Articles: palliative-care.
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Palliative medicine · Jan 2017
Randomized Controlled TrialExperiences of patients and caregivers with early palliative care: A qualitative study.
Early palliative care improves quality of life and satisfaction with care and is increasingly endorsed for patients with advanced cancer. However, little is known about the experience of receiving early palliative care from a patient and caregiver perspective. ⋯ The elements of care described by participants may be used to develop, support and refine models of early palliative care for patients with cancer.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Impact of early palliative care on caregivers of patients with advanced cancer: cluster randomised trial.
Early palliative care improves the quality of life (QoL) and satisfaction with care of patients with advanced cancer, but little is known about its effect on caregivers. Here, we report outcomes of caregiver satisfaction with care and QoL from a trial of early palliative care. ⋯ NCT01248624.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
[Dose-finding for treatment with a transdermal fentanyl patch : Titration with oral transmucosal fentanyl citrate and morphine sulfate].
To date, no studies investigating titration with oral transmucosal fentanyl for the dose-finding of transdermal fentanyl treatment have been published. In an open randomized study 60 patients with chronic malignant (n = 39) or nonmalignant pain (n = 21), who required opioid therapy according to step three of the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO), were investigated. In two groups of 30 patients each titration with immediate release morphine (IRM) or oral transmucosal fentanyl citrate (OTFC) was undertaken. ⋯ Oral transmucosal fentanyl citrate can be applied for the titration of transdermal fentanyl, but it does not show any clinically relevant advantage. For example, the risk of side effects-induced drop-outs was greater in the present study. Whether the unnecessary opioid switching to treat chronic pain and breakthrough pain is advantageous with regard to minimizing conversion errors cannot be definitively answered within the scope of this study.
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Dec 2016
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyComparison of Haloperidol Alone and in Combination with Midazolam for the Treatment of Acute Agitation in an Inpatient Palliative Care Service.
Agitation is a very distressing problem that must be controlled as quickly as possible, but using a safe method. The authors conducted a comparison of two protocols: a combination of haloperidol and midazolam and haloperidol alone. The combination drug protocol controlled 101 out of 121 (84%) episodes of agitation with only the first dose, whereas the haloperidol alone protocol controlled 47 out of 74 (64%) episodes. ⋯ The authors conclude that the combination of haloperidol and midazolam is effective and safe for the control of agitation in palliative care and it is more effective than haloperidol alone. Therefore, the combination should be adopted as the preferred protocol. It would be helpful if the usefulness of this protocol is confirmed by others.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2016
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative StudyComparison of the tolerability profile of controlled release oral morphine and oxycodone for cancer pain treatment. An open label randomized controlled trial.
Oxycodone and morphine are recommended as first-choice opioids for moderate/severe cancer pain, but evidence about their relative tolerability has significant methodological limitations. ⋯ This trial failed to show any difference in tolerability and analgesic efficacy of morphine and oxycodone as first-line treatment for moderate/severe cancer pain but results interpretation is difficult due to lack of power, potential bias from open-label design, and concerns about assay sensitivity. These data, however, can significantly contribute to future meta-analyses comparing WHO Step-III opioids and are relevant in designing future randomized studies.