Palliative Care News and Research

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Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual.

Annual Shallenberger Lecture In Ethics to take place on April 17

Myra Christopher, the Kathleen M. Foley Chair for Pain and Palliative Care at the Center for Practical Bioethics and a nationally renowned patient advocate, will deliver the 19th annual Shallenberger Lecture In Ethics April 17, 2012 at 12:00 noon.

16 Apr 2012

Majority of Michigan oncology practices follow treatment guidelines for common cancers

A majority of Michigan oncology practices participating in a statewide consortium followed treatment guidelines for common cancers, but had gaps in managing symptoms and end-of-life care, according to a new study.

11 Apr 2012

Sucampo announces positive results from lubiprostone phase 3 trial on OBD

Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced positive top-line results from an open-label phase 3 clinical trial designed to evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy of lubiprostone in opioid-induced bowel dysfunction (OBD) patients with chronic, non-cancer-related pain.

6 Apr 2012

Study shows how morphine creates inflammatory response in the brain

An international team of researchers involving the University of Adelaide and University of Colorado has made a major discovery that could lead to more effective treatment of severe pain using morphine.

3 Apr 2012

$Pazopanib demonstrates clinically meaningful activity in patients with refractory urothelial cancer$

Pazopanib demonstrates clinically meaningful activity in patients with refractory urothelial cancer

The antiangiogenic drug pazopanib has demonstrated clinically meaningful activity in patients with refractory urothelial cancer, according to results presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2012, held here March 31 - April 4. The results also revealed that increases in interleukin-8 levels early after treatment with pazopanib may predict a lack of tumor response to the therapy.

2 Apr 2012

Capital Caring to honor ML Strategies' Senior VP with Distinguished Advocacy Partner Award

Tom Koutsoumpas, Senior Vice President of ML Strategies, is being honored by Capital Caring for his efforts to improve hospice services in Washington, D.C. Mr. Koutsoumpas will be presented with the Distinguished Advocacy Partner Award at the fifth annual "Hospice Comes to Washington" event on Wednesday, March 28, 2012.

29 Mar 2012

PCI may be an excellent option for STEMI patients 90 years and older

Selected patients 90 years and older who experience an acute heart attack, or ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), have reasonable outcomes with coronary stenting, and should be considered for reperfusion therapy, based on a scientific poster being presented at the 61st annual American College of Cardiology (ACC) scientific session.

26 Mar 2012

PATHS to examine needs of heart failure patients and primary caregivers

Less than 10 percent of people with heart failure receive supportive or palliative care beyond basic medical services, but a new research project, funded by a $1.7 million grant from the National Institute for Nursing Research to Penn State's School of Nursing, aims to change the situation.

20 Mar 2012

New textbook about child and adolescent behavioral health, primary care

Within the health care system, children and adolescents with mental health and psychiatric conditions often go undiagnosed.

16 Mar 2012

Many children with life limiting conditions have been underestimated

The number of children with conditions such as muscular dystrophy, neurodegenerative disorders or severe cerebral palsy who are surviving into adulthood has been underestimated, a new study shows.

12 Mar 2012

NCCN issues new guidelines for AYA oncology patients

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network announces that it has issued new NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Oncology. AYA patients are defined in the guidelines as individuals 15 to 39 years of age at initial cancer diagnosis.

9 Mar 2012

HHS: 105 million people no longer face health insurance lifetime limits

A Department of Health and Human Services report released Monday quantified the number of Americans with health insurance who no longer face these benefit limits.

7 Mar 2012

Intravenous ibuprofen: A key addition to perioperative pain management

Hendersonville Medical Center today announced that anesthesiologist Peter B. Kroll, M.D., has published an article in the January issue of peer-reviewed medical journal Pain Management.

23 Feb 2012

OGF-OGFr axis discovery provides new insights into ovarian cancer

Researchers at The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania have discovered that the presence and integrity of the opioid growth factor receptor (OGFr), which mediates the inhibitory action of opioid growth factor (OGF) on cell proliferation, is a key to understanding the progression and treatment of human ovarian cancer.

22 Feb 2012

Jefferson's KCC creates new center to reduce and eradicate cancer disparities

In an effort to reduce and eventually eliminate cancer disparities among adults in the Philadelphia region, the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson has established the Center to Eliminate Cancer Disparities.

17 Feb 2012

Study identifies variations in non-pharmacological palliative care

Faced with the inevitability of death, we all wish for good caregiving during the final stage of our lives. A new study from Karolinska Institutet and Ume- University shows that non-pharmacological caregiving at the end of life in specialized palliative care is not as basic as one might believe but is based on complex professional decisions that weave physical, psychosocial and existential dimensions into a functional whole.

16 Feb 2012

Cancer-related fatigue linked to muscle mass and strength

Many patients with advanced cancer suffer from cachexia, a condition also called body-wasting or wasting syndrome, which causes significant weight loss, extreme fatigue and reduces quality of life.

10 Feb 2012

Free, online community for oncology nurses

UBM Medica, a recognized leader in medical media and education, and UBM DeusM, the integrated services arm of UBM, today announced the launch of The Oncology Nurse Community (www.theONC.org), a free, online community exclusively for oncology nurses and the cancer care teams that support them.

6 Feb 2012

Takeda, SPI announce that lubiprostone phase 3 trial on OBD meets primary endpoint

Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. announced today that lubiprostone met the primary endpoint in a phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of opioid-induced bowel dysfunction (OBD) in patients with chronic, non-cancer pain, excluding those taking methadone.

2 Feb 2012

Roundtable discusses importance and potential benefits of palliative care in the ICU

If you think palliative care and the ICU don't go together, think again. The importance and potential benefits of palliative care to ease suffering and improve quality of life for patients being treated in hospital intensive care units (ICUs) has received increasing recognition but is not without significant challenges, as discussed in a Roundtable discussion in Journal of Palliative Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

1 Feb 2012