European Journal of Palliative Care - 1998

Nausea and vomiting in advanced cancer
Robert Twycross and Ian Back
pp 39-45
Nausea and vomiting are common symptoms in advanced cancer, affecting between 40–70% of patients, but anecdotal and survey evidence suggest that they are not always well managed.4 Unlike pain, no generally accepted and widely disseminated management guidelines are available.

Corticosteroids in palliative care
Janet Hardy
pp 46-50
Corticosteroids (generally referred to as ‘steroids’ in this review) are commonly used in palliative care. They have both specific and non-specific indications (Table 1) and provide a useful addition to the therapeutic armamentarium. In a study by Hanks et al, over one-half of 373 patients admitted to a hospice with advanced malignant disease were treated with either prednisolone or dexamethasone at some time during the course of the admission. In a recent study of the prevalence of fatigue in palliative care inpatients at this cancer centre, 64/95 (67%) patients were taking steroids.

Palliative care in Germany – 14 years on
Rainer Sabatowski, Lukas Radbruch, Georg Loick, Stephan Grond and Frank Petzke
pp 52-55
Adirectory of hospice and palliative care services in Germany was published in 1993, following the example of the UK and Canada. Information was provided on 32 hospices and palliative care units, offering 302 beds for inpatient care. An update was published in 1997.

Intimate distance
Marie de Hennezel
pp 56-59
The title of this article came to me in two ways: first, when reading a little-known article by David Barnard, Professor of Humanities at Pennsylvania State University; then from feeling I needed to say something about the controversial and paradoxical question of the ‘right distance’ to establish between caregivers and patients who are terminally ill.

Symptomatic treatment of cancer patients with advanced and terminal disease
Isabel Bestit
pp 60-60
In the spirit of communication within the European Community, a workshop meeting was organised by Suchy and Brade with experts Geoffrey Hanks (from the UK), J Klastersky (Belgium) and Gòmez Batiste-Alentorn (Spain). German hospital and private practice oncologists and officials from German health insurance companies attempted to discover, through the exchange of ideas and experiences, the best palliative care methods in each country.

Involving volunteers in bereavement counselling
Marilyn Relf
pp 61-65
A key strategy of British palliative care bereavement services is the provision of proactive support by volunteers in order to minimise the risks associated with bereavement. This article examines the involvement of volunteers and suggests that services need to be sophisticated in order to ensure the quality of care provided.

January/February 1998, Volume 5 Number 1