Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0020437 (hypercalcemia)
 10,293 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Basic guidelines for cancer pain treatment can be found in many different handbooks published in the last years. Particularly those of the World Health Organisation published in 1986 and revised in 1996, furnish useful indication for cancer pain treatment. The authors therefore focused on resuming the most recent development in this field. In the research regarding alternative routes of administration of opioids in alternative to the oral route, the rectal administration of morphine and methadone and the transdermal route for fentanyl have proved to be efficacious. The subcutaneous route (for morphine) as well as the intravenous, peridural and subaracnoid routes, being known for some time are not taken in consideration in this paper. Various studies suggest that alternative routes are necessary in 53-70% of patients in their last days or months of live. The most frequent causes for the need to stop oral administration are dysphagia, nausea, and uncontrollable vomiting, bowel obstruction, malabsorption, cognitive failure, coma, and pain syndromes requiring anaesthetics which need be administered via the spinal route. Among the drugs, tramadol seems to be effective in the control of moderate pain. Tramadol is a centrally acting analgesic drug; it has an agonist effect on mu 1 receptors of opioids and acts also by inhibiting the re-uptake of noradrenaline and serotonine which activates descending monoaminergic inhibitory pathways. Recent clinical studies revealed that pamidronate has an analgesic effect in pain due to bone metastasis. Pamidronate is part of the biphosphonates, which are active on bone metabolism and are usually being used for the treatment of hypercalcaemia in cancer. The authors also describe briefly the indication of ketamin in association with morphine for the treatment of neuropathic pain.
 ...
PMID:[Treatment of pain in oncology]. 923 25

Over 25 years ago survival was the sole aim in the management of cancer patients. However, over the past 25 years quality of life (QOL) as well as survival has become increasingly important in the treatment of cancer. In other words, treatment modalities without good QOL are no longer accepted. Thus, supportive therapies for cancer patients are very important. These supportive therapies fall into two categories. One is the management of adverse events induced by cancer therapies such as surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Adverse events induced by the administration of anti-cancer drugs in particular must be managed to maintain QOL. The second category is the management of pain, cachexia, metabolic disorders or mental depression induced by the existence of cancer. Over these 25 years major advances have been observed in the supportive therapy for cancer patients. These include the development of colony-stimulating factor (CSF) agents and the anti emetic agents such as serotonin-receptor inhibitors. These two agents have contributed to the relief of drug-induced adverse events. Opioids have been frequently used to relieve cancer pain. Hypercalcemia accompanying cancer are very easily treated with bisphosphonate agents. In the present paper, the advances in supportive therapy for cancer patients that have been made during these 25 years will be reviewed.
 ...
PMID:[Recent advances of supportive therapy for cancer patients]. 1041 Jun 60

In the medical environment, information disclosure to patients and respect of autonomy have spread rapidly. Today, many terminally-ill cancer patients wish to spend as much time at home as possible. In such situations the patient who has been informed that curative treatments are no longer expected to be beneficial can now hope to receive home care and visiting care from hospice/palliative care services. The essential concepts of hospice/palliative care are symptom management, communication, family care and a multidisciplinary approach. These concepts are also important in the outpatient department. In particular, medical staff need to understand and utilize management strategies for common symptoms from which terminally-ill cancer patients suffer (ex. cancer pain, anorexia/fatigue, dyspnea, nausea/vomiting, constipation, hypercalcemia and psychological symptoms). They also need to know how to use continuous subcutaneous infusion for symptom management in the patients last few days. The present paper explains the clinical practices of hospice/palliative care in the outpatient department. Also discussed is support of individual lives so that maximum QOL is provided for patients kept at home.
 ...
PMID:[Hospice and palliative care in the outpatient department]. 1105 18

Clinical trials are the most widely accepted tools in the search for more effective supportive care drugs/interventions. The aim of our study was to determine Central Eastern European countries' (CEEC) involvement and future interest in conducting supportive care clinical trials. Our study was a part of an ESMO/MASCC program launched to support the development of supportive care in CEEC. The study was designed as a mailed questionnaire survey within the ESMO CEE Task Force. It involves national representatives from 18 countries. The purpose of the questionnaire was to assess the involvement and interest in conducting clinical trials in 13 representative supportive care fields: antiemetic therapy, cancer pain control, infections/febrile neutropenia, mucositis, fatigue, hypercalcemia, dyspnea, anorexia/cachexia, psychosocial support, toxicity reducing agents, hematopoietic growth factors, communication/education and quality of life. A total of 15 completed questionnaires were returned (83.3%). CEEC were mainly involved in clinical trials of hematopoietic growth factors (7/15), quality of life (6/15), antiemetic therapy (5/15), and cancer pain control (4/15). Increased interest was observed in the trials of fatigue, dyspnea, psychosocial support, infections / febrile neutropenia, communication / education and toxicity reducing agents. Clusters of CEEC that are similar in terms of their previous involvement and future interest in supportive care trials were identified. Our survey may prove to be a significant first step for CEEC active involvement in multinational clinical trials, which are crucial for improving supportive care standards.
 ...
PMID:Are Central Eastern European countries involved in clinical trials of supportive care? 1202 29

The most common cancers, such as those affecting the breast, prostate, and lung have a strong predilection to metastasize to bone. Bone metastasis frequently results in pain, pathologic fractures, hypercalcemia, and spinal cord compression. Pain can have a devastating effect on the quality of life in advanced cancer patients and is a serious complication of cancer. Although significant advances are being made in cancer treatment and diagnosis, the basic neurobiology of bone cancer pain is poorly understood. New insights into the mechanisms that induce cancer pain now are coming from animal models. Chemicals derived from tumor cells, inflammatory cells, and cells derived from bone appear to be involved simultaneously in driving this frequently difficult-to-control pain state. Understanding the mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of bone cancer pain will improve both our ability to provide mechanism-based therapies and the quality of life of cancer patients.
 ...
PMID:Pathophysiology of bone cancer pain. 1572 43

Bone metastasis is in 60-84% of a metastatic cancer case. Bone metastasis itself does not cause a pain by all means, but even if bone metastasis contributes to 40% of cancer pain, it is said, and it is an important subject of a cancer pain treatment. Because it is a lot progressive as well as an unbearable pain, bone metastasis becomes cause by the fact that the pain is remarkable and inhibits QOL of the patient. On this account that a treatment of bone metastatic pain merely takes a pain by pharmacotherapy. Preventing pathologic fracture and a complication such as spinal cord compression and a treatment of hypercalcemia are important. In addition, we do surgical treatment and radiation therapy for the fracture that occurred positively and must deal generally.
 ...
PMID:[Symptom with bone metastasis--bone pain, fracture, hypercalcemia]. 1723 19