Section of Palliative Care and Medical Ethics
Case of the Month
Note: Cases of the month are now available in Adobe PDF format. To read the PDF files, Adobe Acrobat Reader software must be installed on your computer. If you need the Acrobat Reader, you can download it FREE from the Adobe Web site by clicking Get Acrobat Reader here.
| DATE | TITLE/TOPIC |
| March 2022 | Trigeminal Neuralgia in Head and Neck Cancer |
| February 2022 | Identifying and Managing Drug Induced Akathisia |
| January 2022 | The urgent need for care coordination and expertise in the Management of patients with Opioid Use Disorder and Cancer |
| November 2021 | Assessing and Managing Adverse Immune-Related Events of Cancer Immunotherapy |
| October 2021 | Two Tales of TPN: More Complicated than Just Calories |
| September 2021 | Documenting goals of care notes within UPMC Health System |
| August 2021 | Identifying and Managing Diversion of Prescription Medication in the Outpatient Setting |
| July 2021 | Are Antidepressants Safe to Use with Neuroendocrine Tumors? |
| June 2021 | Identifying and Relieving Existential Suffering |
| May 2021 | Management of Odynophagia |
| April 2021 | Talking with patients and surrogate decision makers about Miracles |
| March 2021 | Central Post-stroke Pain |
| December 2020 | Management of Hiccups |
| November 2020 | The Use of Psychostimulants in Patients with Serious Illness |
| October 2020 | Acute Anxiety in Seriously Ill Children and Adolescents |
| August 2020 | How to Talk About Time Limited Trials |
| July 2020 | Deciding Who Can Decide: Assessing Decision-Making Capacity in Hospitalized Patients |
| June 2020 | Diagnosis and Medication Management of Post-operative and Migraine Headache |
| April 2020 | Phantom Limb Pain |
| March 2020 | CAR-T Therapy: What is it and who does it help? |
| January 2020 | “The Art of Medicine”: Using the Visual Arts to Move Away from Burn Out and Towards Resiliency in Medical Training |
| December 2019 | Predicting Prognosis in Parkinson’s Disease |
| October 2019 | The Support Consult: Coping Skills in Real Time |
| September 2019 | Undue Influence or Relational Autonomy? When Family Members Steer Medical Decisions |
| August 2019 | Treating Non-Infectious Diarrhea |
| June 2019 | Cultural Implications and Request for Non-Disclosure of Medical Information |
| March 2019 | Pain in the Ads! Adrenal Insufficiency in Palliative Care |
| December 2018 | Cancer Immunotherapy: New Drugs, Old Lessons |
| November 2018 | Bad to the Bone: Management of Cancer Pain Related to Bone Involvement |
| October 2018 | How to Predict Prognosis in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis |
| September 2018 | Identifying the Surrogate |
| August 2018 | Conservative Management of Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease |
| June 2018 | The Huddle before the Family Meeting |
| April 2018 | Lifting the Fog of Chemobrain: Understanding Cancer Related Cognitive Impairment |
| January 2018 | PTSD in seriously ill Patients: A difficult conundrum |
| December 2017 | Addiction Treatment Options, or “What the Heck is an IOP? |
| November 2017 | A Patient Behaving Very Strangely |
| September 2017 | Treating depression in patients who can’t take oral medications |
| August 2017 | Refractory Dyspnea: Oxygen and Opioids |
| July 2017 | Aortic Stenosis, TAVR, and the Potential Role of Palliative Care |
| June 2017 | Quetiapine for Off-Label Use in Anxiety – What is the evidence? |
| May 2017 | Ketamine – A promising antidepressant? |
| March 2017 | Rage and Ramble, Shiver and Shake – Tacrolimus Neurotoxicity |
| February 2017 | Legacy Projects and Life Review in Palliative Care |
| January 2017 | I Swear I Didn’t Use Any Drugs! |
| December 2016 | Discharging Terminal Patients from Hospice: A Perspective on this Conundrum |
| November 2016 | Malignancy related Superior Vena Cava Syndrome |
| October 2016 | Harm Reduction Efforts in Palliative Care Patients on Opioids: Provision of Naloxone Kits in the Community |
| September 2016 | Delirium: Patient and Caregivers Experience |
| August 2016 | Opioid Induced Constipation and Opioid Antagonists |
| July 2016 | Mucositis in Head and Neck Cancer |
| June 2016 | If she is dying anyway, why not give her more chemotherapy? |
