Discharge to home from a palliative care unit: impact on survival and factors associated with home death after the discharge: a cohort study.

Background: Staying at home during the dying process is important for many patients; and palliative care units (PCUs) can help facilitate home death. This study compared patient survival between those who were discharged to home from a palliative care unit and those who were not, and aimed to identify the factors associated with home death after the discharge.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study used a database of patients admitted to a palliative care unit at Kouseiren Takaoka Hospital in Japan.

Diagnostic accuracy of a predictive scoring tool for patients who are eligible for home discharge from a palliative care unit.

Background: Staying at a preferred place, principally at home, is of great value for dying patients, and palliative care units (PCUs) have an important role in providing adequate support so that patients can be discharged and go home. We attempted to create and validate a scoring tool to predict whether a cancer patient admitted to a PCU will be discharged home.

Methods: All 369 cancer patients admitted to the PCU of a 533-bed general hospital in Japan from October 2016 to October 2019 were enrolled.

Process Evaluation of the Regional Referral Clinical Pathway for Home-Based Palliative Care and Outreach Program: A Questionnaire Survey of the Medical Staff and Bereaved Families.

Background: The purpose of this study was to clarify how the Regional Referral Clinical Pathway for Home-based Palliative Care (RRCP-HPC) and an outreach program by a palliative care team (PCT) lead to an improvement in the outcome.

Design And Methods: We conducted questionnaire surveys using the mailing method involving the regional medical staff involved in cancer patients introduced to the PCT of a single hospital, as well as bereaved families. The questionnaire was prepared through interviews with the medical staff and bereaved families.

Impact of a Six-Year Project to Enhance the Awareness of Community-Based Palliative Care on the Place of Death.

Object: To examine the clinical outcomes of a project to enhance the awareness of community-based palliative care (awareness-enhancing project), focusing on home death and care rates in communities.

Methods: A single-center study on community-based intervention was conducted. The awareness-enhancing project, consisting of three intervention approaches (outreach, palliative care education for community-based medical professionals, and information-sharing tool use), was executed, and changes in the home death rate in the community were examined.

Randomised phase III study of S-1 alone versus S-1 plus lentinan for unresectable or recurrent gastric cancer (JFMC36-0701).

Background: Lentinan (LNT) is a purified β-1, 3-glucan that augments immune responses. The present study was conducted to assess the efficacy of LNT in combination with S-1 as a first-line treatment for unresectable or recurrent gastric cancer.

Patients And Methods: Eligible patients were randomly assigned to receive S-1 alone or S-1 plus LNT.

Facility-Related Factors Influencing the Place of Death and Home Care Rates for End-Stage Cancer Patients.

Background: In Japan, palliative home care is subject to increasing demand from patients. However, the number of deaths at home is still not as high as that of palliative home care users.

Objective: This study aimed to clarify factors influencing the place of death and home care rates, involving end-stage cancer patients targeted for palliative care by a general home-visit nursing agency.

Stability of octreotide acetate decreases in a sodium bisulfate concentration-dependent manner: compatibility study with morphine and metoclopramide injections.

Purpose: Sodium bisulfate is known to affect the stability of octreotide. However, the critical concentration of sodium bisulfate is not known. Therefore, we assessed the critical concentration of sodium bisulfate needed to preserve the stability of octreotide using actual drugs containing sodium bisulfate.

Going back to home to die: does it make a difference to patient survival?

Background: Many patients wish to stay at home during the terminal stage of cancer. However, there is concern that medical care provided at home may negatively affect survival. This study therefore explored whether the survival duration differed between cancer patients who received inpatient care and those who received home care.

Evaluation of A Novel Information-Sharing Instrument for Home-Based Palliative Care: A Feasibility Study.

Aim: To examine the feasibility and usefulness of a novel region-based pathway: the Regional Referral Clinical Pathway for Home-Based Palliative Care.

Method: This was a feasibility study to evaluate the frequency of variances and the perceived usefulness of pathway using in-depth interviews. All patients with cancer referred to the palliative care team between 2011 and 2013 and received home care services were enrolled.

Sentinel node mapping for gastric cancer: a prospective multicenter trial in Japan.

