• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.201-210
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• 2016

Delirium is a common symptom in patients with terminal cancer. The prevalence increases in the dying phase. Delirium causes negative effects on quality of life for both patients and their families, and is associated with higher mortality. However, some studies reported that it tends to remain unrecognized in palliative care setting. That may be related with difficulties to distinguish the symptom from others with overlapping characteristics such as depression and dementia, and a lack of knowledge regarding assessment and diagnostic tools. We suggest that accurate recognition with validated tools and early diagnosis of the symptom should be highly prioritized in delirium management in palliative care setting. After diagnosing delirium, it is important to identify and address reversible precipitants such as medication, dehydration, and infection. Non-pharmacological interventions including comfortable environment for the patient and family education are also essential in the management strategy. If such interventions prove ineffective or insufficient to control hyperactive symptoms, pharmacologic interventions with antipsychotics and benzodiazepine can be considered. Until now, low levels of haloperidol remains the standard treatment despite a lack of evidence. Atypical antipsychotics such as olanzapine, quetiapine and risperidone reportedly have similar efficacy with a stronger sedating property and less adverse effect compared to haloperidol. Currently, delirium medications that can be used in palliative care setting require more clinical trials, and thus, clinical guidelines are not sufficiently available. We suggest that it is warranted to develop clinical guidelines based on well-designed clinical studies for palliative care patients.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.67-76
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• 2019

For hospice palliative care that provides comprehensive and general care, it is necessary to use assessment tools to objectively list issues and detail care plans. The initial assessment is a process of establishing an overall direction of care by identifying the patient's symptoms, social and spiritual issues and palliative care needs on the admission day or within one day of admission. This process is also used to identify the patients' and families' awareness of the illness, prognosis, treatment options and if the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) has been drafted. Consisting of 13 simple questions regarding the physical, mental, social, and spiritual domains, the Needs at the End-of-Life Screening Tool (NEST) is recommended as an initial assessment tool. Using specific assessment tools, a care plan is established for the issues identified in the initial assessment within three days of admission. A multidisciplinary assessment tool can be helpful in the physical domain. The psychosocial domain evaluates psychological distress, anxiety and depression. The social domain examines an ability to make decisions, understanding of the socioeconomic circumstance, family relationship, and death preparedness. A spiritual evaluation is also important, for which the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual WellBeing Scale (FACIT-Sp) or the Spiritual Health Inventory (SHI) can be used. The use of an assessment tool could not only contribute to pain mitigation a better quality of life for patients, but also provide systematic training for a multidisciplinary team; And the process itself could be a stepping stone for the better care provision.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.102-107
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• 1996

Cryptococcosis is a systemic fungal infection caused by Cryptococcus neoformans. This mycosis is best known for meningeal involvement, yet, this disease rarely can be limited to the lungs. The usual portal of entry is respiratory tract. The recently rising incidence of the disease can be attributable to wide use of steroid, immunosuppressive agents and advent of AIDS. We experienced one case of pulmonary cryptococcosis in healthy person, who was admitted to the our hospital because of cough. Cryptococcus neoformans was isolated in the sputum, and lung tissue obtained by CT guide needle aspiration biopsy. Clinical improvement was noted after 6weeks of medical therapy with fluconazole.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.239-243
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• 2002

In this case, a 39 year-old man was admitted with Budd-Chiari syndrome associated with complete superior vena cava(SVC) obstruction causing general edema and hepatic failure. Conservative medical therapy was failed. And after the radiologist failed to invasive procedure of balloon dilatation, we attempted the inferior vena cava to right atrium bypass graft. Operation was done through median sternotomy and extended vertical oblique abdominal incision. A 24 mm Dacron tube was placed from the inferior vena cava just below the left renal vein to the right atrium without using the cardiopulmonary bypass pump. The patient's postoperative course was uneventful without signs of bleeding or any other complications. We used anticoagulants at the postoperative first day. At the postoperative 26th day, we performed abdominal Doppler sonography and we confirmed that the graft patency was good. The patient was discharged with SVC obstructive symptoms but we noticed relief of SVC obstructive symptoms in the course of follow-up.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.205-215
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• 2013

Most terminally ill cancer patients experience various physical and psychological symptoms during their illness. In addition to pain, they commonly suffer from fatigue, anorexia-cachexia syndrome, nausea, vomiting and dyspnea. In this paper, I reviewed some of the common non-pain symptoms in terminally ill cancer patients, based on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines to better understand and treat cancer patients. Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a common symptom in terminally ill cancer patients. There are reversible causes of fatigue, which include anemia, sleep disturbance, malnutrition, pain, depression and anxiety, medical comorbidities, hyperthyroidism and hypogonadism. Energy conservation and education are recommended as central management for CRF. Corticosteroid and psychostimulants can be used as well. The anorexia and cachexia syndrome has reversible causes and should be managed. It includes stomatitis, constipation and uncontrolled severe symptoms such as pain or dyspnea, delirium, nausea/vomiting, depression and gastroparesis. To manage the syndrome, it is important to provide emotional support and inform the patient and family of the natural history of the disease. Megesteol acetate, dronabinol and corticosteroid can be helpful. Nausea and vomiting will occur by potentially reversible causes including drug consumption, uremia, infection, anxiety, constipation, gastric irritation and proximal gastrointestinal obstruction. Metoclopramide, haloperidol, olanzapine and ondansetron can be used to manage nausea and vomiting. Dyspnea is common even in terminally ill cancer patients without lung disease. Opioids are effective for symptomatic management of dyspnea. To improve the quality of life for terminally ill cancer patients, we should try to ameliorate these symptoms by paying more attention to patients and understanding of management principles.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.106-110
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• 2008

