Characteristics of patients with brain metastases from lung cancer in a palliative care center.

PURPOSE AND METHODS: Patients with brain metastases present severe symptoms owing to the tumor growth or treatment side effects, and supportive measures are often critical for the patients and their families. However, there is currently a lack of palliative care and end-of-life (EoL) provision for patients affected by advanced brain tumors. We performed a retrospective analysis of the characteristics of patients with brain metastases from lung cancer between August 1998 and December 2008 in our palliative care center. RESULTS: During this period, 55 such patients died. The male/female ratio was 0.86, and the mean age was 60.7 years. The duration of the last stay before death varied between 2 and 196 days (mean, 42.6 days). Death appeared predictable as the consequence of end-stage disease in all cases. The most frequent general clinical complaints were pain (64.8%), general fatigue (46.2%), and dyspnea (31.4%). The most frequent symptoms related to the brain tumors were consciousness deterioration (33%), headache (26%), cranial nerve palsy (19%), and delirium (19%). The symptoms in patients with carcinomatous meningitis were headache (63.6%), cranial nerve palsy (45.4%), epilepsy (27.2%), and nausea and vomiting (27.2%). The therapy tools used were chemotherapy in 9% and steroids and glycerol in 32.7%. Four patients who had leptomeningeal carcinomatosis suffered from hydrocephalus, and treatments for vasogenic edema or antalgics were less effective. In such cases, cerebrospinal fluid drainage may be effective if there are no space-occupying lesions. One patient had cortical atrophy with cognitive impairment and another had a cerebral infarction during admission. CONCLUSION: Optimization of the quality of life in its final stages requires efficient palliative care, which involves considerable psychological, sociological, technical, and financial burdens. Palliative management of brain metastases requires a multidisciplinary approach performed by a well-trained neuro-oncology team, and it is important to avoid any treatment that is harmful or has a poor toxicity/efficacy ratio to avoid inappropriate prolongation of dying.

A detailed analysis of musculoskeletal disorder risk factors among Japanese nurses.

INTRODUCTION: Although Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD) represent a common occupational problem, few epidemiological studies have investigated MSD risk factors among Asian nurses, particularly those in Japan. METHOD: We administered a modified Japanese-language version of the Standardized Nordic Questionnaire to 1,162 nurses from a large teaching hospital. MSD categories focused on the neck, shoulder, upper back, and lower back regions. RESULTS: A total of 844 completed questionnaires were analyzed (response rate: 72.6%). The 12-month period-prevalence of MSD at any body site was 85.5%. MSD was most commonly reported at the shoulder (71.9%), followed by the lower back (71.3%), neck (54.7%), and upper back (33.9%). Alcohol consumption, tobacco smoking, and having children were shown to be significant risk factors, with adjusted Odds Ratios of 1.87 (95%CI: 1.17-2.96), 2.45 (95%CI: 1.43-4.35), and 2.53 (95%CI: 1.32-4.91), respectively. Workplace risk factors included manually handling patients (OR: 2.07 to 11.97) and undertaking physically laborious work (OR: 2.09 to 2.76). Nurses reporting pre-menstrual tension were 1.66 and 1.94 times more likely to suffer from lower back and upper back MSD, respectively. High mental pressure was also identified as a significant risk factor for MSD of the neck (OR: 1.53) and shoulder (OR: 2.07). IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: The complex nature of MSD risk factors identified during this study suggests that remediation strategies which focus only on manual handling tasks would probably be suboptimal in reducing MSD among nurses. Therefore, to help alleviate their considerable MSD burden, a greater emphasis will need to be placed on job satisfaction, work organization, and occupational stress, as well as the more traditional hazard reduction strategies such as manual handling, work tasks, and other occupational factors.