What are essential elements of high-quality palliative care at home? An interview study among patients and relatives faced with advanced cancer.

Background: In the Netherlands, general practitioners (GPs) and community nurses play a central role in the palliative care for home-dwelling patients with advanced cancer and their relatives. To optimize the palliative care provision at home, it is important to have insight in the elements that patients and relatives consider essential for high-quality palliative care, and whether these essentials are present in the actual care they receive.

Methods: Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 patients with advanced cancer and 14 relatives.

Poor outcome in hypoxic endometrial carcinoma is related to vascular density.

Background: Identification of endometrial carcinoma (EC) patients at high risk of recurrence is lacking. In this study, the prognostic role of hypoxia and angiogenesis was investigated in EC patients.

Methods: Tumour slides from EC patients were stained by immunofluorescence for carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) as hypoxic marker and CD34 for assessment of microvessel density (MVD).

Effect of the partner's health and support on cancer patients' use of general practitioner care.

Objective: Cancer and its treatment often have a profound impact on patients, leading to increased health care use in the years after diagnosis. Social support is an important determinant of health care use. Partners of cancer patients may not always be able to provide all support patients need and patients may then revert to professional health care.

The combined effect of cancer and chronic diseases on general practitioner consultation rates.

Aim: More than two-thirds of cancer patients have one or more chronic diseases besides cancer. The purpose of this study was to get detailed insight into the combined effect of cancer and chronic diseases on general practitioner (GP) consultation rates.

Methods: From the NIVEL Primary Care Database we identified cancer patients with diabetes mellitus (n=629), osteoarthritis (n=425), coronary artery disease (n=466), COPD (n=383) or without a chronic disease (n=1507), diagnosed with cancer between 2002 and 2010.

Non-invasive quantification of the beta cell mass by SPECT with ¹¹¹In-labelled exendin.

Aims/hypothesis: A reliable method for in vivo quantification of pancreatic beta cell mass (BCM) could lead to further insight into the pathophysiology of diabetes. The glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor, abundantly expressed on beta cells, may be a suitable target for imaging. We investigated the potential of radiotracer imaging with the GLP-1 analogue exendin labelled with indium-111 for determination of BCM in vivo in a rodent model of beta cell loss and in patients with type 1 diabetes and healthy individuals.