ABSTRACT
Diarrhea occurs in about 6% of terminally ill cancer patients, 1 5% to 10% of hospice patients,2•3 and 27% to 50% of AIDS patients.4•5 Several causes and consequences of diarrhea in palliative care have been described.l-4 In one case series of 120 cancer patients, diarrhea was reported to be unrelated to severity of other symptoms, but caused significant distress in 10% of patients. 6 Few clinical trials have evaluated the efficacy of medications for diarrhea in this population. Table 1 summarizes the evidence from available trials for managing diarrhea with pharmacologic interventions.
