Dr. Michael J. Taylor

With the rapid progress in medical knowledge and technology over the past several decades, caring for patients with terminal illness has become increasingly challenging to both individual physicians and to the profession of medicine as a whole. In addition to keeping abreast of an ever-growing body of palliative care literature, physicians caring for terminally ill patients must often make management decisions that are difficult because outcomes, such as the impact on quality of life and the potential to increase patient survival, are hard to predict. The resulting uncertainty combined with the fear and anxiety experienced by physicians, patients and families facing terminal disease, often presents obstacles to effective communication among all parties. Furthermore, in busy inpatient and outpatient settings, the palliative needs of terminally ill patients may be overlooked by physicians who are trained to focus on the prevention and cure of disease, but are ill-equipped to meet the challenges of attending to a patient's spiritual and psychosocial 'end-of-life' needs. The following article examines some of the current deficiencies characterising the care of the terminally ill, and highlights a number of the obstacles to overcoming these deficiencies through a brief survey of some of the literature that addresses this complex issue.

Lilia Malkin, MSc

Sleep is a necessary physiologic break that gives the human body the opportunity to relax and revitalize itself. Unfortunately, getting "a good night's rest" frequently proves challenging, particularly for the elderly. As many as twenty-five percent of otherwise healthy older adults complain of chronic sleep difficulties.^1,2 When seniors with medical and/or psychiatric co-morbidity are taken into consideration, the proportion of the elderly who suffer from chronic insomnia and excess daytime somnolence may actually exceed fifty percent.³ Since adequate sleep makes a substantial contribution to one's quality of life, it is important to determine the etiology of a sleep disorder, so that the primary sleep problem and/or the underlying condition may be treated appropriately. This article will discuss the physiologic changes in the sleep pattern of healthy older adults, common geriatric sleep disorders, as well as assessment and treatment strategies for insomnia in the elderly.

Sleep Changes in Healthy Elderly
Aging is associated with a multitude of physiologic alterations in healthy seniors, and sleep is no exception. Age-related sleep changes occur apart from primary sleep disorders, or medical and/or psychiatric conditions.

Options Range From Pills to Hand- and Battery-Operated Pumps

Joyce So, BSc
Co-author:
Sidney Radomski, MD, FRCSC
Urology, Toronto Western Hospital

Erectile dysfunction (ED), the persistent inability to attain or maintain a sufficient penile erection for sexual intercourse in at least 50% of attempts, afflicts more men and with greater severity as they age. A quarter of men who are 65 years of age struggle with erectile dysfunction, while more than half of 75-year-olds and 65% of 80-year-olds, experience difficulties with sexual function. Although age is the greatest risk factor associated with ED, it is not considered to be a part of the normal aging process. Physicians should encourage patients and their partners to discuss this problem so that appropriate treatment can be initiated.

Because ED often comprises both organic and psychogenic components, manage- ment of this problem can address both medical and psychological causes. The management of medical causes of ED includes oral therapy, intracavernosal injection therapy, intraurethral therapy, vacuum constriction devices, surgical options including penile prostheses, and various preparations of testosterone for men with diagnosed testosterone deficiency.

In March 1998, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved sildenafil (Viagra), in the United States as the first oral medication available for the treatment of erectile dysfunction in men. Soon after, it was also approved for use in Canada.

Somatization Disorder: General Approach & Management

Dr. A. Abdulla, BSc, MD, LMCC, CCFP, DipSportMed

"Doctor I feel like vomiting, there is pain in my arms and legs, I am always exhausted, cannot catch my breath, have difficulty swallowing, and have a poor memory." This is the worst way to start with your first patient on Monday morning, but it really happened to me about a week ago. Normally, I would try to see whether Mrs. B. had any other complaints but somehow I felt compelled to just go with the first six.

This article deals with a fairly common condition called somatization disorder (SD). It fits into a category of unusual conditions, like body dysmorphic disorder, hypochondriasis, conversion disorder, and somatoform pain disorder, collectively called somatoform disorders. Most physicians will rarely see these conditions; however, SD is very common. Studies cite that more than fifty percent of patients presenting to a primary care center with vague ill-defined symptoms have SD.^1-3

Definition
Somatization disorder involves multiple, ill-defined symptoms, stemming from a number of organ systems. The symptoms described by patients do not fit any classical patterns of typical medical conditions.

Miriam Vale, B. Journalism

Like girl scouts, doctors should always be prepared to help families cope with grieving for the death of a loved one. The physician's support is needed when he or she introduces the option of palliative as opposed to curative care. For the patient and family, palliative care is the acknowledgement that managing pain and improving quality of life are the most appropriate goals as the patient nears death. This change in care strategy can be difficult for everyone involved. This article focuses on helping the family cope with the dying process of a loved one with an incurable illness.

Family physicians can make an immense difference in helping families cope with grieving. When a loved one has a terminal condition and the family knows that death is imminent, family members will often grieve before the death occurs (this is known as anticipatory grief), consequently losing precious time with their relative.

Anticipatory grief is not necessarily a bad thing as it may help the family deal with the upcoming loss. In some cases, anticipatory grief allows family members to sort out certain feelings toward their loved one (getting emotions off their chests, so to speak) before he or she dies so that there are no regrets afterwards. Because anticipatory grief often forces family members to face the reality that death will occur, they are more likely to start dealing with practical issues before it is too late to get the patient's input.

