Advances in Palliative Medicine 2008, tom 7, nr 4

Understanding of the molecular mechanisms in the opioid systems in chronic pain should produce new, more effective methods of the pharmacotherapy of pain. Pharmacological suppression of glial activation in combination with morphine, methadone, fentanyl and buprenorphine may be an important aspect of pain therapy...

Gabapentin and pregabalin are drugs that act through reduction of the central sensitization. They are useful in conditions such as partial seizures and neuropathic pain. However, in the last decade these drugs appear to have been effective against a variety of other symptoms, such as pruritus, hot flushes in post-menopausal women and intractable hiccups..

Opioids are the mainstay of pain treatment in cancer. In the course of disease many patients will experience increase of pain intensity and hence need an increase of the opioid dose. However, in some situations, when for example the other treatment of pain is effective, the dose of opioids could and should be decreased or even discontinued...

The aim of the study was to assess how family members remember the final months of their loved ones 2–8 years after their death. We focused particularly on their recognition of the patients’ physical, psychosocial and spiritual needs...

Churg-Strauss syndrome (CSS) is characterized by asthma, sinusitis, hypereosinophilia and eosinophilic infiltrates, with particular pulmonary, gastrointestinal, neural and cardiovascular involvement. We presented a case of CSS complicated by weight loss, pulmonary embolism and non-traumatic rib fractures....

Every now and then I have a sleepless night. Not because I am ill or dealing with stress or problems but because I need time for reflection, time to think. During one of these insomniac nights I was thinking about the true meaning of the word Advances... What is it that makes something advanced or that something contributes to an advance? Is it only that it is new and previously unknown; is it because somebody looks at the old issues in a new way and with fresh understanding?

Appropriate clinical assessment of pain in cancer patients is a necessary requirement for establish an adequate pain management. Quality of life in the terminally ill cancer patients is used to measure as well as to show direction of operation of therapeutic group...