Purpose: Acute hemorrhagic rectal ulcer (AHRU) commonly occurs in elderly who are bedridden for long time due to severe underlying diseases such as cerebral and myocardial infarction and their complications. However, it is uncommon in end-stage cancer patients receiving palliative care. We report a rare AHRU case in his forties who had lung cancer with paraplegia due to tumor invasion. Case: A male lung cancer patientwas admitted to our hospital for new-onset paraplegia caused by spinal cord invasion. On 25th day after admission, he suffered from a little rectal bleeding. From that day, a painless rectal bleeding becomes gradually increased. On 37th day, a massive bleeding was occurred. Endoscopy showed that there was no active bleeding but an exposed vessel and partial circumferential ulcer in the lower part of rectum, which was compatible with the finding of AHRU. The lesion was successfully treated by clipping and no re-bleeding was observed after clipping. He was discharge on 103rd day. Conclusion: AHRU should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a massive melena in end-stage cancer patients. Prompt diagnosis and therapy is important because this disease is curable even in the terminal stage to improve their quality of life. Palliat Care Res 2011; 6(1): 308-312

Backgrounds: Salivary dysphagia due to digestive tract obstruction from pharyngeal and cervical esophageal cancer is a major cause of drooling, and the retention of saliva in the mouth is annoying to patients. Case report: An 87-year-old woman with recurrent hypopharyngeal cancer after radiation therapy complained that she could not sleep at night because of continuous sputa accumulation, and that she had to repeatedly eliminate saliva throughout day. Intravenous betamethasone at dose of 8 mg per day provided symptom relief the day after its administration. Her score on the Support Team Assessment Schedule, Japanese version (STAS-J) for salivary dysphagia decreased from 4 before treatment to 1 within two days after the initial administration. The dose was decreased to 2 mg per day six days after the start of administration, but the symptom relief continued. No symptom recurrence was seen for the two months that steroids were administered. Discussion: Our STAS-J finding indicates that the anti-inflammatory effect of betamethasone produces a rapid response that is maintained for months in cases of stenosis due to malignancy. Conclusions: Treatment with high dose steroid has the possibility of the relief of suffering caused by difficulty swallowing saliva.

Background: In terminally ill patients with cancer, sleep disturbance makes worse their quality of life. Midazolam has not ever been used for the treatment of sleep disturbance in general wards of our hospital, used in palliative care unit of other hospital, however. Method: This is a retrospective study based on chart review. Twenty-eight patients who were treated with midazolam for sleep disturbance included in this study. We designed evaluation methods to strictly follow the actual chart descriptions. Efficacy was rated as good, fair, or poor. Safety was defined by the presence or absence of respiratory depression and hypotension. Results: The median administration periods and initial doses were 6 days (range, 1-151) and 5.0 mg/night (1.8-20.0), respectively. Fourteen patients showed good sleep a night after midazolam infusion, four and nine patients showed fair and poor sleep, respectively. No patient demonstrated a respiratory rate of less than 8/min and systolic blood pressure of <60 mmHg at any point during and after midazolam infusion. Conclusion: Intravenous midazolam appeared to be safe for sleep disturbance of terminally ill patients with cancer in general wards. A future improvement administration methods are necessary to treat for sleep disturbance more effectively as well as PCU.

