Full Description
Patients with advanced cancer may develop a number of clinical complications related to tumor progression or a variety of aggressive treatments. The majority of these patients are elderly, often with multiple co-morbidities that require appropriate assessment and management. In the palliative stage of their disease, patients undergo a progressive transition from active acute care to community-based hospice care. This transition requires modification in the diagnostic tests, monitoring procedures and pharmacological treatments to adjust them to the palliative and short-term nature of the care. Internal Medicine Issues in Palliative Cancer Care looks at internal medicine through a prognosis-based framework and provides a practical approach to maximizing comfort and quality of life while minimizing aggressive investigations and therapies for patients with life-limiting disease. Forty-six common internal medicine conditions are organized into nine clinical categories: pulmonary, cardiovascular, nephrologic and metabolic, gastrointestinal, hematologic, infectious, endocrine, rheumatologic, and neuro-psychiatric. This evidence-based resource is ideal for educating clinicians delivering palliative care to cancer patients in acute care facilities about complex internal medicine problems, decision-making regarding diagnostics and therapeutics which require a good understanding of state-of-the-art internal medicine and palliative care principles.
Contents
1. Introduction ; 1.1. Principles of Internal Medicine in Palliative Care ; 1.2. Principles of Prognostication ; 1.3. Principles of advance care planning ; 2. Pulmonary ; 2.1. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ; 2.2. Pleural Effusion ; 2.3. Pulmonary Embolism ; 2.4. Non-invasive ventilation ; 3. Cardiovascular ; 3.1. Heart Failure ; 3.2. Acute Coronary Syndrome ; 3.3. Pericardial Effusion and Tamponade ; 3.4. Arrhythmias ; 3.5. Arterial Hypertension ; 3.6. Dyslipidemia ; 4. Nephrology and Metabolic Abnormalities ; 4.1. Chronic Kidney Disease & Acute Kidney Injury ; 4.2. Urinary Incontinence ; 4.3. Urinary Retention ; 4.4. Hematuria ; 4.5. Metabolic acidosis ; 4.6. Electrolyte abnormalities (Na, K, Mg) ; 4.7. Hypercalcemia ; 5. Gastrointestinal ; 5.1. Upper and Lower Gastrointestinal Bleeding ; 5.2. Acute and Chronic Diarrhea ; 5.3. Bowel Obstruction ; 5.4. Liver Failure and Hepatitis ; 5.5. Biliary Obstruction ; 5.6. Pancreatitis ; 6. Hematological Disorders ; 6.1. Anemia ; 6.2. Neutropenia ; 6.3. Thrombocytopenia ; 6.4. Bleeding Disorders ; 6.5. Deep Vein Thrombosis ; 7. Infections ; 7.1. Sepsis ; 7.2. Pneumonia ; 7.3. Urinary Tract Infections ; 7.4. Osteomyelitis ; 7.5. Skin Infections ; 7.6. Herpes Infections ; 7.7. Fungal Infections ; 8. Endocrine ; 8.1. Diabetes ; 8.2. Hyperthyroidism ; 8.3. Hypothyroidism ; 9. Rheumatology ; 9.1. Arthritis ; 10. Neuro-psychiatric ; 10.1. Acute Stroke Syndrome ; 10.2. Seizures ; 10.3. Syncope ; 10.4. Migraines ; 10.5. Dementia ; 10.6. Vitamin B12 deficiency ; 10.7. Parkinson's Disease
