Palliative Care News

Patients with painful bone metastases demonstrated higher rates of pain response with high-dose, single-fraction stereotactic body radiotherapy compared with standard multifraction radiotherapy, according to results of a randomized, phase 2 study published in Journal of Clinical Oncology.

A Cleveland Clinic program reduced the volume of opioids prescribed to patients who underwent breast surgery, according to study results presented during American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting.

Introducing a default physician order into electronic medical records significantly reduced unnecessary daily imaging during palliative radiotherapy among adults with advanced cancer, according to results of a randomized study published in JAMA Oncology.

About one in three cancer survivors, representing nearly 5.4 million people in the United States, reported experiencing chronic pain, with one in six survivors enduring high-impact chronic pain that limits life or work activities, according to a research letter published in JAMA Oncology. “Chronic pain is one of the most common long-term effects of cancer treatment and has been linked with an impaired quality of life, lower adherence to treatment, and higher health care costs,” Changchuan Jiang, MD, MPH, resident in internal medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, and colleagues wrote. “Nevertheless, there is a paucity of information regarding the prevalence of, and risk factors for, the development of chronic pain among cancer survivors.”

CHICAGO — When treating patients with serious illnesses or at the end of life, the goal of clinicians should to be help draw out and then enact patients’ goals related to their well-being, satisfaction and affordability of treatment, Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, said during the opening ceremony of ASCO Annual Meeting.

CHICAGO — A standard nonopioid analgesia pathway with escalation options enabled most patients to go home without opioids, while still addressing their cancer and surgical pain, following robotic surgery for genitourinary cancers, according to results of a prospective cohort study presented at ASCO Annual Meeting.

The Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force held an evening art gallery event for its survivors in October. For the task force, it was a celebration of successful efforts in navigating underserved, minority patients with cancer toward quality care.

The trends are clear — not only do ethnic and racial minority groups face poorer cancer outcomes, they also are less frequently invited to participate in clinical trials, more often experience delays in treatment and initiation of palliative care, and are less likely to be offered genetic testing.

Targeted drug delivery in combination with conventional medical management significantly reduced costs and health care utilization compared with conventional medical management alone for patients with cancer pain, according to results of a retrospective study published in JAMA.

A telerehabilitation program improved physical function, pain and quality of life among patients with advanced-stage cancer, according to study results.