Predictors of survival in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies admitted to the intensive care unit.
e18050 Background: Cancer patients have a high use of healthcare utilization at the end of life which can frequently involve admissions to the intensive care unit (ICU). We sought to evaluate the predictors for outcome in gastrointestinal (GI) cancer patients admitted to the ICU for non-surgical conditions. Methods: The objective of this study was to determine the factors associated with ICU mortality, hospital mortality and overall survival (OS). A total of 200 patients with GI cancer admitted to the ICU at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center between November 2012 and February 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. Cancer characteristics, treatment characteristics, and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores defining severity based on 6 organ systems with scores ranging from 0 to 24 were analyzed for their effects on survival endpoints using multivariate logistic regression models and a multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model. Results: The characteristics of the 200 patients were: 64.5% male, mean age of 60 years, median admission SOFA score of 6.0, and tumor types of primary intestinal (37.5%), hepatobiliary/pancreatic (36%), and gastroesophageal (GE) (24%). The ICU mortality was 26%, hospital mortality was 41%, and 6-month OS estimate was 25%. In multivariate analysis, ICU admission SOFA score > 10 (odds ratio (OR) 17.1, p < 0.0001), poorly differentiated tumor grade (OR 3.2, p = 0.02), and shorter duration of metastatic disease (OR 2.3, p = 0.07) were associated with increased odds of ICU mortality. These same variables were associated with increased odds of hospital mortality. In multivariate OS analysis, SOFA score 6-10 (hazard ratio (HR) 2.1, p = 0.0006) and SOFA score > 10 (HR 4.4, p < 0.0001), patients with GE primary (HR 2.2, p = 0.002) and patients with a poor outpatient performance status that precluded active chemotherapy (HR 2.2, p = 0.01) were associated with increased risk of death. Conclusions: The SOFA score was the most predictive factor for ICU mortality, hospital mortality, and OS for GI cancer patients admitted to the ICU. It should be utilized in all GI cancer patients upon ICU admission to improve both acute and longer-term prognostication.