Characteristics of Patients with Hematologic Malignancies Admitted to a Palliative Care Unit

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.

Outpatient Department for Early Palliative Care: Retrospective Study

<p>We established the Early Palliative Care (EPC) outpatient department for patients who had received chemotherapy at other hospitals in August 2015. We retrospectively investigated medical records of patients who consulted the EPC outpatient department and patients who consulted the Medical Oncology outpatient department of our hospital between August 2015 and January 2016. The length of the first medical examination, the contents of the medical examination, period to hospitalization and period to death were investigated. Nineteen EPC outpatients and 11 Medical Oncology outpatients consulted a total of 80 times and 117 times at the respective outpatient department. The median length of the first medical examination in the EPC and Medical Oncology outpatient departments was 45 minutes (range, 10-106 minutes) and 38 minutes (range, 23-60 minutes), respectively (p=0.17). The contents of the examination in the EPC outpatient group included discussion about symptom management, coping, etc. Five patients (26%) in the EPC outpatient group passed away less than 60 days from the first medical examination. It would be possible for palliative physicians to establish and manage an EPC outpatient department in Japanese hospitals. However, some patients had late referral to the EPC outpatient department. Public awareness about EPC and the practice of EPC are important.</p>

The oncologists' views toward end-of-life discussions

End-of-life discussion with patients with advanced cancer is one of the important factors to determine the patient quality of life and their families' grief. The primary aim of this study is to collect Japanese medical oncologists' views toward end-of-life discussion. A context analysis of free comments of the questionnaire survey was conducted. Questionnaires were mailed to 864 medical oncologists, and 490 responses were obtained. A content analysis identified 420 free comments. As barriers of end-of-life discussion for oncologists, three types of barriers were emerged: 1) issues relating to patient and family (e.g., [individuality of the patient and family], [difficulty of acceptance of illness progression]), 2) issues relating to medical professionals (e.g., [a lack of psychological support], [difference in beliefs about end-of-life discussion among medical professionals]), and 3) health care systems (e.g., [a lack of time and human resources], [a lack of education and research]). The findings of this study may be useful to improve mutual understanding of oncologists and palliative care physicians when performing the end-of-life discussion in collaboration.

Factors that Influence the Decision Maker regarding End-of-life Care

Objectives:To determine the factors that influence the decision maker regarding end-of-life (EOL) care and to disclose how aggressive care in the last week before death, place of death, and quality-of-life (QOL) affected the decisions made. Methods:The subjects were 409 bereaved family members (cause of death included cancer, stroke, heart disease, and pneumonia) that registered with an internet research agency. Decision-making was controlled either by the patient, family, or physician or shared by the patient, family, and physician. Results:The results of a multinomial logistic regression analysis demonstrated that when a family controlled decision-making, they were less likely to report patient-family EOL discussion [odds ratio (OR)=0.52], and that the patient had good communication with the physician (OR=0.77); they were also likely to report that the patient had dementia (OR=1.94). Families who reported physician-controlled decision-making (vs patient controlled) were less likely to report that the patient had good communication with the physician (OR=0.62). Cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the last week and place of death were not associated with the decision maker. EOL QOL was associated with EOL care of the decision maker. When a physician controlled decision-making, patient EOL QOL was at its lowest. Conclusion:To improve patient-controlled decision-making, it is critical that patients, families, and physicians have more communication regarding EOL care.

Disclosure of Survival Prediction Prior to Referral to the Palliative Care Department: Retrospective Study

<p>There are few reports on the disclosure of survival prediction to patients themselves in Japan, and how concretely it is performed. We retrospectively studied the disclosure of survival prediction to patients who were referred for the first medical examination to the Palliative Care Department between April 2013 and March 2016. Two hundred forty-eight patients (and their families) met the study criteria. Forty-three percent of the patients and their families had received information on definite periods of life expectancy without probability or ranges. On the other hand, 19% of the patients and families had not been told about survival prediction by the previous physician. Our results suggest that patients and families often received information on definite periods of life expectancy. There will be a need for improvement of end-of-life discussion in Japan.</p>