Purpose: Complicated gastric lymphatic drainage potentially undermines the utility of sentinel node (SN) biopsy in patients with gastric cancer. Encouraged by several favorable single-institution reports, we conducted a multicenter, single-arm, phase II study of SN mapping that used a standardized dual tracer endoscopic injection technique.

Patients And Methods: Patients with previously untreated cT1 or cT2 gastric adenocarcinomas < 4 cm in gross diameter were eligible for inclusion in this study.

[A case of advanced gastric cancer diagnosed as stage IV responding to combined modality therapy and surviving for a long duration].

A 47-year-old woman was diagnosed as advanced gastric cancer of cardia(poorly-differentiated adenocarcionoma), with multiple para-aortic lymph node and liver metastasis, in March, 2005. We attempted neo-adjuvant chemotherapy with docetaxel(DOC), cisplatin(CDDP), and S-1(DCS). After 3 courses of DCS, we confirmed that the para-aortic lymph nodes and liver metastasis became small.

Resected pleomorphic carcinoma of the gallbladder.

Pleomorphic carcinoma is a rare lesion and the literature contains few reports of pleomorphic carcinoma of the gallbladder. The present study reports a rare case of primary pleomorphic carcinoma of the gallbladder for which we were able to perform curative surgery. A 77-year-old woman with dementia developed nausea and anorexia, and computed tomography demonstrated irregular thickening of the gallbladder wall.

[Use of orally disintegrating olanzapine tablet for patients with cancerous peritonitis and postoperative gastric cancer receiving home palliative care].

In May, 2009, a man in his 30s presented to the department of outpatient palliative care of this hospital. His chief complaints were of severe nausea and abdominal fullness associated with cancerous peritonitis following surgery for gastric cancer. Abdominal fullness was reduced after the initiation of a continued subcutaneous administration of octreotide acetate, but combination therapy with metoclopramide and domperidone did not relieve nausea.

[A case report of a patient treatable by home palliative care, administered zoledronic acid used for bladder cancer with hypercalcemia].

We experienced a case in which zoledronate was effective for alleviating gastrointestinal symptoms arising from urinary bladder cancer-associated hypercalcemia, and long-term palliative home care was feasible by continuation of the administration. A female in her eighties was found to have bladder cancer. After transurethral resection of the bladder tumor, part of it was left unresected.

[A case of recurrent breast cancer with life-threatening multiple lung metastasis markedly responding to CMF as third-line chemotherapy].

A 35-year-old woman with taxane and anthracycline-resistant recurrent breast cancer with multiple lung metastasis and carcinomatous lymphangitis was treated with CMF as third-line chemotherapy. A complete response was achieved,and the toxicities were tolerable. We thought that CMF could be a useful regimen as third-line chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer.

[A case of primary small intestinal cancer accompanied by virchow lymph node metastasis undergoing TS-1 treatment].

A 72-year-old female was admitted to our hospital with the complaint of left neck lymph node swelling. Abdominal computed tomography (CT) revealed wall thickening of the small intestine and multiple lymph node metastases. Barium meal study of the small intestine showed circular stenosis.

Solitary fibrous tumor in the pelvic cavity with hypoglycemia: report of a case.

A case of solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) in the pelvic cavity with hypoglycemia is reported. The patient was a 60-year-old man who was referred to our hospital for a closer examination of hypoglycemia. Computed tomography demonstrated a mass, measuring 14 x 9 cm in size, in the pelvic cavity.

[A case of recurrent gastric cancer that responded dramatically to docetaxel and 5'-DFUR combination chemotherapy].

A 54-year-old man suffering from Borrmann type 4 advanced gastric cancer with pancreatic invasion and paraaortic lymph node metastases underwent a total gastrectomy, which was a radical C operation. From postoperative month 4, he visited our hospital with multiple liver metastases and increased lymph node metastases. After chemotherapy with CDDP and 5-FU, CDDP and UFT was administered on an outpatient basis.

[Weekly administration of low-dose paclitaxel for advanced or metastatic breast cancer].

The activity and toxicity of a weekly infusion of low-dose paclitaxel was studied. Twelve patients with metastatic or advanced breast cancer received paclitaxel (80 mg/m2 over 1 h) every week. Administration was continued for 6 weeks with two weeks rest until disease progression or limiting toxicity.