25 research outputs found
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Understanding data and information needs for palliative cancer care to inform digital health intervention development in Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe: protocol for a multicountry qualitative study
Introduction: Palliative care is a clinically and cost‐effective component of cancer services in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Despite the significant need for palliative cancer care in SSA, coverage remains inadequate. The exploration of digital health approaches could support increases in the quality and reach of palliative cancer care services in SSA. However, there is currently a lack of any theoretical underpinning or data to understand stakeholder drivers for digital health components in this context. This project addresses this gap through engaging with key stakeholders to determine data and information needs that could be supported through digital health interventions.
Methods and analysis: This is a multicountry, cross-sectional, qualitative study conducted in Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe. In-depth interviews will be conducted in patients with advanced cancer (n=20), caregivers (n=15), health professionals (n=20) and policy-makers (n=10) in each of the three participating countries. Data from a total of 195 interviews will transcribed verbatim and translated into English before being imported into NVivo software for deductive framework analysis. The analysis will seek to understand the acceptability and define mechanisms of patient-level data capture and usage via digital technologies.
Ethics and dissemination: Ethics approvals have been obtained from the Institutional Review Boards of University of Leeds (Ref: MREC 18–032), Research Council of Zimbabwe (Ref: 03507), Medical Research Council of Zimbabwe (Ref: MRCZ/A/2421), Uganda Cancer Institute (Ref: 19–2018), Uganda National Council of Science and Technology (Ref: HS325ES) and College of Medicine University of Lagos (Ref: HREC/15/04/2015). The project seeks to determine optimal mechanisms for the design and development of subsequent digital health interventions to support development, access to, and delivery of palliative cancer care in SSA. Dissemination of these findings will occur through newsletters and press releases, conference presentations, peer-reviewed journals and social media.
Trial registration number: ISRCTN1572771
The epidemiology of chronic pain in Libya: a cross-sectional telephone survey.
BACKGROUND: Chronic pain is a public health problem although there is a paucity of prevalence data from countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of chronic pain and neuropathic pain in a sample of the general adult population in Libya. METHODS: A cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted before the onset of the Libyan Civil War (February 2011) on a sample of self-declared Libyans who had a landline telephone and were at least 18 years of age. Random sampling of household telephone number dialling was undertaken in three major cities and interviews conducted using an Arabic version of the Structured Telephone Interviews Questionnaire on Chronic Pain previously used to collect data in Europe. In addition, an Arabic version of S-LANSS was used. 1212 individuals were interviewed (response rate = 95.1 %, mean age = 37.8 ± 13.9 years, female = 54.6 %). RESULTS: The prevalence of chronic pain ≥ 3 months was 19.6 % (95 % CI 14.6 % to 24.6 %) with a mean ± SD duration of pain of 6 · 5 ± 5 · 7 years and a higher prevalence for women. The prevalence of neuropathic pain in the respondents reporting chronic pain was 19 · 7 % (95 % CI 14 · 6-24 · 7), equivalent to 3 · 9 % (95 % CI 2 · 8 to 5 · 0 %) of the general adult population. Only, 71 (29 · 8 %) of respondents reported that their pain was being adequately controlled. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of chronic pain in the general adult population of Libya was approximately 20 % and comparable with Europe and North America. This suggests that chronic pain is a public health problem in Libya. Risk factors are being a woman, advanced age and unemployment. There is a need for improved health policies in Libya to ensure that patients with chronic pain receive effective management
Epidural anaesthesia for surgery in advanced cancer
Patients with advanced cancer often present for surgery in a very poor
clinical state. We report the use of epidural bupivacaine anaesthesia
for surgical excision of a tumor and subsequent continuous infusion of
bupivacaine and fentanyl for postoperative pain management in a 46 year
old man with advanced sarcoma of the left thigh, cannon ball secondary
deposits in the lungs and haemoptysis
Image-Guided Cervical Epidural Steroid Injections For Cervical Radicular Pain: Reports of Two Cases
No Abstract
Does Topical Application of Bupivacaine (marcaine) to Skin Graft Donor Site Have Any Effect on Moriarty Sign?
Moriarty sign designates that when split skin donor site is more painful than recipient site, good graft take is likely. This prospective study was designed for the dual purpose of confirming the validity of Moriarty sign and to determine if bupivacaine topical anaesthetic application to split skin donor site will influence the sign. The difference in response to pain indicated by the Moriarty sign between patients that had topical analgesic treatment and those that did not was statistically significant from day one to day five post operatively. Routine application of long acting topical analgesic to donor site is advocated (Nig J Surg Res 2000; 2:131-134)
KEY WORDS: Bupivacaine, local anaesthetic, skin graft, pre-emptive analgesia