The importance to die at preferred death place is substantial among terminally ill cancer patients.Previously, several studies have investigated this issue, but no systematic review has been made for many years. This systematic review was made in order to investigate preferred death place among cancer patients. A systematic search was made in PubMed library and a total of 399 articles were found, of which 23 were eligible and included in the review. Preference of home death averaged by 59.9% (39.7-100%) across all studies. Information about actual death place was only reported in 12 studies with an average of 40.4% (14-65.2%); thus, the incongruence between preferred and actual death place seems to be substantial. This highlights the importance of health care providers to discuss the issue with the patients and their families. However, study designs must improve and publications of socioeconomic data should be unified to ease interpretation in future studies.

We present a new algorithm for generation of a random walk on a 2-dimensional sphere. The algorithm is obtained by viewing the 2sphere as the equator in the 3-sphere surrounded by an infinitesimally thin band with boundary which reflects Brownian particles and then sapplying known effective methods for generating Brownian motion on the 3-sphere. To test the method, the diffusion coefficient was calculated in computer simulations using the new algorithm and, for copmparision, also using a commonly used method in which the particle takes a Brownian step in the tangent plane to the 2-sphere and is then projected back to the spherical surface. The two methods are in good agreement for short time steps, while the method presented in this paper continues to give good results also for larger time steps, when the alternative method becomes unstable.

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Noise reversion and undersensing might prevent the ICD from delivering shock when it should and the interpretation as VT/VF could result in inappropriate shocks. Because of the potentially serious consequences of interference we do not recommend the use of TENS in patients with ICD.

Background: Multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings provide treatment recommendations based on available information and collective decision-making in teams with complementary professions, disciplines and skills. We aimed to map ancillary medical and nonmedical patient information during case presentations and case discussions in MDT meetings in cancer care. Methods: Through a nonparticipant, observational approach, we mapped verbal information on medical, nonmedical and patient-related characteristics and classified these based on content. Data were collected from 336 case discussions in three MDTs for neuro-oncology, sarcoma and hepato-biliary cancer. Results: Information on physical status was presented in 48.2% of the case discussions, psychological status in 8.9% and comorbidity in 48.5% of the cases. Nonmedical factors, such as family relations, occupation, country of origin and abode were referred to in 3.6–7.7% of the cases, and patient preferences were reported in 4.2%. Conclusions: Provision of information on comorbidities in half of the cases and on patient characteristics and treatment preferences in <10% of case discussions suggest a need to define data elements and develop reporting standards to support robust MDT decision-making.