Dealing with our losses.

The repeated losses experienced by a clinical oncologist may constitute a significant source of personal stress. Studies documenting high stress levels on oncology services and the prevalence among physicians of alcoholism, cirrhosis, suicide, and marital discord lend urgency to the need to examine etiologic factors, clinical manifestations, and strategies for the management of job-related stress. Significant etiologic factors include death as an existential fact emphasizing our finite nature, the cumulative grief associated with repeated unresolved losses, the pressure of a health care system fueled by the medical information explosion, the inability to achieve the idealistic goals embraced by holistic medical care, stresses inherent in working as a "team," and an undermined context of meaning as an outcome of treatment failures. Clinical manifestations of stress are reviewed as an aid to early diagnosis. Strategies useful in the prevention and management of stress include the encouragement of increased awareness of stress in self and colleagues, the clarification of appropriate goals and priorities, encouragement of appropriate limit setting, the mobilization of collaborative input, the clarification of team roles and organizational patterns, the establishment of team support meetings and favorable working conditions, exercise, and the clarification and working through of previously unresolved personal psychodynamic issues. Differences between the work-related stress involved in clinical oncology as compared with hospice care are examined.

A randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, crossover trial comparing the safety and efficacy of oral sustained-release hydromorphone with immediate-release hydromorphone in patients with cancer pain. Canadian Palliative Care Clinical Trials Group.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of a new slow-release preparation of hydromorphone (SRH) in the treatment of cancer pain. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Ninety-five adult patients from three Canadian Palliative Care Centers with no evidence of mental impairment received treatment for cancer pain with an oral opioid analgesic. After informed consent was obtained, patients underwent titration to a stable dose of immediate-release hydromorphone (IRH) for 48 hours, and were then randomized to receive IRH or SRH for 5 days in a double-blind basis. During day 6, a crossover took place, and patients received the alternate drug for 5 days. Pain intensity was assessed using a visual analog scale (VAS) and ordinal scale (OS). Side effects were assessed using VAS. Patients and investigators made a blinded global rating of efficacy a blinded final choice between SRH and IRH. RESULTS: In 75 assessable patients, pain intensity of the VAS and OS were (mean +/- SD) 27 +/- 21 and 1.3 +/- 0.6 on IRH, versus 29 +/- 21 (P = .13) and 1.3 +/- 0.6 (P = .19) on SRH, respectively. The total number of extra doses of opioids, global rating, and final blinded choice by both patients and investigators were not significantly different between IRH and SRH. Differences in side effects were not significant. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that SRH is as safe and effective as IRH in the treatment of cancer pain.

Quality of life in HIV disease as measured by the McGill quality of life questionnaire.

OBJECTIVE: To test the acceptability, validity, and internal consistency reliability of the McGill quality of life questionnaire (MQOL) for persons living with HIV/AIDS. DESIGN: The validity of MQOL was tested by having HIV-seropositive outpatients complete the 16-item MQOL, a single-item scale (SIS) measuring overall quality of life (QOL), and a physical symptom questionnaire. METHODS: Factor analysis was used as a guide for construction of MQOL subscales. Validity was studied by determining the correlation between MQOL and SIS, and between MQOL physical measures, CD4 counts and the physical symptoms questionnaire. Multiple regression was employed to determine how best to combine MQOL subscales to predict SIS. RESULTS: MQOL was acceptable to this patient population. Factor analysis suggests that MQOL can be represented by live measures: a single item measuring physical well-being and four subscales representing physical symptoms, psychological symptoms, existential well-being, and support. Multiple regression analyses suggest that the existential domain contributes greatly to QOL for people with advanced HIV disease (CD4 counts < 100 x 10(6)/l). CONCLUSION: MQOL is an acceptable and valid measure of QOL for people living with HIV/AIDS, with meaningful and reliable subscales as well as a summary score. The inclusion of a measure of existential well-being in MQOL may make it a more valid measure of QOL, especially for people with advanced disease, than QOL instruments which do not include this domain.

Proteoglycan composition in the human sclera during growth and aging.

