Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2012 Jul;15(7):834-7.
doi: 10.1089/jpm.2011.0260. Epub 2012 Mar 2.

Dyspnea in palliative care: expanding the role of corticosteroids

Richard J Lin  1 , Ronald D Adelman, Sonal S Mehta
Affiliations
Case Reports

Dyspnea in palliative care: expanding the role of corticosteroids

Richard J Lin et al. J Palliat Med. 2012 Jul.

Abstract

Dyspnea is one of the most common symptoms in advanced cancer patients at the end of their life. It is often multifactorial with diverse malignant, nonmalignant, and cancer treatment related etiologies. Oxygen, opiates, and anxiolytics are commonly administered. Here a complex case of progressive dyspnea and its treatments in a patient with advanced pancreatic cancer is described, and its multiple potential contributing causes are identified and clinical responses evaluated. Literature review is conducted on pulmonary drug toxicity and tumor lymphangitic spread, and the role of corticosteroids in relieving dyspnea in the palliative care setting.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No conflicting financial interests exist.

Figures

<b>FIG. 1a.</b>
FIG. 1a.
Admission CXR showing interstitial infiltrates.
<b>FIG. 1b.</b>
FIG. 1b.
Chest CT on admission showing bilateral diffuse infiltrates.
<b>FIG. 1c.</b>
FIG. 1c.
CXR after one week of corticosteroid treatment showing improvement.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Thomas JR. von Gunten CF. Management of dyspnea. J Support Oncol. 2003;1:23–34. - PubMed
    1. Manning HL. Schwartzstein RM. Pathophysiology of dyspnea. N Engl J Med. 1995;333:1547–1553. - PubMed
    1. Reuben DB. Mor V. Dyspnea in terminally ill cancer patients. Chest. 1986;89:234–236. - PubMed
    1. Dudgeon DJ. Kristjanson L. Sloan JA. Lertzman M. Clement K. Dyspnea in cancer patients: Prevalence and associated factors. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2001;21:92–95. - PubMed
    1. Cachia E. Ahmedzai SH. Breathlessness in cancer patients. Eur J Cancer. 2008;44:1116–1123. - PubMed

Publication types

Substances