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Cancers
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Palliative/Supportive Care...
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Palliative/Supportive Care

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2020) | Viewed by 12545

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Sebastiano Mercadante

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Main Regional Center for Pain Relief & Palliative Care Unit, La Maddalena Cancer Center, Via San Lorenzo 312, 90146 Palermo, Italy
Interests: cancer pain; opioids; palliative care
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Palliative care is a medical approach aimed to improve the quality of life for people who are seriously ill, dealing with suffering, human dignity, health care needs, and quality of life. Palliative care relieves pain, physical disorders, and psychological problems in patients affected by a life-threatening illness. In the real world, most palliative care is currently provided at the end of life and is offered only after life-prolonging treatments have failed. Specialized palliative care limited to patients enrolled in hospice-home care ignores the majority of patients facing a serious and more often long-lasting disease. Problems and issues of accessing specialist palliative care have been identified and include a lack of knowledge about palliative care among health professionals, a lack of standardized criteria for referring patients, and difficulties in accessing specialized services, as well the lack of advanced research in this field. Publishing palliative paper in an oncology  journal is of paramount importance for professionals who care patients with cancer. For this reason, as Editor of a special issue on palliative care, I invite research to produce the best data of their research in Cancers.

Prof. Dr. Sebastiano Mercadante
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Editorial

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3 pages, 180 KiB  
Editorial
The Paradigm Shift from End of Life to Pre-Emptive Palliative Care in Patients with Cancer
by Sebastiano Mercadante
Cancers 2022, 14(15), 3752; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14153752 - 1 Aug 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1438
Abstract
In most countries, health care providers have circumscribed palliative care in a network represented by home care and hospice care [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Palliative/Supportive Care )

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Other

10 pages, 349 KiB  
Article
Episodic Breathlessness with and without Background Dyspnea in Advanced Cancer Patients Admitted to an Acute Supportive Care Unit
by Sebastiano Mercadante, Claudio Adile, Patrizia Ferrera, Giuseppe Bonanno, Vincenzo Restivo and Alessandra Casuccio
Cancers 2020, 12(8), 2102; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers12082102 - 29 Jul 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2482
Abstract
Aim: To characterize episodic breathlessness (EB) in patients with advanced cancer, and to determine factors influencing its clinical appearance. Methods: A consecutive sample of advanced cancer patients admitted to an acute palliative care unit was surveyed. Continuous dyspnea and EB were measured by [...] Read more.
Aim: To characterize episodic breathlessness (EB) in patients with advanced cancer, and to determine factors influencing its clinical appearance. Methods: A consecutive sample of advanced cancer patients admitted to an acute palliative care unit was surveyed. Continuous dyspnea and EB were measured by a numerical scale. The use of drugs used for continuous dyspnea and EB was recorded. Patients were asked about the characteristics of EB (frequency, intensity, duration and triggers). The Multidimensional dyspnea profile (MDP), the Brief dyspnea inventory (BDI), the Athens sleep scale (AIS) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were also administered. Results: From 439 advanced cancer patients surveyed, 34 and 27 patients had EB, without and with background dyspnea, respectively. The mean intensity and the number of episodes were higher in patients with background dyspnea (p < 0.0005 and p = 0.05, respectively). No differences in duration were observed. Most episodes lasted <10 min. A recognizable cause triggering EB was often found. The presence of both background dyspnea and EB was associated with higher values of MDP and BDI. EB was independently associated with frequency and intensity of background dyspnea (OR = 20.9, 95% CI (Confidence interval) 9.1–48.0; p < 0.0005 and OR = 1.97, 95% CI 1.09–3.58; p = 0.025, respectively) and a lower Karnofsky level (OR = 0.96, 95%CI 0.92–0.98, p = 0.05). Discussion: EB may occur in patients with and without continuous dyspnea, and is often induced by physical and psychological factors. EB intensity is higher in patients with continuous dyspnea. The duration was often so short that the use of drugs, as needed, may be too late, unless administered pre-emptively when the trigger was predictable. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Palliative/Supportive Care )
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11 pages, 650 KiB  
Article
Chronic Non-Malignant Pain in Patients with Cancer Seen at a Timely Outpatient Palliative Care Clinic
by David Hui, Eman Abdelghani, Joseph Chen, Shiva Dibaj, Donna Zhukovsky, Rony Dev, Kimberson Tanco, Ali Haider, Ahsan Azhar, Akhila Reddy, Daniel Epner, Joseph Arthur, Shalini Dalal, Yvonne Heung, Suresh Reddy, Maxine De La Cruz, Diane Liu and Eduardo Bruera
Cancers 2020, 12(1), 214; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers12010214 - 15 Jan 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3766
Abstract
Palliative care is seeing cancer patients earlier in the disease trajectory with a multitude of chronic issues. Chronic non-malignant pain (CNMP) in cancer patients is under-studied. In this prospective study, we examined the prevalence and management of CNMP in cancer patients seen at [...] Read more.
Palliative care is seeing cancer patients earlier in the disease trajectory with a multitude of chronic issues. Chronic non-malignant pain (CNMP) in cancer patients is under-studied. In this prospective study, we examined the prevalence and management of CNMP in cancer patients seen at our supportive care clinic for consultation. We systematically characterized each pain type with the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and documented current treatments. The attending physician made the pain diagnoses according to the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) task force classification. Among 200 patients (mean age 60 years, 69% metastatic disease, 1-year survival of 77%), the median number of pain diagnosis was 2 (IQR 1–2); 67 (34%, 95% CI 28–41%) had a diagnosis of CNMP; 133 (67%) had cancer-related pain; and 52 (26%) had treatment-related pain. In total, 12/31 (39%) patients with only CNMP and 21/36 (58%) patients with CNMP and other pain diagnoses were on opioids. There was a total of 94 CNMP diagnoses among 67 patients, including 37 (39%) osteoarthritis and 20 (21%) lower back pain; 30 (32%) were treated with opioids. In summary, CNMP was common in the timely palliative care setting and many patients were on opioids. Our findings highlight the need to develop clinical guidelines for CNMP in cancer patients to standardize its management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Palliative/Supportive Care )
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Other

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3 pages, 167 KiB  
Commentary
Leveraging Advances in Artificial Intelligence to Improve the Quality and Timing of Palliative Care
by Paul Windisch, Caroline Hertler, David Blum, Daniel Zwahlen and Robert Förster
Cancers 2020, 12(5), 1149; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers12051149 - 3 May 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3834
Abstract
In recent years, research on artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine has seen great advances, especially with regards to the detection of diseases [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Palliative/Supportive Care )
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