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Last Days of Life (PDQ®)     
Last Modified: 10/07/2009
Health Professional Version
Changes to This Summary (10/07/2009)

The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.

Overview 1

Added text 2 to state that clear discussions between the primary oncologist and parents were more likely to be associated with planning for the location of death, fewer hospital admissions, and parents feeling more prepared for a child's end of life (cited Dussel et al. as reference 2).

Ethical Issues 3

Added text 4 to state that lack of standardization in many institutions may contribute to ineffective and unclear discussions around Do Not Resuscitate orders (cited Zhukovsky et al. as reference 9).

Added text 5 on the use of palliative sedation for intractable symptoms in the palliative care unit of a comprehensive cancer center (cited Elsayem et al. as reference 19).



Table of Links

1http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/supportivecare/lasthours/healthprofessio
nal/1.cdr#Section_1
2http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/supportivecare/lasthours/healthprofessio
nal/3.cdr#Section_3
3http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/supportivecare/lasthours/healthprofessio
nal/47.cdr#Section_47
4http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/supportivecare/lasthours/healthprofessio
nal/59.cdr#Section_59
5http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/supportivecare/lasthours/healthprofessio
nal/71.cdr#Section_71