Patterns of Palliative Treatments in Stage IV Esophageal Cancer.

Background: The 5 year survival rate of esophageal cancer is under 20%. Studies have shown that early palliative treatments can improve patient quality of life and lower depressed mood without expediting mortality. Despite these benefits, few studies have analyzed factors associated with the national variation among patients who received palliative treatment for esophageal cancer. Methods: This is a retrospective study of adults diagnosed with stage IV esophageal cancer between 2004 and 2018 in the National Cancer Database (NCDB) who received palliative treatment or not (n = 43,599). Cross tabulation and binary logistic regression were performed and evaluated using SPSS. Exclusion criteria included concurrent tumors, patients under age 18, and missing data. Results: Of the 43,599 patients, 26.1% of patients received palliative interventions (n = 11,371). The majority of palliative treatment patients lived less than 6 months after diagnosis (54%) and received radiation (35.7%) or chemotherapy (34.5%) with palliative intent. The patients who received palliative treatment tended to be non-Hispanic (96.6%), white (87.2%), male (83.3%) patients between age 61 and 75 (43.8%) at a comprehensive community cancer program (38.7%) with adenocarcinoma histology (71.8%). Palliative treatment patients most commonly relied on Medicare as their primary payor (45.9%) and had a median household income over $48,000 (54.5%). Conclusion: We identified trends among stage IV esophageal cancer patients receiving palliative treatments. Patients receiving palliative treatments tended to be white, non-Hispanic men. Compared to patients who did not receive palliating treatments, this cohort was more likely to receive treatment at a comprehensive, academic, or integrated network facility.

Patterns of Pediatric Palliative and End-of-Life Care in Neonatal Intensive Care Patients in the Southern U.S.

CONTEXT: Despite high rates of mortality among infants in the Southern U.S., little is known about the timing of pediatric palliative care (PPC), the intensity of end-of-life care, and whether there are differences among sociodemographic characteristics. OBJECTIVES: To describe PPC patterns and treatment intensity during the last 48 hours of life among neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patients in the Southern U.S. who received specialized PPC. METHODS: Medical record abstraction of infant decedents who received PPC consultation in two NICUs (in Alabama and Mississippi) from 2009 to 2017 (n = 195) including clinical characteristics, palliative and end-of-life care characteristics, patterns of PPC, and intensive medical treatments in the last 48 hours of life. RESULTS: The sample was racially (48.2% Black) and geographically (35.4% rural) diverse. Most infants died after withdrawal of life-sustaining interventions (58%) and had do not attempt resuscitation orders documented (75.9%); very few infants enrolled in hospice (6.2%). Initial PPC consult occurred a median of 13 days after admission and a median of 17 days before death. Infants with a primary diagnosis of genetic or congenital anomaly received earlier PPC consultation (P = 0.02) compared to other diagnoses. In the last 48 hours of life, NICU patients received intensive interventions including mechanical ventilation (81.5%), CPR (27.7%) and surgeries or invasive procedures (25.1%). Black infants were more likely to receive CPR compared to White infants (P = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Overall, PPC consultation occurred late in NICU hospitalizations, infants received high-intensity medical interventions in the last 48 hours of life, and there are disparities in intensity of treatment interventions at end of life. Further research is needed to explore if these patterns of care reflect parent preferences and goal concordance.

Respecting Autonomy and Promoting the Patient's Good in the Setting of Serious Terminal and Concurrent Mental Illness.

Background: Clinicians at the bedside regularly encounter surprises or unexpected clinical developments that carry emotional, social, or moral overtones-especially when death is anticipated or when patients are particularly vulnerable. In such circumstances, clinicians may struggle to find practical clarity in making treatment plans that honor their fiduciary (literally, "entrusted") duty to uphold equitably the ethical principles of beneficence, nonmaleficence, patient autonomy, and justice. Methods: We present the case of a patient who appeared to be actively dying and received an indwelling urinary catheter for the purpose of ensuring comfort. However, it led to an unintended reversal of renal failure and exacerbation of underlying psychiatric disease. This led to a meaningful change in the patient's prognosis. It also created pragmatic challenges to shared decision making, which required an intentional interdisciplinary approach to balancing beneficence and patient autonomy. Conclusion: Palliative Care offers a holistic clinical approach to complex suffering. Palliative care specialists develop advanced skill sets in prognosis estimation, nuanced communication issues, and patient-centered goal setting. As this case highlights, prognosis can shift dramatically in the perimortem period, even with small changes in care plans. This case presented several biomedical, social-cultural, and ethical challenges to the team. Lessons from the case are presented regarding: the role a specialist palliative team might play throughout all stages of serious illness; approaching prognostication as an iterative rather than solitary task; and utilizing an ethical framework to care planning when there are barriers to shared decision making.