Here is some news from the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) on the 7th World Research Congress, 7-9 June 2012.

Applications are now open for travel grants to the upcoming 7th World Research Congressof the EAPC in Trondheim, Norway. According to the site, the Foundation Open Society Institute has put up the funds for these travel grants.

Application deadline: 25 April, 2012

Travel grants will only be offered to applicants who:

• have an abstract accepted for oral or poster presentation
• represent the priority countries of the International Palliative Care Initiative of the Open Society Foundation: Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Romania, South Africa, Tajikistan, Uganda, and Ukraine.
• More information here…

Pre-Congress Seminar (4 & 5 June)

Only 18 seats remain available for participation in the pre-congress seminar (4 & 5 June), which will focus on the subject of cancer-related pain, cachexia, and dyspnea. The pre-congress seminar is being held in the beautiful countryside of Jægtvolden with organised transport to and from the main congress venue in Trondheim.

• Application information here…
• Deadline for pre-congress seminar presentations: April 20, 2012

As part of this review they have undertaken 22 systematic reviews of topics relating to opioid treatment in cancer pain. These are published in the journal Palliative Medicine July 2011 vol. 25 no. 5389-390 (pubmed).

While they do highlight the limits of research in this field, they do provide the most up  to date  and comprehensive review of what we know about the use and side effects of opioids.

The EPCRC project to revise the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) guidelines on the use of opioids for cancer pain

In this special issue of Palliative Medicine, systematic reviews contributing to the development of the revised European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) guidelines on opioid analgesics for the management of cancer pain are published. This brief comment tries to put this quite unique collection of coordinated articles in the context of the overall guidelines project and to help readers to make the best use of them.

The European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) guidelines on opioid analgesics for the management of cancer pain were published in 1996 and 2001 and were seen as an evolution of the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, developing in detail the role of opioids in the analgesic ladder. The impact of WHO and EAPC guidelines on clinical practice and patient outcomes has never been demonstrated empirically, but it is likely that they had a profound influence.

• Full text here… (subscription required)

The International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC) is pleased to announce 10 (ten) scholarships from the IAHPC Traveling Scholarship Program, to help support the travel of palliative care workers in developing countries to the 12th Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC). The EAPC Congress will take place in Lisbon, Portugal May 18-21, 2011.

IAHPC application guidelines are as follows:

Applicants must be living in a developing country, be active members of IAHPC, and actively working in palliative care. Applications from physicians, nurses, psychologists and other disciplines are welcome.

If you wish to apply and are not an IAHPC member, you may join by clicking http://www.hospicecare.com/join.htm

Preference will be given to individuals who have not received an IAHPC grant in the past three years with accepted poster or oral presentations in the Congress. Applications are available through the IAHPC website in http://www.hospicecare.com/Travellscholars/

Please send proof of acceptance of the poster or oral presentation, along with a copy of your current CV. Selected individuals are also eligible to receive a discounted registration fee from the Congress.

Deadline to apply is February 25, 2011. Results will be announced by March 1st.

Additional information about the EAPC Congress can be found in http://www.eapc-2011.org/

Best regards, The IAHPC Office
http://www.hospicecare.com

The task force‟s recommendations were published (de Graeff A, Dean M. J.Palliat.Med.2007 Feb;10(1):67-85) but were not accepted by the EAPC.

Now the board of the EAPC has published not guidelines, but a framework.

You can find the framework (Nathan Cherny and Lukas Radbruch) and an accompanying editorial (Katherine Hauser and Declan Walsh) in Palliative Medicine 2009 23(7).

“Refractory symptoms” are a cause of immense suffering to the patient and family and of considerable stress to professionals and other carers.

Despite the controversy surrounding the issue, palliative sedation does offer an ethical choice to a large number of people.