Integrating Palliative Medicine into Comprehensive Breast Cancer Therapy - a Pilot Project

Referral Criteria for Outpatient Palliative Cancer Care: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

Outpatient palliative care clinics facilitate early referral and are associated with improved outcomes in cancer patients. However, appropriate candidates for outpatient palliative care referral and optimal timing remain unclear. We conducted a systematic review of the literature to identify criteria that are considered when an outpatient palliative cancer care referral is initiated.

METHODS

We searched Ovid MEDLINE (1948-2013 citations) and Ovid Embase (1947-2015 citations) for articles related to outpatient palliative cancer care. Two researchers independently reviewed each citation for inclusion and extracted the referral criteria. The interrater agreement was high (κ = 0.96).

RESULTS

Of the 186 publications in our initial search, 21 were included in the final sample. We identified 20 unique referral criteria. Among these, 6 were recurrent themes, which included physical symptoms (n = 13 [62%]), cancer trajectory (n = 13 [62%]), prognosis (n = 7 [33%]), performance status (n = 7 [33%]), psychosocial distress (n = 6 [29%]), and end-of-life care planning (n = 5 [24%]). We found significant variations among the articles regarding the definition of advanced cancer and the assessment tools for symptom/distress screening. The Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (n = 7 [33%]) and the distress thermometer (n = 2 [10%]) were used most often. Furthermore, there was a lack of consensus in the cutoffs in symptom assessment tools and timing for outpatient palliative care referral.

CONCLUSION

This systematic review identified 20 criteria including 6 recurrent themes for outpatient cancer palliative care referral. It highlights the significant heterogeneity regarding the timing and process for referral and the need for further research to develop standardized referral criteria.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Outpatient palliative care clinics improve patient outcomes; however, it remains unclear who is appropriate for referral and what is the optimal timing. A better understanding of the referral criteria would help (a) referring clinicians to identify appropriate patients for palliative care interventions, (b) administrators to assess their programs with set benchmarks for quality improvement, (c) researchers to standardize inclusion criteria, and (d) policymakers to develop clinical care pathways and allocate appropriate resources. This systematic review identified 20 criteria including 6 recurrent themes for outpatient palliative cancer care referral. It represents the first step toward developing standardized referral criteria.

Early integration of palliative care in hospitals: A systematic review on methods, barriers, and outcome

Objective:

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), palliative care (PC) should be available to everyone suffering from life-threatening diseases and should be started early on in the illness trajectory. However, PC is often initiated much later and is restricted to cancer patients. There is a need for more knowledge about how early PC can be implemented in clinical practice. The purpose of our study was to document the best evidence on methods for early identification (EI) of palliative trajectories in cancer, chronic heart failure (CHF), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) populations, and to identify preconditions for early integration of general PC in hospitals and outcomes for patients and relatives.

Method:

A comprehensive systematic review of methods, preconditions, and outcomes was conducted via an electronic literature search of publications between 2002 and September 2012. A final sample of 44 papers was reviewed in detail.

Results:

Our study identified disease-specific and general methods for EI of patients who might benefit from PC. Prognostication of end-stage disease based on (holistic) clinical judgment, prognostic factors, and/or care needs are the most frequently recommended methods. A number of interacting disease-, staff-, user-, and organization-specific barriers need to be overcome in order to implement early integration of PC in clinical practice. Early integration of PC may lead to better symptom management, prolonged survival, and better quality of life.

Significance of Results:

No methods can be recommended for routine clinical practice without further validation. There is an urgent need to develop and evaluate methods based on the holistic assessment of symptoms or needs. The barriers to early integration of PC are most extensive with regard to CHF and COPD. Professional training and education are recommended to facilitate early implementation of PC. The evidence about outcome is sparse and mostly relates to cancer populations receiving specialized PC.

Supportive and palliative care for metastatic breast cancer: resource allocations in low- and middle-income countries. A Breast Health Global Initiative 2013 consensus statement

Many women diagnosed with breast cancer in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) present with advanced-stage disease. While cure is not a realistic outcome, site-specific interventions, supportive care, and palliative care can achieve meaningful outcomes and improve quality of life. As part of the 5th Breast Health Global Initiative (BHGI) Global Summit, an expert international panel identified thirteen key resource recommendations for supportive and palliative care for metastatic breast cancer. The recommendations are presented in three resource-stratified tables: health system resource allocations, resource allocations for organ-based metastatic breast cancer, and resource allocations for palliative care. These tables illustrate how health systems can provide supportive and palliative care services for patients at a basic level of available resources, and incrementally add services as more resources become available. The health systems table includes health professional education, patient and family education, palliative care models, and diagnostic testing. The metastatic disease management table provides recommendations for supportive care for bone, brain, liver, lung, and skin metastases as well as bowel obstruction. The third table includes the palliative care recommendations: pain management, and psychosocial and spiritual aspects of care. The panel considered pain management a priority at a basic level of resource allocation and emphasized the need for morphine to be easily available in LMICs. Regular pain assessments and the proper use of pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions are recommended. Basic-level resources for psychosocial and spiritual aspects of care include health professional and patient and family education, as well as patient support, including community-based peer support.

