Dr. Chiara Mariani (I)

Palliative Care is a model of care designed to improve the quality of life through the reduction of the refractory symptoms of patient suffering from incurable diseases. In ayurvedic medicine shiro pichu is one of the applied treatments in Pc and we decide to study its application with Ksheerabala taila because it’s a not-invasive practice, it’s simple to prepare and to manage by one therapist. For the same reasons, it fits perfectly into the daily practice of a GP and we study it on outpatients affected by anxiety and insomnia disorders.

The first goal is to demonstrate the applicability of shiro pichu in these contexts. The second is to analyze its effects on reducing symptoms in Pc and on reducing anxiety and insomnia in outpatients. The third goal is to study a new protocol of self-application of Shiro Pichu.

ESAS, PAINAD tools and VAS scale are used to evaluate the health state, the intensity of symptoms at the admission in hospice, during the hospitalization, before and after the application of shiro pichu. It’s proposed in oncological and not-oncological diseases, at all ages and sex. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory scale, the Zung score and the Insomnia Severity Index are used to make diagnosis, to evaluate the severity of disorders and the effects of shiro pichu on outpatients. In Hospice we are still analizing the data from 10 patients; in general medicine we have two case reports with a good response to treatments.