D'Arcy L. Little, MD, CCFP
Director of Education and Research
York Community Services, Toronto, ON

Epidemiology
Many studies and review articles have emphasized the fact that anxiety disorders, in general, are less prevalent among the elderly than among young adults.^1-5 However, some degree of controversy regarding the prevalence of anxiety among the elderly does exist in the literature. A recent review by A. Flint of the University of Toronto concludes that these disorders are rare in the elderly.¹ Fuentes and Cox of the University of Manitoba argue, on the other hand, that current research on anxiety in the elderly uses instruments and criteria that may not be valid vis-à-vis the elderly. It is their contention, therefore, that these instruments underestimate the validity of findings concerning anxiety in this age group.^1,2

Statistically, anxiety disorders are the second most common type of psychiatric disorder affecting older people next to cognitive impairment.² They are relatively common in late life, and are a cause of significant morbidity.⁸ While actual prevalence rates vary slightly from study to study, anxiety "feelings" reportedly occur in up to 20%² of the North American population of elderly people, and anxiety disorders in 3.5 to 5.5% in this population.

Reviewing Diagnostic Criteria for Differentiating FTLD from AD

Nadège Chéry, PhD

Frontotemporal lobar dementia (FTLD) is the third most common form of cortical dementia following Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Dementia with Lewy Bodies. It is often mistaken for AD, yet it presents strikingly different clinical and histopathological features and therefore, it must be managed distinctly. Discovered over a century ago by Arnold Pick¹, it was only recently identified as a specific type of degenerative illness.

FTLD is comprised of three prototypical clinical syndromes: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA), and semantic dementia (SD).³ PPA is a disorder of expressive language, which manifests itself as the laboured production of speech, speech containing phonological and grammatical errors, and difficulties in word retrieval. SD is characterized by a severe impairment in naming and word comprehension during fluent, effortless grammatical speech output, with relative preservation of the ability to repeat, read aloud and write. FTD, on the other hand, is considered to be the most common clinical manifestation of FTLD.^2,3 This article will focus on FTD, and compare it with AD.

FTD affects men as frequently as it affects women.¹ It has a predominantly early age of onset, and most individuals affected are between 50-60 years of age.

Alexandra Nevin, BSc

It is predicted that 70% of all neoplasms will occur in the geriatric population by the year 2020.¹ Hematologic malignancies represent a significant and clinically devastating proportion of the cancers affecting the sixty-five-plus generation. Within the spectrum of lymphoid-derived hematologic tumors, the umbrella class referred to as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is particularly daunting in terms of both incidence and associated mortality in the general population. Since the 1970s, the National Cancer Institute reports that NHL is one of only five malignancies for which death rates have increased, while the American Cancer Society reports that the absolute incidence of NHL has increased over 65% in the past 30 years. The determination of age-adjusted incidence rates indicates that such trends are due primarily to increases in NHL among older persons.² From a clinical perspective, elderly NHL patients represent a unique group due to the demonstration of certain age-specific characteristics, including histology type predominance, prognosis, and response to current conventional treatment. Recent advances, such as monoclonal antibody treatment, represent a promising therapeutic avenue in future treatment of specific forms of NHL in the elderly.

The Etiology of NHL
The underlying etiology of most types of NHL is still unknown, regardless of the patient's age. However, a number of risk factors have been identified for the general population.

A. Mark Clarfield, MD

Last Scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
In second childishness, and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eye, sans taste, sans everything

William Shakespeare (As You Like It. II, vii, 157)
(1564-1616)

The Bard, a noted gerontologist, described those at the extremes of life as having much in common. Both are more fragile than their counterparts mired in middle age. Each exhibits an easy perturbation from the physiologic norms of maturity. As has been said about nostalgia: "It ain't what it used to be"; thus with respect to the homeostasis of both the very young and extremely old. Both can swing out from their narrow organ reserves into failure very quickly indeed.

Many analogies can be drawn between the two ends of the age spectrum--some quite credible, others a bit more fantastic. This month's column will touch on some of these in hope that perhaps a few pediatricians will decide to transfer their allegiance and bolster the still slim ranks of Canada's geriatricians.

More and more I am struck by the similarities exhibited by patients at the extremes of life. For one thing, the older person suffering from severe dementia can no more be maintained at home with the help of community services, as good as they might be, than the average two-year-old.

Julia Krestow, BSc, MSc

Brain cancer has long been known as one of the most difficult neoplasms to treat. Since the 1970's there has been little change in its management despite considerable laboratory progress in understanding brain tumour biology. Recently, however, advances in imaging techniques have begun to result in earlier and more accurate diagnosis.¹ Correct diagnosis combined with the standardized World Health Organization (WHO) classification system for tumours constitute the first step in a successful treatment strategy. The primary challenge and rate-determining step in brain cancer treatment is understanding the underlying tumour biology. This will determine tumour resistance to radiation and chemotherapy, tumour location and the degree of vascularity and abnormal vessel formation within a tumour. Together these comprise the main challenges of brain cancer treatment. Current research areas include Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), which increa-ses surgical safety, new chemotherapeutics, such as, small molecule targeting drugs, which selectively kill tumour cells, and the still theoretical field of immunotherapy. Together these offer considerable hope to physicians, patients and their families even for the most malignant cancers generally found in older patients.

Pathology
Brain tumours are classified according to the tumour type and cell of origin. They are also classified as primary and secondary depending on the absence or presence of metastases.