Journal of palliative medicine
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Surgical palliation is defined as the use of a procedure to relieve symptoms. The American College of Surgeons Risk Calculator (ACSRC) was created based on data from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program to predict the risk of surgical complications on a patient-specific level. Whether the ACSRC can accurately predict the risk of postoperative complications following palliative procedures in cancer patients is unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine if the ACSRC accurately predicted postoperative complication rates in this setting. ⋯ The ACSRC is a powerful tool for aid in surgical decision-making; however, in the case of palliative procedures for cancer patients, it overestimated the risk of postoperative complications and underestimated the LOS. Overestimation of post-operative complications could result in fewer patients being offered potentially beneficial palliative procedures.
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Cancer-related neuropathic pain is resistant to treatment with multiple medications and results in reduced patient quality of life. ⋯ These results suggest that opioid switching to oral methadone not only achieves pain relief but also curtails substantial adjuvant analgesic use.