Sedation in palliative care

Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology

Volumn 20, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 137-142

  Vissers, Kris C P ^a,b   Hasselaar, Jeroen ^a   Verhagen, Stans A H H V M ^a  

^a RADBOUD UNIVERSITY NIJMEGEN   (Netherlands)

^b RADBOUD UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

Artificial hydration and nutrition; Double effect; Palliative sedation; Respite sedation

Indexed keywords

LEVOMEPROMAZINE; MIDAZOLAM; PHENOBARBITAL; PROPOFOL;

ARTIFICIAL FEEDING; CONTINUOUS INFUSION; DRUG DOSE INCREASE; HUMAN; HYDRATION; MEDICAL DECISION MAKING; MEDICAL ETHICS; PALLIATIVE THERAPY; PATIENT INFORMATION; PRACTICE GUIDELINE; PRIORITY JOURNAL; RECOMMENDED DRUG DOSE; RELIGION; REVIEW; SEDATION; TERMINALLY ILL PATIENT;

ANESTHESIOLOGY; HUMANS; NUTRITIONAL SUPPORT; PALLIATIVE CARE; TERMINALLY ILL;

EID: 34247152464     PISSN: 09527907     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1097/ACO.0b013e328049557b     Document Type: Review

References (32)

1. Levy MH, Cohen SD. Sedation for the relief of refractory symptoms in the imminently dying: a fine intentional line. Semin Oncol 2005; 32:237-246. This publication provides a review of the different aspects of palliative sedation including symptoms and patient selection for palliative sedation, ethical considerations, and practical aspects such as drug selection and monitoring.
2. Charter S, Viola R, Paterson J, Jarvis V. Sedation for intractable distress in the dying: a survey of experts. Palliat Med 1998; 12:255-269.
3. Braun TC, Hagen NA, Clark T. Development of a clinical practice guideline for palliative sedation. J Palliat Med 2003; 6:345-350.
4. Morita T, Bito S, Kurihara Y, et al. Development of a clinical guideline for palliative sedation therapy using the Delphi method. J Palliat Med 2005; 8:716-729. This guideline is based on the Delphi method, a technique for achieving consensus. It proposes criteria for patient selection and flow charts for progressive implementation of palliative sedation. Suggestions regarding type of medication, dose and route of administration are given.
5. Schuman ZD, Abrahm JL. Implementing institutional change: an institutional case study of palliative sedation. J Palliat Med 2005; 8:666-676.
6. Quill TE, Byock IR. Responding to intractable terminal suffering: the role of terminal sedation and voluntary refusal of food and fluids. ACP-ASIM End-of-Life Care Consensus Panel. American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine. Ann Intern Med 2000; 132:408-414.
7. Muller-Busch HC, Andres I, Jehser T. Sedation in palliative care - a critical analysis of 7 years experience. BMC Palliat Care 2003; 2:2.
8. Miccinesi G, Rietjens JA, Deliens L, et al. Continuous deep sedation: physicians' experiences in six European countries. J Pain Symptom Manage 2006; 31:122-129.
9. Rietjens JA, van der Heide A, Onwuteaka-Philipsen BD, et al. A comparison of attitudes towards end-of-life decisions: survey among the Dutch general public and physicians. Soc Sci Med 2005; 61:1723-1732.
10. Cowan JD, Walsh D. Terminal sedation in palliative medicine-definition and review of the literature. Support Care Cancer 2001; 9:403-407.
11. Sykes N, Thorns A. Sedative use in the last week of life and the implications for end-of-life decision making. Arch Intern Med 2003; 163:341-344.
12. Morita T, Chinone Y, Ikenaga M, et al. Efficacy and safety of palliative sedation therapy: a multicenter, prospective, observational study conducted on specialized palliative care units in Japan. J Pain Symptom Manage 2005; 30:320-328. The only prospective study published in the period under review reports on a survey conducted in palliative care units in Japan based on an extensive questionnaire. It provides information on the habits relative to palliative sedation in Japan. The methodology might be a basis for studying the practice of palliative sedation in other countries.
