Patients with very advanced solid tumors saw no significant improvement in overall survival after receiving systemic therapy, according to a study published today in JAMA Oncology by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Yale Cancer Center. The findings provide further evidence to help oncologists counsel patients that additional cancer-directed therapy is not likely to benefit them, allowing them to focus instead on palliative and supportive care options that have...
Objective: To examine variations in end-of-life care for breast cancer, heart failure, and dementia patients. Data and methods: Data from four Norwegian health registries were linked using a person...
Because incontinence is one of the most embarrassing experiences for cancer patients even at the end-of-life stage (11–13), one of the most important goals for patients with spinal...
(Background/Objectives) To evaluate differences in end-of-life cost trajectories for cancer patients treated through Medicare versus by the Veterans Health Administration (VA). (Design) A retrospec...
When patients with cancer and their oncologists talk about goals for treatment, it is called a serious illness conversation (SIC). These discussions can ensure that end-of-life treatments match patients’ wishes. Unfortunately, in many cases these conversations happen too late or not at all. Artificial intelligence(AI) can make it easier for oncologists to initiate these discussions. Research by LDI Senior Fellow Ravi Parikh has shown that a machine-learning algorithm that identifies patients a...
Potentially inappropriate interventions were common in the last 100 days of life of cancer decedents. Variations in interventions may reflect differences in prognostic awareness, healthcare access,...
Any person with stage four colon cancer deals with anxiety, but for the first few years after his diagnosis in 2016, Thomas Hartle considered himself to be managing pretty well. In part, this was because his Pet scans suggested the cancer wasn’t progressing rapidly. That changed in 2019, when a colonoscopy found tumors on his large intestine that the scans had missed. A follow-up surgery found dozens more. His relative calm evaporated. “Finding out that the best diagnostic tool wasn’t doing the job, that was disconcerting for me,” said ...
Timely discussions about end-of-life preferences can ensure patients with advanced cancer receive care that aligns with their goals, experts say.
A fact sheet that answers some of the questions patients, their family members, and caregivers may have about the end of life.
The adoption of an optimal palliative care approach in Middle Eastern cancer patients at the end of life remains challenging. Oncologists seem to consider cardiovascular risk factors as a probable...