The palliative uses of radiation therapy in surgical oncology patients.

Palliative radiation therapy has a significant role to play in the management of several clinical syndromes commonly seen by surgeons: brain and bone metastases, spinal cord compression, thoracic symptoms caused by lung cancer, bleeding, and pain or other local symptoms caused by tumor mass effects. This article discusses the basic principles of radiation therapy and radiobiology, the potential benefits, and the adverse effects and burdens of the treatment plans for each indication. This article gives the surgeon insight as to the proper time to refer patients with advanced cancer to a radiation oncologist for palliative radiation therapy.

Perceived needs of wives of stroke patients.

The purpose of the study described in this article was to determine the difference between the importance that wives of hospitalized stroke patients attached to their own needs and the degree to which they felt those needs were met by members of the nursing staff. Fourteen wives whose husbands had survived an initial stroke completed the Stroke Family Inventory, a 27-item self-administered questionnaire, and participated in a structured private interview to further explore the impact of the stroke on their lives. The wives were asked to reflect on their needs as perceived during the acute stage (the first 2 weeks) of the stroke. Of the 27 needs identified by the wives, four were perceived to be most important. These were (a) a wife's need to know what she could do to assist with her husband's care, (b) a need to be included in discharge planning for her husband, (c) a need to know that nursing personnel cared about her husband, and (d) a need to know what kind of activities her husband was able and/or would be able to do. Results showed that the wives perceived that 18 (66%) of the 27 needs were not met very well by hospital nursing staffs.