Palliative and Supportive Care Consultation for Patients With Malignant Gastrointestinal Obstruction is Associated With Broad Interdisciplinary Management

Factors Predicting Readmission and Mortality in Patients Admitted for Malignant Bowel Obstruction

INTRODUCTION

Malignant bowel obstruction (MBO) is a common complication of patients with advanced malignancies and has poor prognosis. Currently, there are limited guidelines for MBO management or predicting outcomes for these patients.

OBJECTIVE

To identify patient factors associated with readmission and mortality after hospital admission for MBO.

PARTICIPANTS

A 5-year retrospective review was performed from 2017 to 2022 at a single tertiary institution to evaluate patients admitted for MBO. All patients had advanced cancer of gastrointestinal or gynecologic primary. Patient demographics, socioeconomic factors, tumor characteristics, and inpatient outcomes were collected. Multivariable analyses were performed to determine variables predicting hospital readmission for recurrent MBO and 90-day mortality.

RESULTS

210 patients were included. Mean age was 61 years, 28% were male, and 19% did not primarily speak English. 35% of patients lived over 50 miles from the hospital. On multivariable analysis, non-English speaking patients exhibited increased risk of readmission for MBO (OR = 2.82, P = .039). Older age was associated with decreased risk for MBO readmission (OR = .96, P = .007). Ascites was associated with increased mortality (OR = 2.17, P = .043). Earlier palliative care (PC) consultation predicted decreased readmission (OR = .24, P < .001) yet increased mortality at 90 days (OR = 3.20, P = .003).

CONCLUSION

Patient age, primary language, and PC consult were predictors for MBO readmission, which may impact 90-day mortality. Given the palliative nature of MBO, modifiable factors such as PC consultation and multidisciplinary goals of care discussions should be prioritized in order to reduce readmissions and focus on quality of life (QOL) for this patient population.

Frailty and Preoperative Palliative Care in Surgical Oncology

In this paper, we discuss surgical palliative care for patients with cancer through the lens of frailty and the preoperative context. Historically, palliative care principles such as complex symptom management, high-risk decision-making and communication have played an important role in preoperative discussions of oncologic surgery for both palliative and curative intent. There is increasing motivation among surgeons to integrate palliative care into the perioperative period in order to more effectively and comprehensively address potential adverse functional and quality of life outcomes. We discuss how the concept of frailty, and various instruments to measure frailty, have impacted perioperative decision-making, review the roots of surgical risk stratification and counseling on acceptable perioperative risk, and explore the preoperative setting as a possible avenue by which primary and specialty palliative care integration may have beneficial impact for patients considering oncologic resections.