Purpose: Although case reports on the use of octreotide for malignant ascites are occasionally seen, it remains unclear whether or not octreotide is effective in such cases. The aim of this study was to clarify the utility of octreotide for malignant ascites. Methods: This study was a retrospective study based on a survey of medical records. The subjects were taken from among cancer patients at our hospital who were given octreotide between April 1, 2008 and October 31, 2011 with the aim of reducing gastrointestinal symptoms accompanying gastrointestinal obstruction. These subjects were patients who had malignant ascites during the time octreotide was used and whose ascites could be evaluated by computed tomography before and after octreotide was started. Evaluation of ascites was classified into five levels of obviously decreasing, slightly decreasing, no change, slightly increasing, and obviously increasing. Results: Forty-nine patients used octreotide during the same period. Seven of these 49 patients met the eligibility criteria. The level of ascites was not classified as obviously decreasing or slightly decreasing in any of the patients. One patient was classified as no change. The other six were all slightly increasing or obviously increasing. Conclusion: In this study octreotide was not shown to be usuful for malignant ascites.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to clarify the current state and effectiveness of antibiotic use in our palliative care unit (PCU). Methods: Among the cancer patients hospitalized in our PCU between May 1, 2012 and April 30, 2013, the subjects of this study were treated with parenteral antibiotics for infections. All data were retrospectively collected from medical records. Results: Parenteral antibiotics were prescribed in 44.3% of all. The most common sites of infections were the respiratory tract (63.6%) and the urinary tract (18.2%). In 59.1% of the cases, the outcome of use of antibiotics was helpful, in 9.1% of cases there was no change, in 13.6% of cases it was unhelpful, and in 18.2% of cases it could not be assessed. The outcome of antibiotic use was supposed to be excellent for urinary tract infections, but defective for terminal cases near death. Conclusion: The use of antibiotics is common in PCU and the responsiveness of the antibiotics could be different among certain subgroups.