Appropriateness of oxycodone use for acute pain in surgical and obstetric departments using a clinical data warehouse.

Aims: The use of oxycodone, recommended as a second-line treatment after morphine, has risen strongly over the last years. Considering its addictive potential, the aim of this study was to evaluate the appropriateness of use of oxycodone for acute pain.

Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted using a university hospital clinical data warehouse and included all patients with at least one administration of oxycodone or morphine in surgery and obstetrics wards in 2022.

Variability of sedation practices in palliative care unit in France: a six units retrospective analysis.

Background: Palliative sedation is the monitored use of medications intended to reduce consciousness to relieve the burden of otherwise intractable suffering. Since 2016, the French Leonetti-Claeys law has granted patients the right to receive continuous deep sedation until death (CDSUD) for some indications. There are relatively few data in the literature assessing sedation practices in palliative care units (PCUs).

Hospital-based palliative care referrals: determinants in older adults with cancer.

Objectives: Early palliative care improves the quality of life of older patients with cancer. This work aimed to analyse the effect of sociodemographic, geriatric, and tumour-related determinants on hospital-based palliative care (HPC) referral in older patients with cancer, taking into account competing risk of death.

Methods: Older adults with diagnosed cancer from 2014 to 2018 according to the general cancer registry of Gironde (French department) were identified in three population-based cohorts on ageing (PAQUID, 3C - Three City, AMI).

Sedation practices in palliative care services across France: a nationwide point-prevalence analysis.

Objectives: Terminally ill patients may require sedation to relieve refractory suffering. The prevalence and modalities of this practice in palliative care services remain unclear. This study estimated the prevalence of all sedation leading to a deep unconsciousness, whether transitory, with an undetermined duration, or maintained until death, for terminally ill patients referred to a home-based or hospital-based palliative care service.

Association between pre-diagnosis geriatric syndromes and overall survival in older adults with cancer (the INCAPAC study).

Introduction: Several population-based studies have reported disparities in overall survival (OS) among older patients with cancer. However, geriatric syndromes, known to be associated with OS in the geriatric population, were rarely studied. Thus, our aim was to identify the determinants of OS among French older adults with cancer, including geriatric syndromes before cancer diagnosis.

Duration of palliative care involvement and immunotherapy treatment near the end of life among patients with cancer who died in-hospital.

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionised cancer treatment, but their use near the end of life in patients with advanced cancer is poorly documented. This study investigated the association between administration of ICI therapy in the last month of life and the duration of involvement of the palliative care (PC) team, among patients with advanced cancer who died in-hospital.

Methods: In a retrospective, multicentre study, we included all patients who died in 2018 of melanoma, head and neck carcinoma, non-small cell lung cancer or urothelial or renal cancer, in 2 teaching hospitals and one community hospital in France.

Palliative care referral in cancer patients with regard to initial cancer prognosis: a population-based study.

Objectives: More than half of cancer patients require palliative care; however, inequality in access and late referral in the illness trajectory are major issues. This study assessed the cumulative incidence of first hospital-based palliative care (HPC) referral, as well as the influence of patient-, tumor-, and care-related factors.

Study Design: This is a retrospective population-based study.

The Existential Dimension of Palliative Care: The Mirror Effect of Death on Life.

The WHO has included the spiritual dimension in its definition of palliative care since 1990, but this dimension is frequently confused with notions of religion. Yet, the spiritual suffering experienced by palliative care patients is primarily a matter of existential suffering. The objective of this study was to examine the ways in which the existential dimension was manifested in the experiences of those present in a palliative care unit.

Palliative care delivery according to age in 12,000 women with metastatic breast cancer: Analysis in the multicentre ESME-MBC cohort 2008-2016.

Introduction: Patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) often require inpatient palliative care (IPC). However, mounting evidence suggests age-related disparities in palliative care delivery. This study aimed to assess the cumulative incidence function (CIF) of IPC delivery, as well as the influence of age.

Palliative versus hospice care in patients with cancer: a systematic review.

Background: Guidelines recommend an early access to specialised palliative medicine services for patients with cancer, but studies have reported a continued underuse. Palliative care facilities deliver early care, alongside antineoplastic treatments, whereas hospice care structures intervene lately, when cancer-modifying treatments stop.

Aim: This review identified factors associated with early and late interventions of specialised services, by considering the type of structures studied (palliative vs hospice care).

Ketamine analgesic effect by continuous intravenous infusion in refractory cancer pain: considerations about the clinical research in palliative care.

Background: The literature has described the use of ketamine as an adjuvant treatment for opioid-refractory cancer pain. None of these studies have used the drug in a palliative care patient population.

Aims: The primary objective of the study was to assess the efficacy of continuous intravenous infusion of ketamine in patients suffering from cancer pain refractory to opiates who had been admitted to palliative care units.