Palliative sedation has been used in patients who undergo intractable suffering at the end of life. Its implementation, however, may be complicated due to resistance of clinicians and barrier of bioethical issues. Here, we present 50-year-old man with stomach cancer and multiple bone metastasis who was treated with palliative chemotherapy and radiotherapy. He suffered from refractory pain on the whole body even after standard analgesics and multidisplinary effort to relieve. Upon shared decision for sedation, he was given midazolam until discharge. Literature reviews reveal cases similar to the present case.

• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.266-275
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• 2021

Purpose: This study was conducted to explore the mediating effect of menopausal symptoms in the relationship between occupational stress and quality of Life in middle-aged working women Method: Data collection was conducted from May 2019 to July 2019. A sample of 130 middle-aged working women was recruited from three cities in Korea. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tset, ANOVA, Scheffé test, pearson correlation, and a three step regression analysis. The mediating effect was analyzed using PROCESS macro with a 95.0% bias corrected bootstrap confidence interval (5,000 bootstraps resampling). Results: Quality of life had a negative correlation with occupational stress and menopausal symptoms, while there was a positive correlation between occupational stress and menopausal symptoms. Menopausal symptoms showed a direct effect on quality of life through occupational stress as a mediating variable. Conclusion: These results suggest that menopausal symptoms should be considered when developing interventions to improve quality of life through occupational stress control of middle-aged working women

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.145-153
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• 2016

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate patients' characteristics and actual conditions of home-based services offered by a free-standing hospice center. Methods: A retrospective review was performed with the medical records of 75 patients who received home-based hospice care from a free-standing hospice center from January 2014 through December 2014. Results: Most patients (54.7%) were enrolled via self-directed referral. The reason for the service termination was death at home 25.3%, admission to a hospice ward 50.7%, hospitalization 22.6% and patients' refusal 2.7%. Seventy three patients had cancer, and two patients had ALS. Among all, 58.7% were in a dying phase, and 34.7% were almost completely bedfast at the time of their enrollment in this study. When they enrolled, the patients' physical symptoms were characterized as pain (89.4%), sleep disturbance (71.2%), urinary difficulties (35.8%) and defecation difficulties (47.8%). Among all, 77.4% terminated the home visit service within one month. The mean frequency of the home visits was 3.25 (${\pm}3.98$), and less than five in 82.7% of patients. The mean frequency of the phone service was 3.40 (${\pm}3.12$). The frequency of doctor's home visits was $1.21{\pm}0.79$ on average, and the figure increased when patients' conditions turned unstable. Conclusion: It is necessary to develop a home-based hospice care model with consideration of patients' characteristics and the actual service conditions delivered by free-standing hospice facilities.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.35-39
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• 2006

A 77-year-old female presented panperitonitis due to advanced gastric ranter during palliative care. In the case of panperitonitis following obstruction or perforation, surgical treatment is vital to avoid fatal sepsis and dehydration. However, the risk of surgery and the residual life of a patient must be carefully considered because of high mortality and complication rate in those patients with advanced disease due to the poor condition. The therapeutic value of aggressive hydration, nasogastric tube insertion, and the use of antibiotics is also questionable. Palliative surgery was not performed on this case, and she passed away peacefully in the presence of family after 4 days of palliative medical care. Here is the appropriate management for this kind of patients we would like to recommend through review of relevant references and long discussions. Firstly, we need to predict survival time using clinical variables. Secondly, considering patient status and risk of surgery, non surgical palliative care such as pain control, transient nasogastric tube insertion, and parenteral hydration is recommended. Minimal use of fluid is desirable to minimize complications such as edema and dyspnea if massive hydration in the beginning of treatment is not proved to be effective. Even though started earlier in the course of disease, discontinuation of antibiotics could be discussed with patients and their caregiver if patient status is not improved.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.158-169
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to analyze treatment methods, results, timings and clinical signs and symptoms in failed cases of each treatment method of dens evaginatus on the premolar areas. In this study, 151 patients and 417 teeth were included. Resin restoration and direct pulp capping as preventive treatment and pulp revascularization, apexification and conventional endodontic treatment as endodontic treatment were included for treatment methods. In the preventive resin restoration, successful results were shown in the intact tubercles and also effective when the tubercles were fractured. In the direct pulp capping, resolved clinical symptoms and growth of the roots were shown when there was only pain during chewing without apical lesion. Apical lesion was the most common pretreatment signs and symptoms of the pulp revascularization, apexification and conventional endodontic treatment. In the pulp revascularization, successful results was obtained in most cases. But in some cases, root length or root wall thickness was not increased. Effective results were shown both of the apexification and conventional endodontic treatment. In order to increase success rate of preventive treatment of dens evaginatus, resin restoration was required to be done when tubercle did not occluded or in the presence of intact tubercles. When tubercle was fractured, root development stage and pulp condition should be considered for successful treatment.