13. Chiu TY, Hu WY, Cheng SY, et al. Ethical dilemmas in palliative care: a study in Taiwan. J Med Ethics 2000; 26:353-357.
14. Plonk WM Jr, Arnold RM. Terminal care: the last weeks of life. J Palliat Med 2005; 8:1042-1054. In this review paper concerning the care for patients in the last weeks of their life, palliative sedation is placed in the global context of caring for the dying patient.
15. Morita T. Differences in physician-reported practice in palliative sedation therapy. Support Care Cancer 2004; 12:584-592.
16. Morita T, Akechi T, Sugawara Y, et al. Practices and attitudes of Japanese oncologists and palliative care physicians concerning terminal sedation: a nationwide survey. J Clin Oncol 2002; 20:758-764.
17. Gonzalez Baron M, Gomez Raposo C, Pinto Marin A. Sedation in clinical oncology. Clin Transl Oncol 2005; 7:295-301.
18. KNMG-richtlijn palliative sedatie. Utrecht: Koninklijke Nederlandse Maatschappij ter bevordering der Geneeskunst; 2005. http://knmg.artsennet.nl/ uri/?uri=AMGATE_6059_100_TICH_R171322439726668. [Accessed 10 January 2007] See [29•] for English summary.
19. Vitetta L, Kenner D, Sali A. Sedation and analgesia-prescribing patterns in terminally ill patients at the end of life. Am J Hosp Palliat Care 2005; 22:465-473.
20. Rietjens JA, van Delden JJ, van der Heide A, et al. Terminal sedation and euthanasia: a comparison of clinical practices. Arch Intern Med 2006; 166:749-753.
21. Brajtman S. Terminal restlessness: perspectives of an interdisciplinary palliative care team. Int J Palliat Nurs 2005; 11:170; 172-178.
22. Brajtman S, Higuchi K, McPherson C. Caring for patients with terminal delirium: palliative care unit and home care nurses' experiences. Int J Palliat Nurs 2006; 12:150-156.
23. Blondeau D, Roy L, Dumont S, et al. Physicians' and pharmacists' attitudes toward the use of sedation at the end of life: influence of prognosis and type of suffering. J Palliat Care 2005; 21:238-245.
24. Ponsioen B, Schuurman W, van den Hurk A, et al. Terminal sedation: consultation with a second physician as is the case in euthanasia and assisted suicide. Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd 2005; 149:445-448.
25. Rietjens JA, van der Heide A, Vrakking AM, et al. Physician reports of terminal sedation without hydration or nutrition for patients nearing death in the Netherlands. Ann Intern Med 2004; 141:178-185.
26. Cools HJ. Death due to or despite the doctor. Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd 2006; 150:594-596.
27. Keizer AA, Swart SJ. Palliative sedation, the sympathetic alternative for euthanasia? Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd 2005; 149:449-451.
28. Reynolds S, Cooper AB, McKneally M. Withdrawing life-sustaining treatment: ethical considerations. Thorac Surg Clin 2005; 15:469-480.
29. KNMG. Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG) Guidelines for Palliative Sedation; 2005. http://knmg.artsennet.nl/uri/?uri= AMGATE_6059_100_TICH_R171322439726668. [Accessed 8 January 2007] See [18•] for Dutch complete version.
30. Grecksch G, Bartzsch K, Widera A, et al. Development of tolerance and sensitization to different opioid agonists in rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2006; 186:177-184.
31. Wang JY, Zhao M, Yuan YK, et al. The roles of different subtypes of opioid receptors in mediating the nucleus submedius opioid-evoked antiallodynia in a neuropathic pain model of rats. Neuroscience 2006; 138:1319-1327.
32. Broadbent A, Glare P. Neurotoxicity from chronic opioid therapy after successful palliative treatment for painful bone metastases. J Pain Symptom Manage 2005; 29:520-524.