This study was designed to examine the relationship between patients' pain severity and their self-reported quality of life, to evaluate factors that may affect pain and quality of life, and to assess patients' opinions and practices on the use of analgesics. The study was conducted with 260 cancer patients. Data were collected using a Quality of Life Scale and Visual Analog Scale questionnaire. It was found that mean scores of pain, all subdomains of quality of life, and overall mean scores of patients were at a moderate level, the lowest score in the subdomains of quality of life was in the psychological subdomain and the highest was in the spiritual subdomain. It was also found that as severity of pain experienced by patients increased, their general activities, mood, activeness, sleep, and nutrition were negatively affected. As severity of pain experienced by patients increased, their quality of life worsened. Patients were observed to have insufficient knowledge and a poor understanding with respect to the use of analgesics. In conclusion, it is very important for nurses to assess factors that can complicate pain management and to establish an effective pain control.

With use of the low-flow anesthesia technique, compared with desflurane, sevoflurane exerts minimal effects on neutrophil and T-cell populations, which supports our hypothesis.

No abstract

This descriptive study was conducted to evaluate the quality of life of cancer caregivers. One hundred and seventy-eight caregivers of patients who were diagnosed with cancer in Gaziantep oncology hospital participated in the study. Data were collected by using a questionnaire and quality of life scale. The scale was scored between 0 and 10, where '10' indicated the best and '0' indicated the worst level. It was determined that the majority of caregivers were young and female, the overall total score average of quality of life was 4.5 ± 1.1, and the subdomain with the lowest value was the psychological subdomain. All quality of life subdomain score averages and the overall total score averages were observed to be low in women, as well as in those who provided care for their own children, who lived in the same house with the patient and who gave care for 19-24 h daily.

No abstract

Epidural steroid treatment was effective in this patient with TNS resistant to treatment with NSAIDs, amitriptyline, and gabapentin. Future studies are needed to evaluate this treatment.

SUMMARY:Axillary arch is the most common muscle variation of axillary fossa that gains importance for regional interventional procedures, screening methods and physical examination. In order to avoid malpractice the variations must be borne in mind. This study has been planned to research the frequency and the features of the axillary arch in human fetus, to mention the potential clinical and functional significance of axillary arch while applying axillary brachial plexus block and reflect on possible complications. Axillary fossa was examined with a stereomicroscope in 20 upper extremities of ten human fetuses. The gestation ages ranged from 16 to 36 weeks. Axillary arch was determined in 2/20 specimen unilaterally. In both specimen, muscular slip detached from latissimus dorsi, passed anterior neurovascular bundle and ended posterior pectoralis major tendon and lateral border of intertubercular groove. In one specimen axillary arch was innervated with medial pectoral nerve whereas the other one did not have a particular innervating nerve branch. The possible effects of axillary arch in the axillary brachial plexus block applications are discussed. Arcus axillaris may have a potential clinical and functional significance with regard the axillary brachial plexus block applications and may have possible effects on failure rate and acute complications. Also, we think that this fetus study which the pure structure of the muscles without any usage effect can be observed will be beneficial regarding this topic.

A AB BS S T TR RA AC CT T O Ob b j je ec c t ti i v ve e: :The go al of this study was to in ves ti ga te the ef fects of pre o pe ra ti vely and pos tope ra ti vely ini ti a ted tho ra cic epi du ral anal ge si a (TE A) on oxi da ti ve stress, res pi ra tory func ti ons and pos to pe ra ti ve pa in in pa ti ents un der go ing elec ti ve lung sur gery. M Ma a t te e r ri i a al l a an nd d M Me et t h ho od ds s: : A tho ra cic epi du ral cat he ter was in ser ted in to all the pa ti ents be fo re sur gery. In Pre op-TE A Gro up (n= 15), bo lus do se of 0.175% bu pi va ca i ne and 15 µg ml -1 fen tanyl (0.1 ml kg -1 ) were ad mi nis te red pre o pe ra ti vely, fol lo wed by a con ti nu o us in fu si on of 0.125% bu pi va ca i ne and 10 µg ml -1 fen tanyl com bi na ti on (0.1 ml kg -1 h -1 ) in trao pe ra ti vely. In Pos top-TE A Gro up (n= 15), no me di ca ti on was ad mi nis te red vi a the epi du ral cat he ter pre o pe ra ti vely. Pos to pe ra ti ve anal ge si a was ma in ta i ned with pa ti ent-con trol led epi du ral anal ge si a (PCA) in both gro ups for 48 h. We as ses sed pe ro pe ra ti ve IV anal ge sic re qu irt ment and pos to pe ra ti ve pa in and anal ge sic con sump ti on, oxi da ti ve stress, he art ra te, blo od pres su re, res pi ra tory func ti ons and si de ef fects. The pos to pe ra ti ve in ten si ve ca re unit and hos pi tal stay du ra ti ons we re re cor ded. Stu dent's t-test, χ 2 -test, Mann-Whit ney U test, and Wil co xon's sig ned rank test we re used for gro up com pa ri sons and sta tis ti cal conc lu si ons. R Re e s su ul lt ts s: : Vi su al ana lo gu e sco res we re al ways hig her du ring co ug hing and at rest, pe ri o pe rati ve he art ra te was increased in Pos top-TE A Gro up (p< 0.05). To tal pe ro pe ra ti ve fen tanyl re qu i re ment and pos to pe ra ti ve anal ge sic con sump ti on vi a PCA we re lo wer in Pre op-TE A Gro up (p< 0.05). Res pi ra tory func ti on tests we re dec re a sed in both gro ups when com pa red to the pre o pe ra ti ve va lu es (p< 0.05), but the dif fe ren ces we re small in Preop-TEA group (p< 0.05). No mar ked ef fect on oxi da ti ve stress was determined and shor ter length of stay in ICU and hos pi tal shorter in Pre op-TE A Gro up (p< 0.05). C Co on nc c l lu u s si i o on n: : The se re sults sug gest that pre o pe ra ti vely ini ti a ted TE A pro vi des bet ter pos to pe ra ti ve pa in re li ef with impro ving the out co me and shor te ning in ten si ve ca re and hos pi tal stay in pa ti ents un der go ing elec ti ve lung sur gery. Ho we ver, TE A had no mar ked ef fect on oxi da ti ve stress in our study. K Ke ey y W Wo or rd ds s: : Anal ge si a, epi du ral; tho ra co tomy; pa in, pos to pe ra ti ve; oxi da ti ve stress Ö ÖZ ZE ET T A Am ma aç ç: : Bu ça lış ma nın ama cı elek tif ak ci ğer cer ra hi si olan has ta lar da ok si datif stress, so lu num fonksi yon la rı ve pos to pe ra tif ağ rı üze ri ne pre o pe ra tif ve pos to pe ra tif baş la tı lan to ra sik epi du ral anal je zi nin (TE A) et ki le ri ni araş tır mak tı. G Ge er re eç...