Abstract
BackgroundThe American Society of Clinical Oncology recommends that patients with advanced cancer receive palliative care services in concurrence with active treatment. While the benefits of palliative care are clear, integration of palliative care can be challenging. We aim to review rates of palliative care consultation in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer at our institution, intending to improve these rates.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the electronic records of all patients with pancreatic cancer treated at Allegheny General Hospital diagnosed between 2009-2020. Summary statistics are presented as percentages for categorical data and median with interquartile range for quantitative data.ResultsOf the 171 patients reviewed, 121 completed all treatment and evaluation within our health network (Pittsburgh, United States). The median age was 63 years (IQR 40-91 years); 55 patients (45%) were male; the majority were white (107 patients, 88%). At the time of diagnosis, 28% of our patients had stage IV disease (34 patients), and 19.8% of patients who developed stage IV disease had palliative care referrals.ConclusionsPalliative care is an integral part of usual care for advanced pancreatic cancer. Our analysis showed that palliative care is underutilized in our hospital. We aim to improve palliative care integration in our patients’ care by adding a hard stop to electronic medical records to remind physicians to offer palliative care to our patients with pancreatic cancer and to arrange lecture series to emphasize the importance of palliative care in this setting.
Highlights
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in the developed world and seventh worldwide [1]
The American Society of Clinical Oncology recommends that patients with advanced cancer receive palliative care services in concurrence with active treatment
Palliative care is an integral part of usual care for advanced pancreatic cancer
Summary
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in the developed world and seventh worldwide [1]. It is associated with high mortality, with median survival of 4.6 months and overall survival of 3% at five years [2,3]. The poor outcomes are attributed to non-specific symptoms, leading to a delay in diagnosis [1,2,3] It is associated with aggressive tumor biology and early spread [1,2,3]. The American Society of Clinical Oncology recommends that patients with advanced cancer receive palliative care services in concurrence with active treatment. We aim to review rates of palliative care consultation in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer at our institution, intending to improve these rates
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