Japanese physicians' attitudes toward end-of-life discussion with pediatric patients with cancer.

PURPOSE: We explored pediatricians' practices and attitudes concerning end-of-life discussions (EOLds) with pediatric patients with cancer, and identified the determinants of pediatricians' positive attitude toward having EOLds with pediatric patients. METHODS: A multicenter questionnaire survey was conducted with 127 pediatricians specializing in the treatment of pediatric cancer. RESULTS: Forty-two percent of participants reported that EOLds should be held with the young group of children (6-9 years old), 68% with the middle group (10-15 years old), and 93% with the old group (16-18 years old). Meanwhile, 6, 20, and 35% of participants answered that they "always" or "usually" discussed the incurability of the disease with the young, middle, and old groups, respectively; for the patient's imminent death, the rates were 2, 11, and 24%. Pediatricians' attitude that they "should have" EOLds with the young group was predicted by more clinical experience (odds ratio [OR] 1.077; p = 0.007), more confidence in addressing children's anxiety after EOLd (OR 1.756; p = 0.050), weaker belief in the demand for EOLd (OR 0.456; p = 0.015), weaker belief in the necessity of the EOLd for children to enjoy their time until death (OR, 0.506; p = 0.021), and weaker belief in the importance of maintaining a good relationship with the parents (OR 0.381; p = 0.025). CONCLUSIONS: While pediatricians nearly reached consensus on EOLds for the old group, EOLds with the young group remain a controversial subject. While pediatricians who supported EOLds believed in their effectiveness or necessity, those who were against EOLds tended to consider the benefits of not engaging in them.

Barriers of healthcare providers against end-of-life discussions with pediatric cancer patients.

OBJECTIVE: End-of-life discussions with patients can be one of the most difficult and stressful tasks for the oncologist. However, little is known about the discussions that healthcare providers have with patients in such situations and the difficulties they face. The primary end points of this study were to describe the contents of end-of-life discussion in the pediatric setting and the barriers to end-of-life discussion for pediatric patients, as perceived by pediatric healthcare providers. METHODS: Participants were 10 healthcare providers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the KJ method was performed to analyze the data. RESULTS: We found 23 barriers against end-of-life discussion with pediatric cancer patients. These barriers were classified as follows: healthcare provider factors, patient factors, parent factors and institutional or cultural factors. In addition to barriers found in previous studies, some unique barriers were uncovered such as, 'Lack of confidence to face the patient after the discussion', 'Uncertain responsibility for treatment decision-making' and 'No compelling reason to discuss'. Healthcare providers actively discussed the purpose of treatment and the patients' wishes and concerns; however, they were reluctant to deal with the patients' own impending death and their estimated prognosis. CONCLUSIONS: End-of-life discussion with pediatric patients differs from that with adult patients. Further studies are required to analyze pediatric cases associated with end-of-life discussion and carefully discuss its adequacy, pros and cons.

Antipsychotics for delirium in the general hospital setting in consecutive 2453 inpatients: a prospective observational study.

OBJECTIVE: Attention to risk of antipsychotics for older patients with delirium has been paid. A clinical question was whether risk of antipsychotics for older patients with delirium would exceed efficacy of those even in the general hospital setting. METHODS: A prospective observational study proceeded over a 1-year period at 33 general hospitals, where at least one psychiatrist worked full time. Subjects were patients who developed delirium during their admission due to acute somatic diseases or surgery, and who received antipsychotics for delirium. The primary outcome was rates and kinds of serious adverse events. RESULTS: Among 2834 patients who developed delirium, 2453 patients received antipsychotics, such as risperidone (34%), quetiapine (32%), and parenteral haloperidol (20%), for delirium. Out of 2453 patients, 22 serious adverse events (0.9%) were reported. Aspiration pneumonia was the most frequent (17 patients, 0.7%), followed by cardiovascular events (4 patients, 0.2%) and venous thromboembolism (1 patient, 0.0%). There was no patient with a fracture or intracranial injury due to a fall. No one died because of antipsychotic side effects. The mean Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement Scale score was 2.02 (SD 1.09). Delirium was resolved within 1 week in more than half of the patients (54%). CONCLUSIONS: In the general hospital setting under management including fine dosage adjustment and early detection of side effects, risk of antipsychotics for older patients with delirium might be low, in contrast to antipsychotics for dementia in the nursing home or outpatient settings. A point may be not how to avoid using antipsychotics but how to monitor their risk.

