Family experience with palliative sedation therapy for terminally ill cancer patients.

Symptomatic sedation is often required in terminally ill cancer patients, and could cause significant distress to their family. The aims of this study were to clarify the family experience during palliative sedation therapy, including their satisfaction and distress levels, and the determinants of family dissatisfaction and high-level distress. A multicenter questionnaire survey assessed 280 bereaved families of cancer patients who received sedation in 7 palliative care units in Japan.

[A clinical study using octreotide in relieving gastrointestinal symptoms due to bowel obstruction in a terminally ill cancer patient].

Terminally ill cancer patients with complicated bowel obstructions often have poor quality of life (QOL) due to gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea and vomiting. Many of these patients are inoperable because of poor general conditions, and half of these patients can't be managed by conventional antiemetics. There are many reports indicating octreotide is effective for these patients.

Concerns of family members of patients receiving palliative sedation therapy.

Purpose: Symptomatic sedation is often required in terminally ill cancer patients and could cause significant distress to their families. The aim of this study was to gather vivid family descriptions about their experiences in palliative sedation therapy.

Methods: This report is an additional analysis of a multicenter questionnaire survey.

Existential concerns of terminally ill cancer patients receiving specialized palliative care in Japan.

Background: Although alleviation of existential distress is important for terminally ill cancer patients, the concept of existential distress has not been fully understood. The aim of this study was to categorize existential concerns of Japanese terminally ill cancer patients and explore care strategies based on the categorizations.

Methods: A multicenter cross-sectional study in 88 terminally ill cancer patients receiving specialized inpatient palliative care was performed.

Patterns of Care Study quantitative evaluation of the quality of radiotherapy in Japan.

Background: Quality assurance (QA) of clinical practice is important for any medical specialty. Programs based on the Patterns of Care Study (PCS) have been developed to compare the quality of radiotherapeutic care at individual institutions, with the national average representing the process and outcome of radiotherapy. The feasibility of these programs was analyzed.