An individual approach is needed and each patient should be assessed prospectively for DMP.

BACKGROUND:The symptom burden of intensive care unit (ICU) patients who are referred to a palliative care team (PCT) has not been characterized to the authors' knowledge, and the response of these symptoms to the palliative care intervention has not been reported.METHODS:The authors retrospectively reviewed PCT consults for ICU patients who were seen between July 2006 and October 2007. To characterize symptom distress and outcomes in ICU patients who were referred to PCT in a cancer center, information and descriptive statistics about patients' demographics, comorbidities, PCT findings, interventions, and outcomes were obtained. The chi‐square test was used to analyze ICU and PCT mortality, and the signed‐rank test was used to analyze PCT interventions.RESULTS:Of 1637 PCT consults, 88 consults (5%) were from the ICU. The median patient age was 60 years (range, 22‐87 years), and 41 patients (46%) were women. The types of cancers were hematologic (19 patients; 22%), gastrointestinal (19 patients; 22%), lung (18 patients; 20%), and others (24 patients; 26%). Nineteen patients were on mechanical ventilation (MV), and 24 patients were on bilevel positive airway pressure (BIPAP). The findings were delirium (71 patients; 81%), dyspnea (67 patients; 76%), pain (74patients; 84%), fatigue (84 patients; 95%), and anxiety (57 patients; 65%). The interventions used were opioid management (99%), steroids (70%), antipsychotics (76%), and counseling (100%), do not resuscitate conversion (62 of 88 patients; 70%), withdrawal of MV (15 of 19 patients; 79%), and withdrawal of BIPAP (26 of 26 patients; 100%). Improvement was reported in pain (67 patients; 90%), dyspnea (60 patients; 90%), anxiety (51 patients; 80%), and delirium (31 patients; 44%). Thirty‐five patients (40%) were transferred to the palliative care unit (PCU). Fifty‐one ICU/PCT patients (58%) died during admission versus 130 of 1549 (8%) non‐ICU PCT patients (P < .0001). Twenty‐three of 35 patients who were transferred to the PCU (66%) died there versus 212 of 629 patients (34%) who were admitted to the PCU from another service (P < .0001). Thirty‐seven of 88 ICU/PCT patients (42%) were discharged alive.CONCLUSIONS:ICU patients who are referred to the PCT have severe symptom distress. The PCT was able to identify multiple problems and make numerous pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic recommendations that improved these symptoms, including the participation in do not resuscitate conversion and withdrawal of MV and BIPAP. Although many patients in this population died, a significant subset, including those who were transferred to the PCU, survived to discharge. Cancer 2009. © 2009 American Cancer Society.

Context Approximately 80% of patients with advanced cancer report pain and receive opioids. Information is limited about deviations from prescribed opioid doses and barriers to pain control, but poor opioid adherence has been reported in 49%–70% of patients. Objectives To evaluate the frequency and severity of self-reported opioid deviation and barriers to opioid pain management in outpatients with advanced cancer. Methods We surveyed 198 patients and collected pain scores (0–10), prescribed opioid dose, confidential patient-reported opioid prescription dose and intake (as long as there was no severe opioid deviation), barriers to pain management (Barriers Questionnaire-II [BQ-II]) scores, and adherence scores. Opioid deviation was defined as <70% or >130% of the prescribed dose. Results Median patient age was 55 years; 91 (46%) were female. Median pain intensity and morphine equivalent daily dose were 4 (interquartile range [IQR]=3–7) and 120 mg (IQR=45–270mg), respectively. Prescribed and patient-reported prescribed doses were highly correlated for regular (r=0.90, P<0.001) and regular plus breakthrough opioid intake (r=0.94, P<0.001). Nineteen (9.6%) patients deviated. Deviation was more frequent in males (P=0.039) and non-Whites (P=0.0270). Non-White patients had higher scores on the BQ-II than White patients (P=0.038). Low adherence scores were significantly associated with higher BQ-II scores (1.99±0.80) for lower motivation score vs. 1.61±0.77 for higher score, P=0.007; and 2.13±0.79 for lower knowledge score vs. 1.57±0.72 for higher score, P=0.001. Conclusion Very few patients reported dose deviations, which were mostly towards lower dose. More research is necessary to better characterize the frequency and predictors of opioid deviation in this population.

PHEO in MEN2 patients are usually bilateral and unlikely to be metastatic. Subgroup analysis of patients with RET 634 mutations with and without PHEO showed that PHEO was not associated with a more advanced stage of MTC at diagnosis or a shorter survival.

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