| May 2016 | Ziconotide (Prialt): A Blessing and a Curse |
| April 2016 | “Is My Mom Comfortable?” Assessing Dyspnea at the End of Life |
| April 2016 | Huntington’s Disease at End of Life |
| March 2016 | “Let me clear my throat”: A Review of Antitussives for a Malignancy-Related Cough |
| February 2016 | Nerve Blocks |
| January 2016 | Transformation to chronic migraine: A dilemma for migraine patients with cancer pain |
| December 2015 | Palliative Management of Chronic Diarrhea |
| November 2015 | The Use of Narrative Medicine in Existential Distress |
| October 2015 | An older woman with progressive decline in function: What are those weird movements? |
| August 2015 | Treatment of Renal Failure in Patients Who Have Cirrhosis |
| July 2015 | 80 year old patient with advanced gastric cancer: When are medical interventions considered “futile?” |
| June 2015 | Scratching the Surface of the Treatment of Pruritus in Palliative Care |
| May 2015 | When being “down in the dumps” isn’t depression |
| April 2015 | A middle aged woman with diffuse large B cell lymphoma in the ICU – is her prognosis good or bad? |
| March 2015 | Paclitaxel- Associated Acute Pain Syndrome: A Novel Neuropathy? |
| February 2015 | Opioid-induced Hyperalgesia |
| January 2015 | When pain doesn’t go away: palliation of post-herpetic neuralgia |
| December 2014 | How Long is Too Long? Complicated Grief |
| November2014 | Mythical Methadone |
| October 2014 | Emotion vs. Fact |
| September 2014 | BPH as a Hospice Diagnosis? |
| June 2014 | Second-Line Anti-emetic Therapies for Refractory Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting |
| May 2014 | The Crying Child |
| April 2014 | Legacy Projects at the End of Life |
| March 2014 | Evaluation and Management of Opioid Induced Constipation |
| February 2014 | “Are you depressed?” Screening for Depression in Palliative Care |
| January 2014 | Talking about Prognosis |
| December 2013 | The Conscientious use of Naloxone in the Palliative Care Patient |
| November 2013 | Comfort Measures for a Patient with a Recent Tracheostomy |
| October 2013 | What is Palliative Home Care? |
| September 2013 | Late Complications of Head and Neck Cancer and Its Treatments |
| July 2013 | Anti-epileptic medicines for pain management |
| June 2013 | Urinary retention, the sometimes-neglected medication side effect |
| May 2013 | Refractory Constipation in a Patient with New Malignant Spinal Cord Compression |
| April 2013 | PTSD from ICD shocks |
| March 2013 | Reconsidering Mirtazapine: Making the Most of a Side Effect Profile |
| February 2013 | Pearls and Pitfalls of Transdermal Fentanyl Administration |
| January 2013 | Choosing an Antipsychotic for the Treatment of Delirium |
| December 2012 | Is She Hospice or Isn’t She? |
| November 2012 | Chondroradionecrosis |
| October 2012 | Use of Transmucosal Immediate-Release Fentanyl (TIRF) Products |
| September 2012 | How to Legally Prescribe Controlled Substances |
| August 2012 | Treating Fibromyalgia |
| July 2012 | Post Inguinal Herniorrhaphy Groin Pain |
| June 2012 | Cutaneous Myiasis: Maggot Infestation of a Malignant Wound |
| May 2012 | The Decision to Discontinue a Left Ventricular Assist Device |
| April 2012 | Addiction in Palliative Care: Leaving the door open for the best possible outcome |
| March 2012 | Radiation Induced Xerostomia and Pain |
| February 2012 | Palliative Care Across the System |
| January 2012 | When Rotating to Methadone is a Good Idea |
| December 2011 | Role of Outpatient Palliative Care for Cancer Patients |
| November 2011 | He’s got renal failure – better order Dilaudid instead of morphine! |
| July 2011 | Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST): Translating the goals of seriously ill patients into a medical order |
| June 2011 | The use of topical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for pain in palliative care |
| May 2011 | Lymphedema- A common problem without an easy solution |
| April 2011 | Are we really helping patients by recommending they go on disability? |
| February 2011 | What to do after the patient is made CMO |
| January 2011 | Transdermal Granisetron for Refractory Nausea and Vomiting |
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