Abidov, A., Rozanski, A. & Hachamovitch, R. (2005). Prognostic Significance of Dyspnea in Patients Referred for Cardiac Stress Testing. Journal of Emergency Medicine, 31(1): 124.

Dyspnea has been considered as one of the common symptom being experienced by most of cancer patients. However, with regards to the assessment of the prognostic significance of dyspnea, limited studies are being conducted. Hence, cardiac evaluation was used as the primary tool in the determination of the prognostic significance of dsypnea. The evaluation of the prognostic significance of dyspnea has yielded a result wherein it has been correlated with death due to cardiac attacks. With this, it has been noted that during cardiac evaluation and cardiac stress testing, dyspnea should be assessed as well.

Chiu, T., Hu, W., Lue, B. & Chen, C. (2004). Dsypnea and Its Correlates in Taiwanese Patients with Terminal Cancer. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 28(2): 123-132.

Dyspnea has always been related with hard breathing and malfunction of the lungs. What other authors failed to see and realized that dyspnea is actually triggering factors that affect not only breathing but also triggers psychological distress as well. Fear is the apparent result of hard breathing. Such psychological malfunction is the direct cause of the possibility of death. With the elderly, such things are hard to accept because they are suffering from pain and hard breathing and the realization of death is something taboo in terms and in relation with terminally ill patients suffering from cancer.

Corner, J, & O’Driscoll, M. (1999). Development of a Breathlessness Assessment Guide for Use in Palliative Care Palliative Medicine, 13(5): 375-384.

The article presented in this journal speaks of the primary cause for the development of breathlessness. It must be noted that the problem of breathlessness covers a multidimensional complication. In order to educate the people in the cause of breathlessness, the article provides a wide range of information that will lead to the understanding of the sickness. It pointed on the role that cancer plays in the acquisition of breathlessness. However, there is a little attention given to the fact that there are different kinds of cancer. The focus must be given to the cancer in the lungs.
Coyne, P.J, Viswanathan, R. & Smith, T.J. (2002). Nebulized Fentanyl Citrate Improves Patients’ Perception of Breathing, Respiratory Rate, and oxygen Saturation in Dyspnea. Journal on Pain Symptom Manage 23(2): 157-160.

The article has given a broader understanding on the cases of dyspnea. It defined dyspnea as impairment on the breathing of the people. It also state that there is about 70% of humans that are suffering from dyspnea especially those that are considered terminally ill because of cancer. It gives off an idea as to how the symptom of dyspnea and its occurrence can be countered accordingly. One of the main counter-action tested is the nebulized inhaled fentanyl citrate. The perception of the patients about the treatment is likewise divulged in the article.

Cygaite-Buoziene, I., Didziokiene, R. & Lesauskaite, V. (2001). The Problem and Peculiarities of Dyspnea in the Elderly. Gerontologija, 2(2): 116-123.

Because of old age, there are instances wherein dyspnea is hard to be assessed or diagnosed. Hence, it is said in this article that an assessment is important in order to provide a qualified and better treatment for the patients. The reason for such an urgency is the fact that when an elderly person acquired dyspnea it will result to a more sensitive and complex problems on health such as the occurrence of tissue hypoxia, hypoxia and even the circulatory system will be exploited as well.
Farncombe. M. (2005). Dyspnea: Assessment and Treatment. Supportive Care in Cancer, 5(2): 94-99.

Farncombe, in this article, revealed that dyspnea is one of the most neglected symptoms experienced by many terminally ill cancer patients. It is the poor assessment on the symptoms that resulted to the lack of proper diagnosis of dyspnea. Hence, this article will strengthen the claim that more assessment should be conducted to improve the health of the cancer patients. This article will make medical practitioners and physicians to understand the need to focus more on dyspnea not just as a simple symptom but more likely a disease that needs attention.

Huijnen, B. & Van Der Horst, F. (2006). Dyspnea in Elderly Family Practice Patients: Occurrence, Severity, Quality of Life and Mortality over an 8-Year Period. Family Practice, 23(1): 34-39.

In this article, the authors have established the fact that dyspnea is actually severe and prevalent among the patients who are 70 years old or over. The article did not merely establish how severe the symptom is but have elaborated on the impact it has to the patients. It has been very apparent that all the studies conducted pointed on the symptom of dyspnea to the cancer patients but the truth of the matter is that dyspnea can occur even in the absence of cancer if through old age; a patient has been hospitalized or confined at home. Dyspnea does not only function to hardened the breathing process of a person but goes beyond interfering in the daily activities of a person, Because of hard and difficult breathing, the normal activities of a person is being made difficult as well. For example, a simple walking is made difficult as a person failed to breathe normally. For people who are of old age, the occurrence of dyspnea is being triggered only because of poor health. It is in this regard that guidelines are being suggested to be implemented in such a way that early diagnosis is achieved accordingly.

Smith, E. (2001). Dyspnea, Anxiety, Body Consciousness, and Quality of Life in Patients with Lung Cancer. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 21(4): 323-329.

This study is important in order to protect the cancer patients in being exposed to a more detrimental health environment by prescribing home oxygen in an untimely manner. The treatment of dyspnea should be strengthened in order to prevent death among the cancer patients in a very untimely manner. Dyspnea causes other cancer patients to suffer a great ordeal of hard breathing especially with patients that are suffering from lung cancers as well as those that are addicted to cigarettes.

Stringer, E., McParland, C. & Hernandez, P. (2004). Physician Practices for Prescribing Supplemental Oxygen in the Palliative Care Setting. Journal of Palliative Care, 20(4): 303-307.

It is said that the common practice of physicians in the health care setting when dealing with palliative care for advance cancer patients is the prescription of supplemental oxygen. For advanced cancer patients, some physicians are prescribing supplemental oxygen in order to aid the patients in breathing. However, there are some problems and hindrances that affect the decision of the physicians in prescribing the supplemental oxygen. It must be noted that even if the physicians would really want to help the patients in breathing and to make their lives easier as well, they do not prescribe supplemental oxygen without considering the symptoms of dyspnea. In this article, the benefits of supplemental oxygen are described accordingly but the prescription is limited especially with the symptoms of dyspnea. The reasons for this scenario is greater described and explained in the entirety of the article.

Uronis, H.E (2008). Oxygen for Relief of Dyspnea in Mildly-or-Non-Hypoxaemic Patients with Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. British Journal of Cancer, 98: 294-299.

With the principle of not prescribing oxygen support to every cancer patients that easily triggered the author of the article to conduct a study concerning the determination of the efficacy in using palliative oxygen and treatment among cancer patients that are experiencing dyspnea. Medical air and palliative oxygen are being used by many medical practitioners in the treatment of dyspnea among the cancer patients. However, the author wants to determine which among the two treatments is most useful. The factors affecting the treatments are compared with each other in order to arrive into an assessment set forth to qualify patients for therapy using home oxygen.