Effect of interval between diagnosis of advanced cancer and cessation of active anti-cancer treatment on survival in terminally ill cancer patients

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e20630-e20630
Author(s):  
Y. Kim ◽  
J. Lee ◽  
W. Choi ◽  
J. Park ◽  
H. Kim ◽  
...  

e20630 Background: Although various prognostic factors have been proposed to predict survival in terminally ill cancer patients, accurate prognostication is still a challenging task for oncologists. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether the time interval between diagnosis of advanced cancer and cessation of active anti-cancer treatment (ATP; active treatment period) can predict survival in terminally ill cancer patients. Methods: We prospectively evaluated 79 patients with advanced (recurrent or metastatic) cancer who were determined as terminal stage, namely cessation of active anti-cancer treatment and transition to palliative care, by attending oncologists. ATP and other known prognostic factors including clinical symptoms and signs, performance status, laboratory tests, and clinical prediction of survival (CPS) were analyzed. Results: Of the 79 patients, 46 were male (58%) and 33 were female (42%) with a median age of 60 years (range, 21–82). Median overall survival after being diagnosed with advanced cancer was 11.6 months (95% confidence interval (CI), 8.02–15.18), and survival after being determined as terminal stage was 1.9 months (95% CI, 1.38–2.42). According to 3 ATP categories (< 3months, 3–12 months, and >12 months), terminal stage survival were 1.0 month, 1.8 months, and 3.6 months, respectively (p=0.002). On multivariate analysis, short ATP, non-colorectal cancer, fatigue, and Karnofsky performance status less than 50 were significantly associated with a poor prognosis. Conclusions: Our study suggests that ATP is an independent prognostic factor for survival in terminally ill cancer patients who cannot receive active anti-cancer treatment anymore. Future prognostic models should include ATP as a prognostic variable. No significant financial relationships to disclose.

1995 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 20-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Allard ◽  
Albert Dionne ◽  
Diane Potvin

To improve their ability to estimate the survival of terminally ill cancer patients, palliative care physicians require accurate information on prognostic factors. The objective of this study was to assess the extent to which variables such as patient characteristics and primary tumor site affect the length of survival of terminally ill cancer patients. The study population consisted of 1081 cancer patients admitted for terminal care to a 15-bed palliative care unit from 1985 to 1991. Univariate Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between patient characteristics at admission and survival time. The factor most strongly associated with shorter survival was poor performance status; this strong relationship was not altered by taking into account sex and primary cancer site in the multivariate analysis. For patients who were bedridden at admission, the death rate was 5.5 times higher (95% confidence interval (CI) 3.4–9.0) than that for ambulatory patients during the first four days of stay and it was 2.8 times higher (95% CI 2.0–3.9) subsequently (up to 19 days). The other prognostic factors significantly but slightly associated with poorer survival in the univariate analysis were primary lung cancer, male sex, and living with a spouse. These findings indicate that performance status is the main prognostic factor for accurately estimating the survival time of terminally ill cancer patients.


Author(s):  
Ryo Matsunuma ◽  
Takashi Yamaguchi ◽  
Masanori Mori ◽  
Tomoo Ikari ◽  
Kozue Suzuki ◽  
...  

Background: Predictive factors for the development of dyspnea have not been reported among terminally ill cancer patients. Objective: This current study aimed to identify the predictive factors attributed to the development of dyspnea within 7 days after admission among patients with cancer. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of a multicenter prospective observational study on the dying process among patients admitted in inpatient hospices/palliative care units. Patients were divided into 2 groups: those who developed dyspnea (development group) and those who did not (non-development group). To determine independent predictive factors, univariate and multivariate analyses using the logistic regression model were performed. Results: From January 2017 to December 2017, 1159 patients were included in this analysis. Univariate analysis showed that male participants, those with primary lung cancer, ascites, and Karnofsky Performance Status score (KPS) of ≤40, smokers, and benzodiazepine users were significantly higher in the development group. Multivariate analysis revealed that primary lung cancer (odds ratio [OR]: 2.80, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.47-5.31; p = 0.002), KPS score (≤40) (OR: 1.84, 95% CI: 1.02-3.31; p = 0.044), and presence of ascites (OR: 2.34, 95% CI: 1.36-4.02; p = 0.002) were independent predictive factors for the development of dyspnea. Conclusions: Lung cancer, poor performance status, and ascites may be predictive factors for the development of dyspnea among terminally ill cancer patients. However, further studies should be performed to validate these findings.