PURPOSE: Scleral proteoglycans were characterized from human donor eyes aged 2 months to 94 years to identify age-related changes in the synthesis and/or accumulation of these extracellular matrix components. METHODS: Newly synthesized proteoglycans (previously radiolabeled with 35SO4) and total accumulated scleral proteoglycans were extracted with 4 M guanidine hydrochloride and separated by molecular sieve chromatography on a Sepharose CL-4B column. The elution positions of newly synthesized and total accumulated proteoglycans were determined by assaying each fraction for radioactivity and glycosaminoglycans, respectively. Regression analyses were performed on the three major proteoglycan peaks to identify age-related changes in scleral proteoglycan composition. Scleral proteoglycans were further purified by anion-exchange chromatography and characterized by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western blot analyses. RESULTS: Human scleral proteoglycans were apparent as three major peaks after chromatography on Sepharose CL-4B. The two faster eluting peaks contained alternative forms of the cartilage proteoglycan, aggrecan, whereas the third peak contained the small proteoglycans biglycan and decorin. The relative percentage of newly synthesized and total accumulated aggrecan increased approximately two- to sixfold from infancy to 94 years. In contrast, the relative percentage of newly synthesized and total accumulated biglycan and decorin decreased by approximately 25%. Chromatography and Western blot results indicated that the absolute amounts of all three proteoglycans significantly increased in concentration within the sclera from birth to the fourth decade. Beyond the fourth decade, decorin and biglycan decreased in all scleral regions and were present in lowest concentrations by the ninth decade. In contrast, aggrecan, which was present in highest concentration in the posterior sclera, was not significantly reduced with increasing age. CONCLUSIONS: The age-related changes in scleral proteoglycan composition observed in the present study are likely to contribute to the regional alterations in biomechanical properties of the sclera associated with growth and aging.

Noninvasive assessment of the peripheral vascular system.

Forty-five limbs varying clinically from normal through moderate to severely ischemic were studied by noninvasive measurements of both arterial blood pressure and perfusion. From the values plotted on a two-coordinate system, they arranged themselves well into three clinical categories: (1) normal, (2) intermittent claudication, and (3) ischemia or ulceration and rest pain. Good clinical responses to arterial reconstruction were corroborated by postoperative measurements. Reinforcing the results of one measurement with those of the other has provided an objective, numerical, and graphic basis for decisions regarding the advisability of angiography or arterial reconstructive procedures or both. To date, almost 400 patients have been evaluated by these techniques.

Phototherapy in the treatment of depression in the terminally ill.

Research in affective disorders has shown that there is a clear link between mood and light exposure, and that exposure to bright wide-spectrum light (phototherapy) may be an effective antidepressant treatment in some clinical situations. Cancer patients, especially those in the terminal phase of illness, have a high incidence of depression. Furthermore, their mobility is often severely reduced, resulting in little exposure to direct sunlight. We report the use of phototherapy in three terminally ill patients to alleviate symptoms of depression.

Noninvasive measurement of pulsatile blood volume changes. Its usefulness in peripheral vascular disease.

A clinical trial was made of a new noninvasive technic for the measurement of arterial blood volume changes in a limb segment. The instrument employed is small, portable, provides a digital display in cc/min, is readily calibrated, gives reproducible values of the segmental phen be used to screen patients with peripheral vascular disease and to assess postoperative results.

Vascular distensibility and vascular surgery.

The elastic property of an arterial wall decreases considerably with aging and/or with a variety of pathological conditions. The resulting decrease in vascular compliance has a profound physiological effect on arterial perfusion. The objectives of this study were to assess a quantitative measure of peripheral vascular distensibility (D), to apply it in some clinical conditions, and to establish a potential means of predicting success in vascular surgery for limb salvage. A technique described earlier by us for the determination of D based on an accurate measurement of volume change (delta V) with pressure change (delta P) was further analyzed and then tested in four groups: the first two were non-surgical, 18 normal subjects, and 23 hypertensive men paired with 22 normotensive men; the last two were surgical, patients undergoing aortofemoral bypass (AFB) operations for limb salvage (salvaged vs unsalvaged); and patients who underwent below-knee amputations (BKA) for severe arterial insufficiency (healed vs unhealed). The results indicate that D can be used as a reliable assessment of the pathophysiological status of the arterial system in the lower extremity; furthermore, D can be used as a predictor of success in at least two types of vascular procedures: AFB with profundoplasty for limb salvage and BKA for severe arterial insufficiency.

The calibrated impendance plethysmograph: laboratory and clinical studies.

By careful experimental studies a calibrated impedance plethysmograph has been shown to be highly accurate (standard error = 3.8%). Its ability to measure the rate of pulsatile volume change has been extremely useful in the diagnosis of arterial insufficiency of the lower extremities. By helping in the objective definition and documentation of arterial perfusion, this instrument can greatly improve our selectivity of patients for angiography and subsequent revascularization.