Association Among End-Of-Life Discussions, Cancer Patients' Quality of Life at End of Life, and Bereaved Families' Mental Health.

End-of-life discussions are essential for patients with advanced cancer, but there is little evidence about whether these discussions affect general ward patients and family outcomes. We investigated the status of end-of-life discussions and associated factors and their effects on patients' quality of death and their families' mental health. Participants in this retrospective cross-sectional observational study were 119 bereaved family members.

Effects of Oral Morphine on Dyspnea in Patients with Cancer: Response Rate, Predictive Factors, and Clinically Meaningful Change (CJLSG1101).

Background: Although the efficacy of parenteral morphine for alleviating dyspnea has been previously demonstrated in several studies, little is known regarding the efficacy of oral morphine for dyspnea among patients with cancer, including its response rate and predictive factors of effectiveness. Therefore, the aim of this study was to clarify the effectiveness of oral morphine on dyspnea in patients with cancer and elucidate the predictive factors of its effectiveness.

Subjects, Materials, And Methods: In this multicenter prospective observational study, we investigated the change in dyspnea intensity in patients with cancer before and after the administration of oral morphine by using a visual analog scale (VAS).

[Change of the patient characteristics among adult asthmatics hospitalized due to acute exacerbation].

Background: We analysed the patient characteristics among adult asthmatics hospitalized to our hospital to clearfy the residual problems in the prevention and treatment of asthma.

Methods: We identified the adult asthmatics hospitalized to our hospital during the period A: Jan 2004-Dec 2005 and the period B: Jan 2009-Dec2010 and analysed retrospectively around age, smoking history, and the use of ICS (including combination medicine) and so on.

Results: The total patient numbers were A: 161 and B: 88, decreasing to almost half.

[A case of drug-induced pneumonitis due to a cold remedy].

The patient was an 84-year-old woman who took a combination cold remedy, Shin-Rulu-A' for three days because of fever and cough. However, her symptoms worsened and she visited our hospital. Arterial blood gas analysis revealed severe hypoxemia and chest computed tomography showed diffuse ground glass opacities in both lungs.

[A case of Legionnaires' disease with abnormal neurological findings showing the corpus callosum abnormality on brain MRI].

A 47-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of dysarthric speech and high fever. His brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed high intensity in the splenium of the corpus callosum (SCC) on diffusion-weighted and FLAIR imaging. His chest CT showed ground-glass attenuation in bilateral lung upper lobes, and consolidation in the right lower lobe.

[Management of difficult-to-treat asthma using a flow sheet for systematic evaluation and therapeutic intervention].

Background: Although most patients of asthma can be controlled by inhaled corticosteroid (ICS), some patients remain uncontrolled even after the introduction of ICS treatment. In management of such difficult-to-treat asthma, systematic review including additional differential diagnosis and avoidance of exacerbating factors is very important.

Methods: Here we postulate a flow sheet presenting an algorithm which intends to achieve better asthma control following ATS refractory asthma guidance.

[A case of Behçet disease with multiple nodular shadows and aneurysm of the brachiocephalic trunk caused by necrotizing vasculitis].

A 36-year-old man was admitted to our hospital in 1994 because of fever, and abdominal CT showed multiple low-density areas in the liver. Although granulomas were found in a liver biopsy specimen, a definitive diagnosis could not be established. With complaints of oral and genital ulcerations and erythema nodosum, Behçet disease was diagnosed in 1995 and he was treated with colchicine and cyclosporin.