0000000000154492
AUTHOR
Veruska Costanzo
Emergencies in patients with advanced cancer followed at home.
Abstract CONTEXT: Patients with advanced cancer stay at home for most of their time, and acute problems may occur during home care. Caregivers may call medical services for an emergency, which can result in patients being admitted to the hospital. No data exist on emergencies in patients followed by a home care team. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this multicenter prospective study was to assess the frequency, reasons for, and subsequent course of emergency calls for patients followed at home by a palliative care team. METHODS: A consecutive sample of patients admitted to home care programs was surveyed for a period of seven months. Epidemiological data, and characteristics of emergency calls and o…
Palliative sedation in patients with advanced cancer followed at home: A systematic review
Abstract Context Patients with advanced cancer who are near the end of life may experience intolerable suffering refractory to targeted palliative therapies. Palliative sedation (PS) is considered to be an effective treatment modality for these refractory symptoms when aggressive efforts fail to provide relief. Objectives The aim of this study was to systematically review articles regarding PS performed at home in patients with intractable symptoms. Methods Literature databases searched included MedLine, PubMed, and EMBASE. The text words and MeSH/EMTREE terms "home care" and "sedation" were used for electronic database searches. Results Six articles met the inclusion criteria for research …