A Randomized, Double-Blind, Crossover Trial of the Effect of Oxygen on Dyspnea in Patients with Advanced Cancer

Abstract

Dyspnea is a common symptom in palliative care. Despite this, there is uncertainty regarding the role of oxygen to treat the symptom in patients with advanced illness. This randomized, double-blind, crossover trial examined the effect of oxygen versus air on the relief of dyspnea in patients with advanced cancer. Following the blinded administration of air and oxygen via nasal prongs, 51 patients rated dyspnea and indicated preferences for the blinded treatments. On average, patients improved symptomatically with both air and oxygen, and there were no significant differences between the treatments. The subgroup of 17 hypoxic patients overall did not demonstrate a significant difference betwe..