Description
Book SynopsisIntractable illnesses such as advanced cancer, AIDS, and chronic progressive neurological diseases present health-care professionals with an array of symptoms and ethical issues that demand extensive exploration and consideration. As the quest for advances in symptomatology continues, it is imperative to disseminate and integrate the knowledge currently available in palliative medicine. The International Symposium on Current Perspectives and Future Directions in Palliative Medicine was held in Tokyo in October 1997 to provide health-care professionals with a multidisciplinary approach for improving comprehensive palliative care. With invited speakers from North America, Europe, and Japan, the symposium focused on standard management and clinical trials of control of symptoms such as pain and cachexia, ethics in palliative medicine, the economics of health care, quality-of-life research, management of depression, and patient education.
Table of ContentsSession I Symptom Control in Palliative Medicine: Standard Management and Clinical Trials I.- Recent Research in Pain and Cachexia in Advanced Cancer and AIDS.- Multidisciplinary Approach to Pain Control.- Malignant Intestinal Obstruction.- Session Summary.- Session II Symptom Control in Palliative Medicine: Standard Management and Clinical Trials II.- The Treatment of Chronic Nausea in Patients with Advanced Cancer.- Therapy of Febrile Neutropenia: An Algorithm for Current Clinical Attitudes Taking into Account Cost Benefit.- Alleviation of Dyspnea in Patients with Advanced Cancer: Usefulness of Opioid.- Session Summary.- Session III Depression: A Major Psychological and Emotional Problem.- Depression in Patients with Advanced Cancer.- Depression in HIV-Infected Adults: Newer Concepts.- Euthanasia, Social Policy and Empirical Data.- Session Summary.- Session IV Ethics in Palliative Medicine.- Euthanasia in the Netherlands: A Flat Country on a Slippery Slope?.- Evaluation of Do-Not-Resuscitate Policy in Japan.- Ethical Dilemmas and Advanced Directives in Japan.- Session Summary.- Session V Health Economics in Palliative Medicine.- Health Economics of Palliative Therapy.- Economic Evaluation of Health Care for Chronic Diseases.- Recent Trend and Problems of Health Economics in Japan: Application of Clinical Economics to the Treatment for Cancers and Intractable Diseases.- Session Summary.- Session VI Quality of Life (QOL) Research.- Quality of Life Evaluation in Chronic Illness.- Quality of Life in Palliative Medicine: Current Status and Problems of QOL Research in Japan.- Session Summary.- Session VII Patient Education and Ethics.- Complementary Medicine.- Support with Information, Education and Counselling in Patients with Advanced Cancer and AIDS.- Patients’ Perceptions of Palliation in Japan.- Session Summary.- Key Word Index.
