0000000000905440
AUTHOR
S Mercadante
Surgical treatment of early breast cancer in day surgery.
Quadrantectomy and associated sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is currently employed in most breast surgery centres as the gold standard in the treatment of early breast cancer. This approach has a modest morbidity and can usually be performed in a day-surgery regimen, leading to best acceptance by the patients. This reports outlines the experience of our Breast Unit with quadrantectomy and SLNB in day surgery for early breast cancer. One hundred patients presenting to our institution with primary invasive breast cancer measuring less than 3 cm and clinically negative axillary nodes underwent quadrantectomy and SLNB in day surgery. For 60 women with breast cancer the sentinel node was nega…
How do cancer patients receiving palliative care at home die? A descriptive study
Abstract Context Data regarding the circumstances of the process of death of terminally ill patients followed at home are lacking. Objectives The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics and assess the circumstances of the process of death of terminally ill patients followed at home. Methods This was a prospective survey to assess the dying process of advanced cancer patients followed at home. Within a week after death, the principal caregiver was interviewed. Information from the palliative home care team and the caregiver about expectation of death, time of death, professional and nonprofessional people present at time of death, emergency admission to hospital, and administra…
Prevalence and treatment of cancer pain in Italian oncological wards centres: a cross-sectional survey.
The aim of this national cross-sectional survey was to draw information on pain prevalence and intensity from a large sample of patients who were admitted to oncologic centres for different reasons and to evaluate the pain treatment and possible influencing factors.A total of 2,655 patients completed the study. Nine hundred and one patients (34%) reported pain.Higher pain levels were observed in inpatients, in the presence of bone metastases, and with low levels of Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group status. The number of patients receiving strong opioids increased with the highest levels of pain. However, a significant part of patients with moderate-severe pain were not receiving appropriat…