Progenitor-enriched adipose tissue transplantation as rescue for breast implant complications.

Breast enhancement with artificial implants is one of the most frequently performed cosmetic surgeries but is associated with various complications, such as capsular contracture, that lead to implant removal or replacement at a relatively high rate. For replacement, we used transplantation of progenitor-supplemented adipose tissue (cell-assisted lipotransfer; CAL) in 15 patients. The stromal vascular fraction containing adipose tissue progenitor cells obtained from liposuction aspirates was used to enrich for progenitor cells in the graft. Overall, clinical results were very satisfactory, and no major abnormalities were seen on magnetic resonance imaging or mammogram after 12 months. Postoperative atrophy of injected fat was minimal and did not change substantially after 2 months. Surviving fat volume at 12 months was 155 +/- 50 mL (Right; mean +/- SD) and 143 +/- 80 mL (Left) following lipoinjection from an initial mean of 264 mL. These preliminary results suggest that CAL is a suitable methodology for the replacement of breast implants.

Validity of the orthopedic POSSUM scoring system for the assessment of postoperative mortality in patients with pressure ulcers.

In the treatment of pressure ulcers, assessment of systemic problems is an important yet difficult step in selecting either conservative or surgical therapeutic intervention. The surgical auditing system called the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for enUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (POSSUM) and its orthopedic version (O-POSSUM), which gives a predictive mortality rate for the first 30 postoperative days, may be useful for assessing systemic status, but have yet to be sufficiently validated for patients with pressure ulcers. To assess the validity of POSSUM and O-POSSUM, 71 procedures on 50 cases were retrospectively statistically analyzed using receiver operating characteristic curves and goodness-of-fitness testing with the Hosmer-Lemeshow chi(2) test for logistic regression modeling. POSSUM and O-POSSUM showed satisfactory discriminatory power in receiver operating curve analysis. The validity of the values obtained by POSSUM and O-POSSUM was also confirmed. O-POSSUM was superior to POSSUM in both analyses. O-POSSUM is useful in assessing the systemic status of patients with pressure ulcers. Some patients with pressure ulcers show extreme systemic conditions. Assessment of systemic status with O-POSSUM contributes to daily clinical practice and future studies of treatments for pressure ulcers.

Orthopaedic POSSUM scoring system: an assessment of the risk of debridement in patients with pressure sores.

We hypothesised that the implementation of a validated method of audit, the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity (POSSUM), would be useful in the evaluation of the risks of debridement in bedridden patients with pressure ulcers. With the orthopaedic version of POSSUM (O-POSSUM), physiological data and an operative profile are scored to predict mortality for 30 days postoperatively. Fourteen cases were analysed retrospectively. The difference in predicted mortality was compared with those who died and those who survived. The mean (SD) predicted mortality among those who died was 47 (16)%, and among those who lived was 18 (14)%. Those who died were classified as a relatively high risk group, and the values differed significantly (p=0.01). O-POSSUM may be helpful in audit.

Distally-based sural flap for reconstruction of the lower leg and foot.

A distally-based sural flap was used in four patients with soft-tissue defects in the lower leg and foot. All flaps survived completely without venous congestion. To make safe use of this flap it is important to include both the sural nerve and the lesser saphenous vein in the flap. It also seems to be important to include the surrounding fatty tissues in the pedicle and to avoid compression at the point of its angulation. This flap has the advantages that it is quick and easy to raise, and the reconstruction can be done in a single operation. It is unnecessary to sacrifice the major arteries in the leg, although the sural nerve must be sacrificed. In general this type of reconstruction of the lower leg and foot is beneficial in cases similar to those presented here.