Lidocaine Continuous Subcutaneous Infusion for Neuropathic Pain in Hospice Patients: Safety and Efficacy.

Lidocaine continuous subcutaneous infusion (L-CSCI) for neuropathic pain in hospice patients has limited evidence for its safety and efficacy, and guidelines are lacking. This study assesses a series of patients admitted to a hospice over a six-month period that had neuropathic pain and received L-CSCI. The primary outcome was improvement in patient-rated distress from pain following L-CSCI titration.

Documenting the process of developing the Victorian voluntary assisted dying legislation.

Many countries across the world have legislated for their constituents to have control over their death. Commonalities and differences can be found in the regulations surrounding the shape and practices of voluntary assisted dying (VAD) and euthanasia, including an individual's eligibility and access, role of health professions and the reporting. In Australia there have been perennial debates across the country to attempt legislative change in assisting a terminally ill person to control the ending of their life.

Where Patients With Cancer Die: A Population-Based Study, 1990 to 2012.

Aims: To describe changes in the place of death of patients with cancer from 1990 to 2012, and to identify issues for their end-of-life care.

Materials And Methods: Population-based descriptive study, with analyses of place of death patterns, using the South Australian Cancer Registry records of 86 257 patients with cancer who died from 1990 to 2012.

Results: From 1990 to 2012, the proportion of cancer deaths in hospital decreased from 63.

Estimating survival in patients with cancer receiving palliative care: is analysis of body composition using bioimpedance helpful?

Background: This research investigated whether bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) has the potential to improve prognostication in an outpatient clinic for patients with cancer receiving palliative care.

Methods: Survival time, and BIS measures of basal metabolic rate and 11 body composition parameters (extracellular fluid [ECF], intracellular fluid [ICF], ratio of ECF to ICF, fluid in trunk and each arm and leg, protein mass, mineral mass, and percent body fat) were recorded for 84 oncology patients.

Results: None of the BIS measures showed a linear association with survival time.

Factors predictive of preferred place of death in the general population of South Australia.

In a population survey, 2652 respondents aged 15+ years reported their preferred place of death, if dying of 'a terminal illness such as cancer or emphysema', to be home (70%), a hospital (19%), hospice (10%), or nursing home (<1%). The majority of respondents in all socio-demographic categories reported a preference for dying at home, with the greatest majorities occurring in younger age groups. After weighting to the age-sex distribution of all South Australian cancer deaths, 58% in our survey declared a preference to die at home, which is much higher than the 14% of cancer deaths that actually occurred at home in South Australia in 2000-2002.

The coverage of cancer patients by designated palliative services: a population-based study, South Australia, 1999.

Our aims were to determine the extent of coverage by designated palliative care services of the population of terminally ill cancer patients in South Australia, and to identify the types of patients who receive these services and the types who do not. All designated hospice and palliative care services in South Australia notified to the State Cancer Registry the identifying details of all their patients who died in 1999. This information was cross-referenced with the data for all cancer deaths (n=3086) recorded on the registry for 1999.