and demographics in patients sent for palliative radiotherapy has changed over a 10-year period. This may be a reflection of the changes in systemic therapies and improvements in supportive care for patients with advanced cancer.
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Support Care Cancer · Mar 2012
Variations in process and outcome in inpatient palliative care services in Korea.
Hospice programs in Korea have been largely based on volunteer activity, religious services, or social services. Recent government policy of designating medically based inpatient palliative care services and per diem payment system made it necessary to monitor the quality of these services. We examined the variation in the process and outcomes of palliative care services, using 2009 data obtained from the Korean Terminal Cancer Patient Information System. ⋯ We found considerable variations among palliative care services with regard to the mean length of stay, subsequent place of care, and change in average pain score. Continued assessment of the variations in process and outcomes will assist in developing the national benchmarking system and the evaluation of the government policy.
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Support Care Cancer · Mar 2012
Comparative StudyComparison of pain response and functional interference outcomes between spinal and non-spinal bone metastases treated with palliative radiotherapy.
The purpose of this study was to compare functional interference and pain response outcomes using the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) for patients treated with palliative radiotherapy to spine versus non-spine bones and determine if dose fractionation was associated with each group's respective response. ⋯ Spine and non-spine bone metastases exhibited similar pain and functional interference improvements over a period of 6 months post-radiotherapy. There were, however, high attrition rates as expected with palliative studies, with approximately half the patients remaining in this study by 3 months and a fifth by 6 months. A single 8 Gy resulted in equal benefits in terms of both pain response and improvement in function.
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Support Care Cancer · Mar 2012
A mono-institutional prospective study on the effectiveness of a specialist psychotherapeutic intervention (POI) started at the diagnosis of cancer.
We evaluated the effectiveness of an early POI in newly diagnosed cancer patients in reducing the occurrence of psychiatric disturbances. ⋯ Considering all the limits of our study, we may conclude that an early POI significantly reduces patients' psychiatric symptoms and the risk of a negative evolution of pathological situations in those patients who are motivated and express a need for psychological help.