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.

Despite increasing palliative care resources, significant gaps in care delivery remain

Palliative care services are available at most U.S. cancer centers, although the scope of services offered and the degree of integration between palliative care and oncology care varies widely among centers, according to a study in the March 17 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on cancer.

17 Mar 2010

Progenics Pharmaceuticals to advance oral methylnaltrexone for OIC into late stage clinical development

Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it plans to advance oral methylnaltrexone for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation (OIC) into late stage clinical development and will commence a phase 2b/3 clinical trial of a methylnaltrexone tablet in chronic-pain patients in the second half of 2010. Progenics also announced data from a clinical trial of this methylnaltrexone tablet.

15 Mar 2010

Prioritizing end of life care for cancer patients

Despite the advances and groundbreaking research being performed in the area of cancer treatment, sometimes cancer cannot be cured. In this situation, patients and their families are faced with complex emotions and a variety of end of life issues and decisions.

15 Mar 2010

HEAL acknowledges federal government's commitment to investing in Canada's health system

The Health Action Lobby acknowledges the federal government's continued commitment to investing in Canada's health system through the Canada Health Transfer, which will increase by 6% for each of the next four years.

7 Mar 2010

Bunny's last days: When living will isn't enough

In this Kaiser Health News story, part of a special series on end-of-life care, reporter Susan Brink details certain circumstances related to end-of-life care and living wills.

5 Mar 2010

Children with cancer experiencing extreme pain: 13% of parents consider "hastening death"

A survey of parents who had a child die of cancer found that one in eight considered hastening their child's death, a deliberation influenced by the amount of pain the child experienced during the last month of life, report Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers in the March issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

2 Mar 2010

Patients admitted to hospice care are rarely having their ICDs deactivated

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that patients admitted to hospice care who have an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) are rarely having their ICDs deactivated and are receiving electrical shocks from these devices near the end of life. This first-of-its-kind study of hospice patients with ICDs is published in the March 2, 2010 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

2 Mar 2010

Palliative care helps improve quality, cut end of life care costs

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on palliative care and focuses on a fairly typical American hospital in Abington.

1 Mar 2010

Cancer pain patients: European regulations restricting access to opioid-based drugs

Many cancer patients in Europe are being denied access to adequate pain relief because of over-zealous regulations restricting the availability and accessibility of opioid-based drugs such as morphine.

22 Feb 2010

Accessing out of hours care: Challenging for UK palliative care patients

Accessing out of hours care is still a challenge for UK palliative care patients, even several years after the introduction of phone help line services like NHS24 and NHS Direct. Scottish researchers have specific recommendations for a more detailed and regular communication strategy to improve patients' care, which are published by SAGE in the journal Palliative Medicine.

19 Feb 2010

Standard checklist for home palliative sedation

Can patients near death safely receive sedation at home, fully respecting their own and their families' wishes? This practice, which is on the rise, is coming under increasing scrutiny and debate by palliative care researchers and practitioners.

19 Feb 2010

Home palliative care: A major strategy to improve end-of-life care in UK NHS

Time and again, in every part of the world, surveys show that people with life-threatening illness want to spend as much of the time that is left at home, rather than in hospital. They aspire to die in their own surroundings, peacefully and pain free. Increasingly, clinicians, managers and commissioners of health services are recognising this and building services to meet it. In the UK NHS, it has become part of a major strategy to improve end-of-life care.

18 Feb 2010

Low potassium levels increase risk of death in patients with heart failure and CKD

New research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) says low potassium levels produce an increased risk of death or hospitalization in patients with heart failure and chronic kidney disease (CKD).

10 Feb 2010

Low potassium levels increase risk of death in patients with heart failure and CKD

9 Feb 2010

VIDAZA prolongs survival in AML patients

The Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) Foundation says a study published this week in the Journal of Clinical Oncology concludes VIDAZA (azacitidine) “prolongs survival and is well tolerated” in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) - an aggressive form of leukemia that in many cases progresses from MDS.

3 Feb 2010

Penn Medicine team heads to Haiti to provide expert medical care

At approximately 2:30 pm on Monday, January 25th "Penn Medicine Team One" -- the first medical team from Penn Medicine to fly to Haiti to provide expert medical care -- departed from the Philadelphia International Airport.

30 Jan 2010

APF survey reveals breakthrough cancer pain causes medical and financial hardships for cancer patients

A new survey released today by the American Pain Foundation (APF) reveals that breakthrough cancer pain — sudden, temporary flares of severe pain that occur even when pain medication is used — is one of the most challenging aspects of having cancer, according to three out of four (75 percent) U.S. adults who have ever been diagnosed with cancer and experience this type of pain.

29 Jan 2010

NINR provides $1.27M in grant to improve end-of-life care in prison

Improved delivery of end-of-life care in prison is the focus of a $1.27-million grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research that has Penn State researchers working with employees from six Pennsylvania prisons and the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

28 Jan 2010

Palliative care program may complement patients' ongoing care with symptom management and support

Georgia Sue Huston knew she was really sick. Every time the 82-year-old woman tried to turn over in her bed in the coronary care unit at Stanford Hospital & Clinics, she’d panic because she couldn’t get enough air and because it hurt so much.

28 Jan 2010

Med-IC aims to improve health care for older adults

The Medicare Innovations Collaborative, or Med-IC, is a pilot program that will put some of the nation’s best ideas for improving health care for older adults into practice at hospitals around the country, Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins University announced.

28 Jan 2010

Palliative Care News and Research

Further Reading

Despite increasing palliative care resources, significant gaps in care delivery remain

Progenics Pharmaceuticals to advance oral methylnaltrexone for OIC into late stage clinical development

Prioritizing end of life care for cancer patients

HEAL acknowledges federal government's commitment to investing in Canada's health system

Bunny's last days: When living will isn't enough

Children with cancer experiencing extreme pain: 13% of parents consider "hastening death"

Patients admitted to hospice care are rarely having their ICDs deactivated

Palliative care helps improve quality, cut end of life care costs

Cancer pain patients: European regulations restricting access to opioid-based drugs

Accessing out of hours care: Challenging for UK palliative care patients

Standard checklist for home palliative sedation

Home palliative care: A major strategy to improve end-of-life care in UK NHS

Low potassium levels increase risk of death in patients with heart failure and CKD

Low potassium levels increase risk of death in patients with heart failure and CKD

VIDAZA prolongs survival in AML patients

Penn Medicine team heads to Haiti to provide expert medical care

APF survey reveals breakthrough cancer pain causes medical and financial hardships for cancer patients

NINR provides $1.27M in grant to improve end-of-life care in prison

Palliative care program may complement patients' ongoing care with symptom management and support

Med-IC aims to improve health care for older adults

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

From Puberty to Menopause: Clue’s CEO, Audrey Tsang on the Power of Femtech

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