THOUGH most patients with secondary neoplastic involvement of the heart or pericardium seem to manifest no symptoms or signs of such involvement, a sizable proportion do have actual impairment of cardiac funetion. Refinements in thoracic, and specifically cardiac, surgery, in roentgen therapy, and in the use of isotopic and chemotherapeutic agents have made definite palliation available for met...

Cholangiocarcinoma (CC) is a tumour with a poor prognosis. The treatment of CC is challenging as the tumour is usually diagnosed late and the treatments are not very effective except when complete surgical resection is possible. However in the majority of cases, surgical resection is not possible and palliation is the mainstay of treatment. Currently chemotherapy combining gemcitabine with a pl...

Various airway pathologies may result in central airway obstruction. For patients who have benign and malignant disease, definitive surgical correction by tracheobronchial resection and reconstruction is preferred. Numerous patients, however, have unresectable airway lesions owing to the extent of disease or to medical or surgical contraindications. These patients can be palliated by several en...

Rationale: Patients with malignant or paramalignant pleural effusions (MPEs PMPEs) may have tunneled catheter (TPC) management withheld because of infection concerns from immunosuppression associated antineoplastic therapy.Objectives: To determine the rate infections related to TPC use and relationship therapy, immune system competency, overall survival (OS).Methods: We performed an internation...

Introduction:The use of beta emitters is one of the effective methods for palliation of bone metastasis. The risk of normal tissue toxicity should be evaluated in the bone pain palliation treatment. Methods: In this study, the Monte Carlo simulation code MCNPX was used for simulation a bone phantom model consisted of bone marrow, bone and soft tissue. Spe...

A retrospective case note audit was conducted in order to determine the most prevalent symptoms in terminal dementia and to assess the palliation given. Seventeen case notes were audited. Pain and dyspnoea were the most common symptoms. The palliation and treatment of constipation and oral candidiasis was within current accepted practice. Palliation of other symptoms were inadequate compared to...

We are reporting a case of a 75-year-old man with multiply recurrent IgA-lambda multiple myeloma status post multiple rounds of chemotherapy, autologous stem cell transplantation, and palliative radiation therapy for diffuse bone lesions. Approximately 15 years after original diagnosis, he developed secondary cutaneous plasmacytomas of the right arm, right chest wall, and right upper back over ...

Some 4 decades ago, the first thoracic transplant of the modern era was performed. It was a heart, it was carried out in South Africa and although it did not last long, it opened a new door for treating patients dying of advanced cardiopulmonary conditions. Also, possibly a new door towards immortality? Perhaps that first heart transplant was too daring for its time, as surely there were many u...