English
Albanian
Arabic
Armenian
Azerbaijani
Belarusian
Bengali
Bosnian
Catalan
Czech
Danish
Deutsch
Dutch
English
Estonian
Finnish
Français
Greek
Haitian Creole
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Icelandic
Indonesian
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Latvian
Lithuanian
Macedonian
Mongolian
Norwegian
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Slovak
Slovenian
Spanish
Swahili
Swedish
Turkish
Ukrainian
Vietnamese
Български
中文(简体)
中文(繁體)
Tumori 1990-Aug

The management of inoperable gastrointestinal obstruction in terminal cancer patients.

Only registered users can translate articles
Log In/Sign up
The link is saved to the clipboard
V Ventafridda
C Ripamonti
A Caraceni
E Spoldi
L Messina
F De Conno

Keywords

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess vomit and pain control in terminal cancer patients with inoperable gastrointestinal obstruction, using a pharmacologic symptomatic treatment which prevents recourse to nasogastric tube placement and intravenous hydration, in hospital and home care settings. Twenty-two symptomatic patients, who were judged as inoperable, were treated with a pharmacologic association of morphine hydrochloride and scopolamine butylbromide as analgesics and haloperidol as an antiemetic. The drugs were administered by continuous subcutaneous infusion via a syringe driver or intravenously only when a central venous catheter had been inserted previously. Daily recordings included assessment of pain, number of vomiting episodes, dry mouth, drowsiness, and thirst sensation. Data were examined before starting the treatment (T0), 2 days after (T2) and 2 days before death (T-2). They showed that there was a significant decrease in the pain score (p less than 0.001) on T2 and a further decrease on T-2 (p less than 0.05). Vomiting was controlled in all patients, with the exception of three patients with upper abdomen obstruction who required nasogastric tube placement. Dry mouth showed an upward trend throughout the observation period (p less than 0.05) but was successfully treated by administering liquids by mouth or ice-cubes to suck. Drowsiness too presented an upward trend from T0 to T-2 (p less than 0.001). Only one patient out of 16 who reported to be thirsty required intravenous hydration. We believe that in terminal cancer patients, vomit and pain resulting from inoperable intestinal obstruction, with the exception of obstruction of the upper abdomen, can be controlled through administration of analgesic and antiemetic drugs, in the hospital and at home, without recourse to nasogastric tube placement or intravenous hydration.

Join our facebook page

The most complete medicinal herbs database backed by science

  • Works in 55 languages
  • Herbal cures backed by science
  • Herbs recognition by image
  • Interactive GPS map - tag herbs on location (coming soon)
  • Read scientific publications related to your search
  • Search medicinal herbs by their effects
  • Organize your interests and stay up do date with the news research, clinical trials and patents

Type a symptom or a disease and read about herbs that might help, type a herb and see diseases and symptoms it is used against.
*All information is based on published scientific research

Google Play badgeApp Store badge