Johnson Liza-Marie, Frader Joel, Wolfe Joanne, Baker Justin N, Anghelescu Doralina L, Lantos John D
Division of Oncology Hospitalist Medicine, St. Jude's Hospital and Research Center, Memphis, Tennessee.
Pediatric Palliative and End-of-Life Care, Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital, Chicago, Illinois.
Pediatrics. 2017 Aug;140(2). doi: 10.1542/peds.2017-0487. Epub 2017 Jul 5.
Death from cancer is often painful. Usually, the pain can be relieved in ways that allow patients to remain awake and alert until the end. Sometimes, however, the only way to relieve pain is to sedate patients until they are unconscious. This method has been called palliative sedation therapy. Palliative sedation therapy is controversial because it can be misunderstood as euthanasia. We present a case in which an adolescent who is dying of leukemia has intractable pain. Experts in oncology, ethics, pain management, and palliative care discuss the trade-offs associated with different treatment strategies.
死于癌症通常是痛苦的。通常，疼痛可以通过让患者保持清醒和警觉直到生命结束的方式得到缓解。然而，有时缓解疼痛的唯一方法是使患者镇静直至失去意识。这种方法被称为姑息性镇静疗法。姑息性镇静疗法存在争议，因为它可能被误解为安乐死。我们呈现一个病例，一名患有白血病濒临死亡的青少年遭受着难以忍受的疼痛。肿瘤学、伦理学、疼痛管理和姑息治疗方面的专家讨论了与不同治疗策略相关的权衡。
