Tagged with “palliative care”
ArchivesEnd of Life Discussions with Doctors Help Patients and Caregivers
When advanced cancer patients talk with their doctors about preparing for the end of their lives, they have a better quality of life as death approaches. They aren’t more likely to be depressed, and they receive less aggressive care in the last week of life.
Because it is frightening and uncomfortable, many patients don’t bring up the subject with their doctors. Doctors avoid end-of-life discussions because they, too, find them uncomfortable and because they fear depressing patients or causing emotional problems. Continue reading…
Posted by Kate Murphy on October 10th, 2008
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: end-of-life, palliative care
Massage Briefly Eases Pain and Helps Mood for Dying Cancer Patients
Massage from a trained massage therapist gave pain relief and raised moods for dying cancer patients immediately after each treatment. However, the effects didn’t last over time.
Researchers compared the effects of simple touch to therapeutic massage for 380 patients in a hospice program. Randomly, some patients received up to six 30-minutes massages over a three week period. Other patients were simply touched briefly in ten different places on their body over three minutes. Continue reading…
Posted by Kate Murphy on September 18th, 2008
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: hospice, palliative care
Depression Can Hasten Cancer Death
Depressed patients with advanced cancer die sooner than those who are not depressed. The more serious the depression, the more likely they are to die prematurely.
Researchers in the United Kingdom screened cancer patients for depression using tests that were originally designed to diagnose depression in women after childbirth. They looked at feelings of worthlessness and sadness and thoughts of suicide, as well as measuring pain and cancer symptoms. They found a little less than one-third (29 percent) of advanced cancer patients were depressed. Six months later half of those identified patients who were still alive remained depressed. Continue reading…
Posted by Kate Murphy on August 10th, 2008
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: depression, palliative care, survival
