background: the locally advanced head and neck cancer with fixed nodes are incurable and has a short survival. this study aims to evaluate the symptom relief, disease response and acute toxicity after palliative hypofractionated radiotherapy. methods: between december 2010 to june 2011, previously untreated 50 patients who had histopathologically proved of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma ...

BACKGROUND Official guidelines recommend palliative treatments for patients with liver metastases from gastric cancer. However, many case series reported that hepatectomy for such cases is safe and effective. This systematic review compares the overall survival between hepatectomy and palliative therapy in patients with liver metastases from gastric cancer. METHODS Two independent reviewers p...

BACKGROUND Studies of treatment with octreotide of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) gave conflicting results. We analyzed retrospectively the survival of our patients treated with octreotide monotherapy and compared it to stage-matched patients who received either TACE, multimodal therapy or palliative care. METHODS 95 patients seen at the department of Gastroenterology and Hepato...

BACKGROUND A minority of patients with incurable and advanced disease receive specialised palliative care. Specialised palliative care services that complement the care of difficult and complex cases ought to be integrated with services that deliver general care for most patients. A typical setting in which this integrative concept takes place is the hospital setting, where patients suffering f...

BACKGROUND: Carcinoma of the prostate metastasising to the penis is rare. These patients have a poor prognosis receiving various treatment modalities. CASE PRESENTATION: Two such patients are discussed here having received differing therapeutic regimes, pointing out the necessity for standardised palliative treatment rather than radical therapy. CONCLUSION: Management of patients with penile me...

Patients with end-stage kidney disease have significantly increased morbidity and mortality. While greater attention has been focused on advanced care planning, end-of-life decisions, conservative therapy and withdrawal from dialysis these must be supported by adequate palliative care incorporating symptom control. With the increase in the elderly, with their inherent comorbidities, accepted on...

P atients with high-grade gliomas almost invariably develop disease progression despite recent advances in anticancer therapy. Increasingly, the value of formal palliative care consultation and management has been recognized in both cancer and noncancer medicine. However, there is a paucity of data to definitively guide the provision of palliative care for neuro-oncology patients. This paper ai...

Background. Human-Immunodeficiency-Virus- (HIV-) related Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) has a high prevalence in Africa; however, there is minimal published data on treatment and outcomes in this population. Objective and Design. This was a prospective study of 50 patients, aiming to assess the impact of vincristine therapy on tumour response and survival and to assess palliative care outcomes in patien...

Management of locally advanced colon cancer metastases is challenging and operation carries an increased risk of morbidity and mortality. The knowledge of exact sites of involvement can aid the surgeon to make a decision regarding complete resection or palliative therapy. PET/CT scan is an advantage in this setting because metabolic alterations often precede the anatomic changes; moreover, it c...

Only approximately 30% of patients with colorectal cancer liver metastasis qualify for curative therapy, which is in most cases liver lesion resection. Due primarily to the extent of the tumors and patient comorbidities, palliative therapy remains the only option in non-resection cases. Palliation enables local, symptomatic control and prolonged survival in some cases. As established methods ar...