• J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2018

    Observational Study

    Trends of Earlier Palliative Care Consultation in Advanced Cancer Patients Receiving Palliative Radiation Therapy.

    • Sanders Chang, Keith Sigel, Nathan E Goldstein, Juan Wisnivesky, and Kavita V Dharmarajan.
    • Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, New York, USA.
    • J Pain Symptom Manage. 2018 Sep 1; 56 (3): 379-384.

    ContextThe American Society of Clinical Oncology recommends that all patients with metastatic disease receive dedicated palliative care (PC) services early in their illness, ideally via interdisciplinary care teams.ObjectivesWe investigated the time trends of specialty palliative care consultations from the date of metastatic cancer diagnosis among patients receiving palliative radiation therapy (PRT). A shorter time interval between metastatic diagnosis and first PC consultation suggests earlier involvement of palliative care in a patient's life with metastatic cancer.MethodsIn this IRB-approved retrospective analysis, patients treated with PRT for solid tumors (bone and brain) at a single tertiary care hospital between 2010 and 2016 were included. Cohorts were arbitrarily established by metastatic diagnosis within approximately two-year intervals: 1) 1/1/2010-3/27/2012, 2) 3/28/2012-5/21/2014, and 3) 5/22/2014-12/31/2016. Cox proportional hazards regression modeling was used to compare trends of PC consultation among cohorts.ResultsOf 284 patients identified, 184 patients received PC consultation, whereas 15 patients died before receiving a PC consult. Median follow-up time until an event or censor was 257 days (range: 1900). Patients in the most recent cohort had a shorter median time to first PC consult (57 days) compared to those in the first (374 days) and second (186 days) cohorts. On multivariable analysis, patients in the third cohort were more likely to undergo a PC consultation earlier in their metastatic illness (hazard ratio: 1.8, 95% CI: 1.2-2.8).ConclusionOver a six-year period, palliative care consultation occurred earlier for metastatic patients treated with PRT at our institution.Copyright © 2018 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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