Dialysis hypotension is one of the most common complications observed during hemodialysis. As it may be due to vasodilatation, vasoconstrictors are usually given to patients to control blood pressure. Howerver, there are some patients who are resistant to the medication with vasoconstrictors. Recently, it has been reported that as one of the treatments of dialysis hypotension, the cooling of dialysate is effective in inducing vasoconstriction via stimulating the sympathetic nerve system. Also, the application of the interaction of citrus juices with some kinds of drugs to the treatment of dialysis hypotension has been reported effective. In the present study, we examined the effectiveness of those two methods in nine hemodialysis patients in whom dialysis hypotension had not been improved with vasoconstrictors. Dialysate temperatures were lowered from 36.0 to 35.0 C during hemodialysis and/or 100m1 of citrus juice (grapefruit juice) were given to the patients before hemodialysis in addition to vasoconstrictors. Lowering dialysate temperaturse reduced the incidence of intradialytic hypotension and helped improve the patients' quality of life after hemodialysis therapy. Body temperature remained unchanged between before and after hemodialysis. However, we observed cramps in two patients and an impairment of consciousness in one patient during hemodialysis. Thus, we concluded due caution should be exercise against the side effects during hemodialysis when dialysate temperatures are lowered. Meanwhile, the intake of grapefruit juice before hemodialysis was not effective for the improvement of intradialytic hypotension and the patients' quality of life.

Purpose: A report of effective occupational therapy for delirium patients with cancer is uncommon. We report a patient of carcinomatous meningitis, in whom her daily activity is improved by occupational therapy. Case: Firstly, we supported her meals and then started occupational therapy accepting her interest. Although degree of confusion and her performance status was not varied from beginning to end, she could concentrate our programmed works and change her way of feelings. Also occupational therapy promotes reminiscence about her life review and friendship among other patients even in delirium condition. Conclusion: Occupational therapy can reduce cancer patients' impatience, anxiety and solitary feelings and improve quality of life.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Dai-kenchu-to (DKT), a traditional Japanese herbal medicine, is known to increase gastrointestinal motility and improve ileal function. We tested our hypotheses that (1) pretreatment with DKT would block the colorectal distention-induced visceromotor response in rats, and (2) pretreatment with DKT would attenuate colorectal distention-induced adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) release and anxiety-related behavior. METHODS: Rats were pretreated with vehicle or DKT (300 mg/kg/5 mL, per os). Visceromotor responses were analyzed using electromyography in response to colorectal distention (10, 20, 40, 60, and 80 mmHg for 20 seconds at 3-minutes intervals). Anxiety-related behavior was measured during exposure to an elevated-plus maze after colorectal distention. Plasma ACTH and serum corticosterone levels were measured after exposure to the elevated-plus maze. RESULTS: Colorectal distention produced robust contractions of the abdominal musculature, graded according to stimulus intensity, in vehicle-treated rats. At 40, 60, and 80 mmHg of colorectal distention, the visceromotor responses of DKT-treated rats was significantly lower than that of vehicle-treated rats. At 80 mmHg, the amplitude was suppressed to approximately one-third in DKT-treated rats, compared with that in vehicle-treated rats. Smooth muscle compliance and the velocity of accommodation to 60 mmHg of stretching did not significantly differ between the vehicle-treated and DKT-treated rats. Similarly, the DKT did not influence colorectal distention-induced ACTH release, corticosterone levels, or anxiety-related behavior in rats. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that DKT attenuates the colorectal distention-induced visceromotor responses, without increasing smooth muscle compliance, ACTH release or anxiety-related behavior in rats.
Adrenocorticotropic Hormone ; Animals ; Anxiety ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Compliance ; Corticosterone ; Electromyography ; Gastrointestinal Motility ; Herbal Medicine* ; Humans ; Muscle, Smooth ; Plasma ; Rats* ; Visceral Pain

Purpose: The present study aims to evaluate the effect of analgesics in cancer patients based on their pain descriptions. Methods: The relationship between the words that patients used to describe their pain due to cancer and the efficacy of treatment with analgesics such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or opioids was evaluated. Results: We recorded 529words that were used by 164patients to describe their pain and pain quality and classified them into 108types of pain.For patients who used the actual word 'dull' or one with a similar meaning, treatment with opioids was effective. However, treatment with opioids was less effective in patients who used words such as "numb" and "tingling". Conclusion: We were able to gain a good understanding of cancer pain by listening to the actual words that patients used when complaining of pain. These findings suggested that we could choose a suitable medication through evaluation of the actual words cancer patients used to describe their pain and successfully relieve their pain. Palliat Care Res 2009: 4(1): 207-213