Rehabilitation of speech disorders following glossectomy, based on ultrasound visual illustration and feedback.

Intraoral surgery for tongue cancer usually induces speech disorders that have a negative impact on communication and quality of life. Studies have documented the benefit of tongue ultrasound imaging as a visual articulatory feedback for speech rehabilitation. This study aims to assess specifically the complementary contribution of visual feedback to visual illustration (i.e. the display of ultrasound video of target language movements) for the speech rehabilitation of glossectomised patients. Two therapy conditions were used alternately for ten glossectomised French patients randomly divided into two cohorts. The IF cohort benefitted from 10 sessions using illustration alone (IL condition) followed by 10 sessions using illustration supplemented by visual feedback (IL+F condition). The FI cohort followed the opposite protocol, i.e. the first 10 sessions with the IL+F condition, followed by 10 sessions with the IL condition. Phonetic accuracy (Percent Consonants Correct) was monitored at baseline (T0, before the first series) and after each series (T1 and T2) using clinical speech-language assessments. None of the contrasts computed between the two conditions, using logistic regression with random effects models, were found to be statistically significant for the group analysis of assessment scores. Results were significant for a few individuals, with balanced advantages in both conditions. In conclusion, the use of articulatory visual feedback does not seem to bring a decisive advantage over the use of visual illustration, though speech therapists and patients reported that ultrasound feedback was useful at the beginning. This result should be confirmed by similar studies involving other types of speech disorders.

[Pain management for adult patients relative to palliative care]. / Traitements de la douleur chez le patient adulte relevant de soins palliatifs.

Pain management for a patient in palliative care requires a multi-functional approach that entails the physical, psychological, social and spiritual dimensions. It is based on a deep understanding of the pain physiopatology and its accurate assessment to optimize the treatment. This article provides guidelines to manage nociceptive and neuropathic pains, along with tips in case of refractory pains. It gives detailed instructions relative to the use of strong opiods taking advantage of the availability of new types of galenics. It proposes a decision tree relative to neuropatic pain management.

[Symptomatic treatments (pain management excluded) for adults in palliative care]. / Traitements symptomatiques (hors antalgiques) chez le patient adulte relevant de soins palliatifs.

Patients with evolutive and terminal desease often present 4 to 5 annoying symptoms, linked to the desease and implying a rigorous assessment as well as a treatment of the cause whenever possible. When all etiologic treatments have been used, the symptomatic treatments often allow to relieve the patient. This demands allying care and medication as well as mastering the available therapeutics so as to adapt the prescriptions at best. The present work essentially approaches the etiologies and symptomatic treatments of nausea and vomiting, hiccup, constipation, bowel obstruction, dyspnoea, congestion and death rattle and neuropsychic disfunctionning, in particular anxiety, depression and delirium. For the situations where the oral, transdermic and intravenous routes become difficult or impossible, medication to be administrated through subcutaneous routes are listed, with prudence, for not regulated.

[Bacterial infections in palliative care: antibiotics and therapeutic limitations]. / Infections bactériennes en soins palliatifs : antibiothérapies et limitations thérapeutiques.

The benefits of antibiotics treatments are not obvious at the end of life except for the symptomatic urinary infections. The numerous antibiotics prescribed raise economic and ecological problems in terms of bacterial resistances development and also in terms of quality of life. The control of symptoms has to be the main indication to prescribe antibiotics at the end of life. It is the general state, the prognostic of the patient, his wishes and those of his family, and his symptoms, controlled or not, that direct the decision to prescribe an antibiotic. Physicians must consider the objective of antibiotic treatment, the risk of side effects and the constraints related to this treatment before prescribing it for terminally ill people. They have to respect the bioethical principles, primarily the principles of beneficence, non-maleficience, and the respect to autonomy of the patient. In the event of decision of an antibiotic treatment at a patient at the end of the lifetime, the choice of this one must answer obviously the same requirements as in the other medical situations, within the framework of comprehensive and rigorous process.

[Supplemental oxygen for dyspnea for cancer patients in end-of-life palliative care]. / Intérêt de l'oxygénothérapie face à une dyspnée chez un patient atteint d'un cancer et relevant de soins palliatifs.

It is difficult to know which patients with dyspnea and terminal cancer will benefit most from supplemental oxygen. Supplemental oxygen treatment is cumbersome, can cause psychological dependence, impair the quality of life of the patient and family, and may even be dangerous for people with chronic respiratory insufficiency. It must therefore not be used routinely. It is necessary to insist on the fundamental role of symptomatic treatment, such as morphine, and on massage as well as other physical care, which is essential when no specific treatment is possible any longer. If supplemental oxygen is ordered, its effectiveness must be assessed: it should be maintained only if it produces improvement.