Work Experiences of Patients Receiving Palliative Care at a Comprehensive Cancer Center: Exploratory Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Employment-related issues have been largely overlooked in cancer patients needing palliative care. These issues may become more relevant as cancer evolves into more of a chronic illness and palliative care is provided independent of stage or prognosis. OBJECTIVE: To characterize the employment situations of working-age palliative care patients. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey setting/subjects: Consecutive sample of 112 patients followed in palliative care outpatient clinics at a comprehensive cancer center. MEASUREMENTS: Thirty-seven-item self-report questionnaire covering demographics, clinical status, and work experiences since diagnosis. RESULTS: The commonest cancer diagnoses were breast, colorectal, gynecological, and lung. Eighty-one percent had active disease. Seventy-four percent were on treatment. Eighty percent recalled being employed at the time of diagnosis, with 65% working full time. At the time of the survey, 44% were employed and 26% were working full time. Most participants said work was important, made them feel normal, and helped them feel they were "beating the cancer". Factors associated with being employed included male gender, self-employed, and taking less than three months off work. Respondents with pain and/or other symptoms were significantly less likely to be working. On multivariate analysis, only pain (odds ratio [OR] 8.16, p < 0.001) and other physical symptoms (OR 5.90, p = 0.012) predicted work status; gender (OR 2.07), self-employed (OR 3.07), and current chemotherapy (OR 1.81) were included in the model, but were not statistically significant in this small sample. CONCLUSION: Work may be an important issue for some palliative care patients. Additional research is needed to facilitate ongoing employment for those who wish or need to continue working.

Treating nausea and vomiting in palliative care: a review.

Nausea and vomiting are portrayed in the specialist palliative care literature as common and distressing symptoms affecting the majority of patients with advanced cancer and other life-limiting illnesses. However, recent surveys indicate that these symptoms may be less common and bothersome than has previously been reported. The standard palliative care approach to the assessment and treatment of nausea and vomiting is based on determining the cause and then relating this back to the "emetic pathway" before prescribing drugs such as dopamine antagonists, antihistamines, and anticholinergic agents which block neurotransmitters at different sites along the pathway. However, the evidence base for the effectiveness of this approach is meager, and may be in part because relevance of the neuropharmacology of the emetic pathway to palliative care patients is limited. Many palliative care patients are over the age of 65 years, making these agents difficult to use. Greater awareness of drug interactions and QT(c) prolongation are emerging concerns for all age groups. The selective serotonin receptor antagonists are the safest antiemetics, but are not used first-line in many countries because there is very little scientific rationale or clinical evidence to support their use outside the licensed indications. Cannabinoids may have an increasing role. Advances in interventional gastroenterology are increasing the options for nonpharmacological management. Despite these emerging issues, the approach to nausea and vomiting developed within palliative medicine over the past 40 years remains relevant. It advocates careful clinical evaluation of the symptom and the person suffering it, and an understanding of the clinical pharmacology of medicines that are available for palliating them.

Case report: delirium due to a diltiazem-fentanyl CYP3A4 drug interaction.

INTRODUCTION: Fentanyl and diltiazem are frequently used medications. Diltiazem inhibits cytochrome P450 3A4 isoenzymes. This can suppress fentanyl metabolism. METHOD: We present a case of delirium after coadministration of fentanyl and diltiazem. DISCUSSION: Cautious use is warranted while concomitantly administering fentanyl and diltiazem as this can potentiate fentanyl toxicity. Other 3A4 inhibitors include ketoconazole, erythromycin, nefazodone, ritonavir, delavirdine, aprepitant and imatinib. Psychosomatic medicine psychiatrists, pain and palliative care physicians and cardiologists in particular should be aware of this interaction.