Keramida Kalliopi, Kostoulas Athanasios
Cardiology Department, General Anti-Cancer Oncological Hospital, Agios Savvas Athens, Greece.
Respiratory Medicine Private Practice Ioannina, Greece.
Eur Cardiol. 2023 Feb 3;18:e03. doi: 10.15420/ecr.2021.62. eCollection 2023 Feb.
Dyspnea is one of the most common symptoms in oncological patients with greater prevalence in lung cancer and advanced disease states. Causes of dyspnea can be directly or indirectly associated with cancer, anti-neoplastic therapies and comorbidities unrelated to cancer. Routine screening of dyspnea is suggested for all oncological patients by using unidimensional, simple scales and multidimensional tools to capture more domains affected by this symptom and to assess the effectiveness of interventions. The first step in the treatment algorithm of dyspnea is the identification of potentially reversible causes; if no specific cause is depicted, symptomatic treatment with non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions is suggested. Referral to palliative care and continuous palliative sedation are the last resort in patients with a very limited life expectancy of not more than a few days for symptomatic relief and to decrease of the distress of patients and caregivers.
呼吸困难是肿瘤患者最常见的症状之一，在肺癌和晚期疾病状态中更为普遍。呼吸困难的原因可能与癌症直接或间接相关、与抗肿瘤治疗以及与癌症无关的合并症有关。建议对所有肿瘤患者进行呼吸困难的常规筛查，使用一维、简单量表和多维工具，以捕捉受该症状影响的更多领域，并评估干预措施的有效性。呼吸困难治疗算法的第一步是识别潜在的可逆原因；如果未发现具体原因，则建议采用非药物和药物干预进行对症治疗。对于预期寿命非常有限、不超过几天的患者，转诊至姑息治疗和持续姑息镇静是缓解症状以及减轻患者和护理人员痛苦的最后手段。
