Octreotide in relieving gastrointestinal symptoms due to bowel obstruction.

Gastrointestinal obstruction is a common problem in advanced malignant disease, but its management remains controversial. In those patients for whom surgery is not appropriate, medical intervention is the only remaining option. We present a series of 14 patients with intestinal obstruction who were managed with subcutaneous injections of octreotide, a somatostatin analogue which reduces the volume of gastrointestinal secretions.

Home palliative care: results in 1991 versus 1988.

Home care is greatly expanding because of the savings it offers by avoiding unnecessary hospitalization and also because patients benefit from being in their own home environments. Since 1988, Societa Assistenza Malato Oncologico Terminale (SAMOT) has organized a pain relief and home palliative care unit for terminal cancer patients. Objectives, difficulties, protocols, and achievements of 4 years of experience were examined, and the findings of the various years were compared.

Predictive factors in advanced cancer pain treated only by analgesics.

Analgesic response, incidental pain and pain mechanism were evaluated in order to predict the chances of pain relief in advanced cancer patients. In an observation period of about 2 months, 130 patients were followed at home until death using only a pharmacological approach to control pain according to the WHO ladders. Ninety-eight patients were considered.