ABSTRACT
Purpose: Patients with hematologic malignancies use palliative care units less frequently than those with solid tumors. The purpose of this study was to clarify the clinical characteristics of patients with hematologic malignancies who had been admitted to a palliative care unit. Methods: The clinical records of patients with cancer who died in our palliative care unit between April 2014 and March 2019 were reviewed retrospectively. We compared the severity of symptoms, the prevalence of symptoms, and the time from the last cancer-directed therapy to death between hematologic and solid tumor patients. Results: We identified 560 cancer patients, 56 (10%) of whom had hematologic malignancies. The overall symptom severity was similar in both groups of patients. Hematologic patients had higher rates of clinically significant fatigue (52% vs. 32%; p=0.004) and fever (45% vs. 21%; p=0.0004) than solid tumor patients. The median interval from the last cancer-directed therapy to death was 69.0 days for patients with hematologic malignancies versus 94.5 days for those with solid tumors (p=0.031). Conclusions: Patients with hematologic malignancies admitted to the palliative care unit have similar symptom severity at the end of life as patients with solid tumors, suggesting similar hospice care needs.