Subject(s)
Jaundice , Melena , Nausea , Vomiting , Acute Disease , Adult , Algorithms , Antiemetics/therapeutic use , Diagnosis, Differential , Endoscopy , Female , Gastrointestinal Diseases/diagnosis , Gastrointestinal Diseases/diagnostic imaging , Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage , Humans , Intensive Care Units , Jaundice/diagnosis , Jaundice/diagnostic imaging , Male , Melena/diagnosis , Melena/etiology , Melena/therapy , Meta-Analysis as Topic , Nausea/chemically induced , Nausea/diagnosis , Nausea/drug therapy , Nausea/etiology , Pregnancy , Recurrence , Ultrasonography , Vomiting/chemically induced , Vomiting/diagnosis , Vomiting/drug therapy , Vomiting/etiology , Vomiting/radiotherapyABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of Qi therapy (external Qigong) in the management of symptoms of advanced cancer in a man. We used a single case study design to evaluate the effectiveness of Qi therapy (external Qigong) in a 35-year-old man with advanced cancer (Stage IV) involving metastases in the stomach, lung and bone (Karnofsky performance scale: KPS, 40: requires special care and assistance, disabled). Treatment involved six days of pre-assessment, eight treatment sessions on alternate days over 16 days, and a two-week follow-up phase. A visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to assess the patient's self-reported symptoms of cancer over the intervention and follow-up periods. Following treatment, VAS scores' analysis revealed beneficial effects on pain, vomiting, dyspnoea, fatigue, anorexia, insomnia, daily activity and psychological calmness. These improvements were maintained over the two-week follow-up phase. After the first Qi therapy session, the patient discontinued medication and could sit by himself; after the fourth session, the patient was able to walk and use the toilet without assistance (improvement in KPS: 70: care for self, unable to perform normal activity or to do active work). Although limited by the single case study approach, our results support previous studies on this topic and provide reasons to conduct controlled clinical trials.
Subject(s)
Breathing Exercises , Fatigue/therapy , Neoplasms/complications , Pain Management , Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/therapy , Vomiting/therapy , Adult , Fatigue/etiology , Humans , Male , Pain/etiology , Pain Measurement , Quality of Life , Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/etiology , Surveys and Questionnaires , Vomiting/radiotherapyABSTRACT
Acute emesis response to harmful doses of X-rays on frogs (Rana porosa porosa) was examined. Results showed that the number of radioemesis events following exposure to 0.85 Gy was slightly higher than in the sham control animals. The increase in emesis action became more pronounced when the total dose of radiation was raised to 2.5 Gy. Only 1 frog out of a total of 12 did not show vomiting following radiation, while no response was observed in sham control animals. Note that animals in which the low dose rate of radiation was applied to whole body did not display any changes in the emesis response relative to control animals. The present studies, and those by others, showed that a brief dose of X-rays prior to a second exposure to a sub-lethal dose might induce a tolerance to radiation. An additional experiment was conducted to examine whether a small conditioning dose could induce a depression of radioemesis (tolerance) following an exposure to high dose X-ray. With prior exposure to 0.3 Gy, only 1 frog out of a total of 5 frogs vomited as a result of radiation exposure. Suppression of the emetic response became significant when the pre-radiation dose was decreased to 0.1 Gy. On the contrary, increasing the small conditioning dose to 0.5 Gy resulted in a remarkable rise of radiation-induced emesis. This results indicate that exposure to the smaller dose of X-rays elicits a tolerance effect to toxic dose level of radiation.