2006 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 485-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina de Miguel Sánchez ◽  
Sofía Garrido Elustondo ◽  
Alicia Estirado ◽  
Fernando Vicente Sánchez ◽  
Cristina García de la Rasilla Cooper ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong D. Lin ◽  
Yunhong Wu ◽  
Sudhamshi Toom ◽  
Niki Sheth ◽  
Kevin Becker ◽  
...  

Background: Cancer patients may carry a worse prognosis with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Most of the previous studies described the outcomes of hospitalized cancer patients. We aimed to study the clinical factors differentiating patients requiring hospital care vs. home recovery, and the trajectory of their anti-cancer treatment.Methods: This study was conducted in a community cancer center in New York City. Eligible patients were those who had cancer history and were diagnosed of SARS-CoV-2 infection between March 1 and May 30, 2020, with confirmatory SARs-CoV-2 virus test or antibody test. Four groups were constructed: (A) hospitalized and survived, (B) hospitalized requiring intubation and/or deceased, (C) non-hospitalized, asymptomatic, with suspicious CT image findings, close exposure, or positive antibody test, and (D) non-hospitalized and symptomatic.Results: One hundred and six patients were included in the analysis. Thirty-five patients (33.0%) required hospitalization and 13 (12.3%) died. Thirty (28.3%) patients were asymptomatic and 41 (38.7%) were symptomatic and recovered at home. Comparing to patients who recovered at home, hospitalized patients were composed of older patients (median age 71 vs. 63 years old, p = 0.000299), more who received negative impact treatment (62.9 vs. 32.4%, p = 0.0036) that mostly represented myelosuppressive chemotherapy (45.7 vs. 23.9%, p = 0.0275), and more patients with poorer baseline performance status (PS ≥ 2 25.7 vs. 2.8%, p = 0.0007). Hypoxemia (35% in group A vs. 73.3% in group B, p = 0.0271) at presentation was significant to predict mortality in hospitalized patients. The median cumulative hospital stay for discharged patients was 16 days (range 5–60). The median duration of persistent positivity of SARS-CoV-2 RNA was 28 days (range 10–86). About 52.9% of patients who survived hospitalization and required anti-cancer treatment reinitiated therapy. Ninety-two percent of the asymptomatic patients and 51.7% of the symptomatic patients who recovered at home continued treatment on schedule and almost all reinitiated treatment after recovery.Conclusions: Cancer patients may have a more severe status of SARS-CoV-2 infection after receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy. Avoidance should be considered in older patients with poor performance status. More than two thirds of patients exhibit minimal to moderate symptoms, and many of them can continue or restart their anti-cancer treatment upon recovery.


2006 ◽  
Vol 24 (18_suppl) ◽  
pp. 18627-18627
Author(s):  
S. Koh ◽  
K. Lee ◽  
Y. Hong ◽  
J. Kang ◽  
I. Woo ◽  
...  

18627 Background: One of the most important role of a end-of-life care is to control physical symptoms of patients and help them to face comfortable end. In terminally ill cancer patients, accurate prediction of survival is necessary for clinical and ethical reasons, especially in helping to avoid harm, discomfort and inappropriate therapies and in planning specific care strategies. The aim of the study was to investigate prognostic factor of death for the patients with terminal cancer. Methods: We enrolled 121 patients with the terminal cancer of Kangnam St. Mary’s Hospital from September 2004 until their death. We observed symptoms shown in dying patients and assess 17 common symptoms shown in terminally ill cancer patients, performance status, pain and analgesic use. The common symptoms were measured in a score of 0-none, 1-mild, 2-moderate, 3-severe or 4-severe by objective criteria. Results: Mean period from enrollment to death was 34.7days. The most important prognostic factor is performance status (KPS), average KPS at enrollment is 52.2% and at last 48hours is 29.8%. Physical symptoms that have significant prognostic importance are weakness, anorexia, dry mouth, dysphagia, dyspnea. VAS and analgesic use dose not impact on the prognosis. But cognitive impairment and delirium are the reliable prognostic factor. Especially weakness, dry mouth, poor oral intake, drowsiness, edema, dyspnea, ascites, icterua gradually worsened with significance. Dying patients showed markedly decreased blood pressure, cyanosis, cold extremity, death rattle, abnormal respiration frequently at 48hours before death. Conclusions: Terminally ill cancer patients have various prognostic factor and the most important factor is performance status. The death predictive symptoms such as markedly decreased pressure, cyanosis, cold extremity, death rattle, abnormal respiration appeared at last 48hours. If we assess the symptoms more carefully, we can predict the more accurate prognosis. The communication about the prognostic information will influence the personal therapeutic decision and specific care planning. No significant financial relationships to disclose.


