Palliative Care in Moldova.

The article describes the important steps of palliative care development in Moldova, the current status, main achievements and challenges to be addressed in the future. It covers background information, policy development, medicines access and availability, education, and training, as well as services' provision. Palliative care development in Moldova registered real progress in spite of frequent political changes at governmental levels and difficulties to ensure the continuity of the development process during the last 10 years.

Family care of the dying in the Republic of Moldova: a qualitative study.

This paper reports the principle findings of a national, cross-sectional, interview-based study of the experiences of people who cared for a dying family member in the Republic of Moldova. Study data, collected from 102 interviews, covered four broad areas: the experiences of the dying person; family members' own experiences of caring; the practice (or non-practice) of any traditional customs for dying or death; and family carers' views of their own needs in these circumstances. Most carers reported high levels of psychological distress.

Deathbed visions from the Republic of Moldova: a content analysis of family observations.

This is an interview-based study of 102 families and their observations of the last weeks and days of a dying family member. Forty-one families reported hearing about "visions," "hallucinations," or "dreams" from their dying loved one before their death. Of these 41 mixed cases, 37 cases demonstrated classic features of deathbed visions-reports of seeing dead relatives or friends communicating to the dying person.

Free flaps for type III complex pharyngoesophageal defects after enlarged ablative surgery for advanced cancer of larynx and hypopharynx.

Free tissue transfer has become a useful technique for reconstruction of type III complex pharyngoesophageal defects after enlarged laryngectomy and partial or total pharyngoesophageal resection. We present a retrospective analysis of our experience with 36 patients who received free flaps for reconstruction of complex pharyngoesophageal defects associated with skin and soft-tissue defects. Free fasciocutaneous flaps and jejunum combined with a deltopectoral flap and musculocutaneous pectoralis major flap, gastro-omental flap, and combined latissimus dorsi musculocutaneous and cutaneous scapular flaps were used for reconstruction.