Efficacy of virtual reality assisted guided imagery (VRAGI) in a home setting for pain management in patients with advanced cancer: protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Patients with advanced cancer often experience high levels of debilitating pain and pain-related psychological distress. Although there is increasing evidence that non-pharmacological interventions are needed to manage their pain, pharmacologic modalities remain the preferred treatment . Guided imagery is a form of focused relaxation that helps create harmony between the mind and body and has been shown to significantly improve cancer pain.

Too Much Too Late? Chemotherapy Administration at the End of Life: A Retrospective Observational Study.

Purpose: Cancer treatment for those nearing death has become increasingly aggressive over time despite evidence that less aggressive approaches are associated with better quality of life and sometimes longer survival. Chemotherapy administration in the last 14 days of life is one of the proposed benchmarks for quality of cancer care. The purpose of our study is to evaluate factors associated with aggressive cancer treatment in patients who died within 2 weeks of receiving chemotherapy.

Urine drug screen findings among ambulatory oncology patients in a supportive care clinic.

Purpose: Professional organizations provide no guidelines regarding assessment and management of opioid abuse risk in cancer. Universal precautions (UP) developed for non-cancer pain, include assessments for aberrant behavior, screening questionnaires, and urine drug screens (UDS). The role of UDS for identifying opioid abuse risk in cancer is uncertain.

Warfarin improves neuropathy in monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance.

We report a case of a 60-year-old man who was referred to a palliative care clinic with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS)-associated neuropathy, responding to a therapeutic trial of warfarin. Electromyography showed distal symmetric sensory axonal neuropathy. The patient reported having had improvement of his neuropathic symptoms while taking warfarin postoperatively for thromboprophylaxis 1 year prior, and recurrence of his symptoms after the warfarin was discontinued.