Rehabilitation of speech disorders following glossectomy, based on ultrasound visual illustration and feedback.

Intraoral surgery for tongue cancer usually induces speech disorders that have a negative impact on communication and quality of life. Studies have documented the benefit of tongue ultrasound imaging as a visual articulatory feedback for speech rehabilitation. This study aims to assess specifically the complementary contribution of visual feedback to visual illustration (i.

Further validation of the psychometric properties of the Bowel Function Index for evaluating opioid-induced constipation (OIC).

Objective: The BFI † (Bowel Function Index) is a 3-item questionnaire for assessing opioid-induced constipation (OIC). The aim of this study was to contribute to the validation of the psychometric properties of the BFI by confirming a constipation threshold, and through correlation with other validated tools: KESS (Knowles Eccersley Scott Symptom) score and generic (12-Item Short Form Health Survey, SF-12) and specific (Patient Assessment of Constipation-Quality of Life, PAC-QoL *) quality-of-life scores.

Methods: A survey on opioid-requiring cancer-patients was carried out in France.

Prevalence and impact of constipation and bowel dysfunction induced by strong opioids: a cross-sectional survey of 520 patients with cancer pain: DYONISOS study.

Objective: To describe the prevalence of opioid-induced constipation (OIC) in patients with cancer pain according to the Knowles-Eccersley-Scott symptom score (KESS), the different symptoms of opioid-induced bowel dysfunction (OIBD), and to assess the impact of OIBD on patient's quality-of-life.

Methods: A cross-sectional observational study, using the KESS questionnaire and the physician's subjective assessment of constipation, and other questionnaires and questions on constipation, OIBD, and quality-of-life, carried out on 1 day at oncology day centres and hospitals.

Results: Five hundred and twenty patients were enrolled at 77 centres in France; 61.

[Pain management for adult patients relative to palliative care].

Pain management for a patient in palliative care requires a multi-functional approach that entails the physical, psychological, social and spiritual dimensions. It is based on a deep understanding of the pain physiopatology and its accurate assessment to optimize the treatment. This article provides guidelines to manage nociceptive and neuropathic pains, along with tips in case of refractory pains.

[Symptomatic treatments (pain management excluded) for adults in palliative care].

Patients with evolutive and terminal desease often present 4 to 5 annoying symptoms, linked to the desease and implying a rigorous assessment as well as a treatment of the cause whenever possible. When all etiologic treatments have been used, the symptomatic treatments often allow to relieve the patient. This demands allying care and medication as well as mastering the available therapeutics so as to adapt the prescriptions at best.

[Bacterial infections in palliative care: antibiotics and therapeutic limitations].

The benefits of antibiotics treatments are not obvious at the end of life except for the symptomatic urinary infections. The numerous antibiotics prescribed raise economic and ecological problems in terms of bacterial resistances development and also in terms of quality of life. The control of symptoms has to be the main indication to prescribe antibiotics at the end of life.

[Supplemental oxygen for dyspnea for cancer patients in end-of-life palliative care].

It is difficult to know which patients with dyspnea and terminal cancer will benefit most from supplemental oxygen. Supplemental oxygen treatment is cumbersome, can cause psychological dependence, impair the quality of life of the patient and family, and may even be dangerous for people with chronic respiratory insufficiency. It must therefore not be used routinely.