2006 ◽  
Vol 24 (18_suppl) ◽  
pp. 8634-8634 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Dey ◽  
R. Sarkar ◽  
P. Ghosh ◽  
R. Khatun ◽  
K. Ghorai ◽  
...  

8634 Background: The solid content of juice made from wheat grass is 70% chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is often referred to as “The blood of plant life” and has almost the same chemical structure as haemoglobin. Chlorophyll cleanses the blood by improving the supply of oxygen to the circulatory system. Wheat grass is also a complete protein with about 30 enzymes, vitamins & minerals. Wheat grass juice has been proven over many years to benefit people in numerous ways, building the blood, restoring balance in the body, removing toxic metals from the cells, nourishing the liver & kidneys and restoring vitality. The aim of our study was to see the effect of wheat grass juice in terminally ill cancer patients to improve the quality of life. Methods: During period from January 2003 to December 2005 we selected 400 solid organ cancer patients in our palliative care unit of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Cancer Research Institute to see the effect of wheat grass on improvement of haemoglobin level, serum protein & performance status on terminally ill cancer patients. The age range of the patients was 22 year to 87 year (median age 42 years). The different types of cancers were Lung (25%), Breast (20%), Oesophagaus (11%), Colon (9%), Ovary (8%), Hepatocellular carcinoma (6%), Stomach (6%) and others (15%) respectively. We cultivated wheat grass in our campus. When the grasses were 5 days old we took the fresh leaves including roots and made fresh juice out of that and had given 30ml of juice to all our 400 cancer patients for continuous 6 months. Result: The mean levels of haemoglobin, Serum total protein, albumin and performance status were 8gm%, 5.4gm%, 2.2gm% and 50%. Fifty patients required transfusion support & those patients were excluded from the study. Other 348 patients are evaluated 6 months after giving wheat grass juice. The mean values for haemoglobin, total protein & albumin were improved significantly (pvalue < .005) and were observed mean of 9.6gm%, 7.4gm% and 3.1gm%. White blood cell & platelet count were same in both the cases. The performance status was improved from 50% to 70% (Karnofsky) after wheat grass treatment. Conclusion: We concluded that wheat grass juice is an effective alternative of blood transfusion. Its use in terminally ill cancer patients should be encouraged. No significant financial relationships to disclose.


Author(s):  
Livia Costa de Oliveira ◽  
Karla Santos da Costa Rosa ◽  
Ana Luísa Durante ◽  
Luciana de Oliveira Ramadas Rodrigues ◽  
Daianny Arrais de Oliveira da Cunha ◽  
...  

Background: Advanced cancer patients are part of a group likely to be more susceptible to COVID-19. Aims: To describe the profile of advanced cancer inpatients to an exclusive Palliative Care Unit (PCU) with the diagnosis of COVID-19, and to evaluate the factors associated with death in these cases. Design: Retrospective cohort study with data from advanced cancer inpatients to an exclusive PCU, from March to July 2020, with severe acute respiratory syndrome. Diagnostic of COVID-19 and death were the dependent variables. Logistic regression analyses were performed, with the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: One hundred fifty-five patients were selected. The mean age was 60.9 (±13.4) years old and the most prevalent tumor type was breast (30.3%). Eighty-three (53.5%) patients had a diagnostic confirmation of COVID-19. Having diabetes mellitus (OR: 2.2; 95% CI: 1.1-6.6) and having received chemotherapy in less than 30 days before admission (OR: 3.8; 95% CI: 1.2-12.2) were associated factors to diagnosis of COVID-19. Among those infected, 81.9% died and, patients with Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) < 30% (OR: 14.8; 95% CI 2.7-21.6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) >21.6mg/L (OR: 9.3; 95% CI 1.1-27.8), had a greater chance of achieving this outcome. Conclusion: Advanced cancer patients who underwent chemotherapy in less than 30 days before admission and who had diabetes mellitus were more likely to develop Coronavirus 2019 disease. Among the confirmed cases, those hospitalized with worse KPS and bigger CRP were more likely to die.


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