The challenges of renal replacement therapy and renal palliative care in the elderly

The main aim of this review is to let general practitioners and physicians understand what happens to older patients after referral to the renal service. Usually, most patients will be managed completely by the renal team, either because the patient requires dialysis or because conservative but specialised care is appropriate. The recent increase in dialysis rate can mostly be accounted for by older patients for whom such demanding treatment was previously thought to be contraindicated.

Anaemia is of prognostic significance in patients with oesophageal adenocarcinoma

Anaemia is common in a wide range of malignancies and individual studies have demonstrated it to be an independent prognostic marker for survival in certain cancer types. The study population consisted of 171 patients: 77 anaemic and 94 non-anaemic. Sixty per cent of the study population had adenocarcinoma with 37% having squamous cell carcinoma. Late-stage disease occurred in 80% of individuals. There was no significant difference in survival times between the two groups (p=0.1), and after adjusting for confounding factors including age, sex, stage and physical status (p=0.8).

Anaemia is of prognostic significance in patients with oesophageal adenocarcinoma

Anaemia is common in a wide range of malignancies and individual studies have demonstrated it to be an independent prognostic marker for survival in certain cancer types. The study population consisted of 171 patients: 77 anaemic and 94 non-anaemic. Sixty per cent of the study population had adenocarcinoma with 37% having squamous cell carcinoma. Late-stage disease occurred in 80% of individuals. There was no significant difference in survival times between the two groups (p=0.1), and after adjusting for confounding factors including age, sex, stage and physical status (p=0.8).