The use of ketamine infusion to dramatically reduce opioid requirements in a patient whose high-dose intrathecal opioid pump was inadvertently cut during surgery.

BACKGROUND: Chronic opioid therapy may lead to high level tolerance development, hyperalgesia, and central sensitization, which further complicates long-term therapeutic management of chronic pain patients. In this case, we encounter a patient who was receiving over 15,000 morphine milligram equivalents through their intrathecal pain pump. Unfortunately, the intrathecal pump was inadvertently cut during a spinal surgery. It was deemed unsafe to delivery IV equivalent opioid therapy in this case; instead, the patient was admitted to the ICU and given a four-day ketamine infusion. METHOD: The patient was started on a ketamine infusion at a rate of 0.5mg/kg/h, which was continued for three days. On the fourth day, the infusion rate was tapered over 12 h before being completely stopped. No coinciding opioid therapy was given during this time, which was only restarted in the outpatient setting. RESULTS: Despite chronic high levels of opioid therapy immediately prior to the ketamine infusion, the patient did not experience florid withdrawals during the infusion period. Additionally, the patient experienced remarkable improvement in their subjective pain rating, which decreased from 9 to 3-4 on an 11-point Number Rating Scale, while simultaneously being managed on an MME <100. These results were sustained through a 6-month follow-up period. CONCLUSION: Ketamine may play an important role in attenuating not only tolerance but also acute withdrawal in a setting where rapid or instant weaning from high dose chronic opioid therapy is needed.

Decreased Survival With Mastectomy Vis-à-Vis Breast-Conserving Surgery in Stage II and III Breast Cancers: A Comparative Treatment Effectiveness Study.

PURPOSE: The primary purpose of hospital-based cancer registries is assessing patient care. Clinical stage-based survival and treatment-based survival are some of the key parameters for such assessment. Because of the challenges in obtaining follow-up parameters, a separate study on patterns of care and survival was undertaken by the Indian National Cancer Registry Program. The results for cancer of the female breast are presented here. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data abstracted in a standardized patient information form were transmitted online to a central repository. Treatment patterns were assessed for 9,903 patients diagnosed between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2008, from 13 institutions. Survival analysis was restricted to 7,609 patients from nine institutions wherein follow-up details (as of December 31, 2012) were available for at least 60% of patients. RESULTS: The overall 5-year survival rates with breast-conserving surgery (BCS) and mastectomy (MS) were 94.0% and 85.8%, respectively, for stage II disease (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.40; 95% CI, 1.8 to 3.2) and 87.1% and 69.0%, respectively, for stage III disease (hazard ratio, 2.82; 95% CI, 2.2 to 3.7). Patients who had MS did better with systemic therapy (chemotherapy and/or hormone therapy), whereas patients with BCS required just local radiation therapy to achieve best survival. CONCLUSION: This observational study in the natural setting of care of patients with cancer in India showed significantly decreased survival with MS when compared with BCS. The reasons for lower survival with MS and the biologic or scientific rationale of the necessity of systemic therapy to achieve optimal survival in patients undergoing MS but not in those with BCS need further investigation.

Concurrent Chemoradiation for Cancer of the Cervix: Results of a Multi-Institutional Study From the Setting of a Developing Country (India).

PURPOSE: The primary output of hospital-based cancer registries is data on cancer stage and treatment-based survival that can be used to evaluate patient care, but because there are many challenges in obtaining follow-up details, a separate study on patterns of care and patterns of survival for patients at selected sites was initiated under the National Cancer Registry Programme of India. This article presents the results for cervical cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A standardized patient information form was used to record patient information, and data were entered into a central repository-the National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research. The study patients were from 12 institutions and were diagnosed between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2008. Patterns of treatment were assessed for 7,336 patients, and patterns of survival were determined for 2,669 patients from six institutions, at least 70% of whom had data regarding follow-up as of December 31, 2012. RESULTS: Of 7,336 patients, 55.5% received optimal radiotherapy (RT). In all, 80.9% of patients had locally advanced cancers (stage IIB to IVA), 51.1% received RT alone, and 44.4% received concurrent chemoradiation (RTCT). In 1,753 patients with locally advanced cancers, significantly better survival was observed with RTCT than with RT alone (5-year cumulative survival, 70.2% v 47.3%; hazard ratio, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.41 to 0.56). CONCLUSION: A conservative estimate indicates that, on an annual basis, 38,771 patients with cervical cancers in India alone do not get the benefit of RTCT and thus they have poorer survival. There is a need to reiterate the National Cancer Institute's alert that advised supplementing chemotherapy to radiation for locally advanced cancer of the cervix in the context of the developing world, where 84.3% of cancers of the cervix occur.