The effect of mindful attention training for pain modulation capacity: Exploring the mindfulness-pain link

The core symptom in multiple myeloma patients undergoing chemotherapy: a network analysis

BACKGROUND

During chemotherapy for multiple myeloma, symptoms include those related to the disease, as well as adverse effects of the treatment. Few studies have explored the relationships between these symptoms. Network analysis could identify the core symptom in the symptom network.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to explore the core symptom in multiple myeloma patients undergoing chemotherapy.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study in which sequential sampling was used to recruit 177 participants from Hunan, China. Demographic and clinical characteristics were surveyed using a self-developed instrument. The symptoms of chemotherapy-treated multiple myeloma, including pain, fatigue, worry, nausea, and vomiting, were measured using a questionnaire with good reliability and validity. The mean ± SD, frequency, and percentages were used as descriptive statistics. Network analysis was used to estimate the correlation between symptoms.

RESULTS

The results showed that 70% of multiple myeloma patients using chemotherapy exhibited pain. In the network analysis, worrying was the dominant symptom, and the strongest relationship was between nausea and vomiting in chemotherapy-treated multiple myeloma patients' symptoms.

CONCLUSION

Worrying is the core symptom of multiple myeloma patients. Interventions could be most effective if there is a symptom management focus on worrying when providing care to chemotherapy-treated multiple myeloma patients. Nausea combined with vomiting could be better managed, which would decrease the cost of health care. Understanding the relationship between the symptoms of multiple myeloma patients undergoing chemotherapy is beneficial for precise symptom management.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Nurses and health care teams should be a priority to intervene in the worrying for chemotherapy-treated multiple myeloma patients to maximize the effectiveness of an intervention. Except, nausea and vomiting should be managed together in a clinical setting.

Advances in the management of fibromyalgia: what is the state of the art?

INTRODUCTION

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain syndrome associated with fatigue, insomnia, dyscognition, and emotional distress. Critical illness mechanisms include central sensitization to nociceptive and non-nociceptive stimuli often resulting in hypersensitivity to all sensory input.

AREAS COVERED

The clinical presentation of FM can vary widely and therefore requires therapies tailored to each patient's set of symptoms. This manuscript examines currently prescribed therapeutic approaches supported by empirical evidence as well as promising novel treatments. Although pharmacological therapy until now has been only moderately effective for FM symptoms, it represents a critical component of every treatment plan.

EXPERT OPINION

Currently approved pharmacological therapies for FM symptoms have limited but proven effectiveness. Novel therapies with cannabinoids and naltrexone appear promising. Recent functional imaging studies of FM have discovered multiple brain network abnormalities that may provide novel targets for mechanism-based therapies. Future treatment approaches, however, need to improve more than clinical pain but also other FM domains like fatigue, insomnia, and distress.