Factors associated with fatigue after surgery in women with early-stage invasive breast cancer

PURPOSE

Fatigue is one of the most frequent symptoms in patients with cancer. However, the precise determinants of fatigue are still unknown. This study was conducted to investigate factors correlated with cancer-related fatigue before surgery and just before subsequent adjuvant therapy.

METHODS

Patients completed the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20), the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer 30-item quality-of-life questionnaire before and after surgery, the Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Life Orientation Test before surgery, and the State Anxiety Inventory before the start of adjuvant therapy. Multiple regression analysis of determinants of change in MFI-20 total score after surgery was conducted.

RESULTS

A series of 466 eligible patients with stage I-III breast cancer with planned surgery were recruited. An increase in MFI-20 total score after surgery was significantly correlated with higher preoperative fatigue and lower role functioning before surgery; a decrease in role functioning, physical functioning, and cognitive functioning after surgery; an increase in insomnia after surgery; and a higher state anxiety after surgery. Disease stage, lymph node metastases, surgical procedure, and demographic characteristics (e.g., age, marital status, having children, educational level) were not correlated with fatigue in multivariate analysis.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that worsening fatigue after surgery for breast cancer is associated with a decrease in physical functioning and an increase in psychological distress rather than with the cancer characteristics. Therefore, screening measures should be implemented at the time of diagnosis-before starting treatment-to identify psychologically vulnerable patients and to offer them professional support.

Palliative care consultation service and palliative care unit: why do we need both?

BACKGROUND

Palliative care (PC) infrastructure has developed differently around the globe. Whereas some institutions consider the palliative care unit (PCU) a valuable component, others report that the sole provision of a state-of-the art palliative care consultation service (PCCS) suffices to adequately care for the severely ill and dying.

OBJECTIVE

To aid institutional planning, this study aimed at gathering patient data to distinguish assignments of a concomitantly run PCU and PCCS at a large hospital and academic medical center.

METHODS

Demographics, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, symptom/problem burden, discharge modality, and team satisfaction with care for all 601 PCU and 851 PCCS patients treated in 2009 and 2010 were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTS

Patients admitted to the PCU versus those consulted by the PCCS: (a) had a significantly worse performance status (odds ratio [OR], 1.48); (b) were significantly more likely to suffer from severe symptoms and psychosocial problems (OR, 2.05), in particular concerning physical suffering and complexity of care; and (c) were significantly much more likely to die during hospital stay (OR, 11.03). For patients who were dying or in other challenging clinical situations (suffering from various severe symptoms), self-rated team satisfaction was significantly higher for the PCU than the PCCS.

CONCLUSION

This study presents a direct comparison between patients in a PCU and a PCCS. Results strongly support the hypothesis that the coexistence of both institutions in one hospital contributes to the goal of ensuring optimal high-quality PC for patients in complex and challenging clinical situations.

Facilitating Early Integration of Palliative Care into Breast Cancer Therapy. Promoting Disease-Specific Guidelines

To comply with patients' needs as well as ASCO and WHO recommendations, our institution aims to integrate palliative care (PC) early in the course of breast cancer (BC) therapy. The evaluation of relevant pilot project data revealed that these recommendations were too vague to trigger PC integration. Therefore, a standard operating procedure (SOP) was developed by our interdisciplinary working group to provide disease-specific information to overcome the ambiguity of the WHO recommendations and guide PC integration. Literally, the SOP states that 'Specialized PC is recommended regularly for all BC patients without curative treatment options, specifically for patients with i) metastasized and inoperable, or ii) locally advanced and inoperable, or iii) relapsing BC, who are receiving intravenous chemotherapy'. This SOP for the first time presents disease-specific guidelines for PC integration into comprehensive BC therapy by defining 'green flags' for early integration of PC and delineating PC from senology assignments. Although disease-specific SOPs have also been developed by this working group for other malignancies, the decision when to first integrate PC into BC therapy differs substantially because of the different clinical characteristics of the disease.

Standardizing integration of palliative care into comprehensive cancer therapy--a disease specific approach

BACKGROUND

Our comprehensive cancer centre adopted the WHO recommendation literally in the cancer care guidelines to implement the early integration (EI) of palliative care (PC). Evaluation of the first 2 years of this approach revealed that this guideline was too vague to trigger EI.

OBJECTIVE

As a consequence, an interdisciplinary working group was set up to propose and implement a more effective concept.

METHODS

An interdisciplinary (PC, oncology, radiotherapy, etc.) working group identified the need to (a) specify the timing of EI and (b) specify PC assignments by (c) providing more clear cut semantic and clinical definitions. As a result of repeated discussion in the different interdisciplinary working groups in charge of developing and consenting a once-yearly update of treatment guidelines [standard operating procedure (SOP)] for each malignancy, the need for disease-specific EI SOPs was identified.

RESULTS

SOPs were developed for 19 malignancies (a) to identify a disease-specific point in each disease trajectory to initiate EI ("green flags") and to provide (b) a clear delineation and semantic differentiation of PC assignments ["palliative care" vs. "supportive" or "palliative therapies" ("green" vs. "red flags")].

DISCUSSION

To date, ASCO and WHO recommendations for EI lack detailed information about timing and infrastructure. The guidelines presented here aim to provide the missing information by reporting our developed and consented interdisciplinary guidelines for EI.

CONCLUSION

With this concept, the authors provide a framework for realizing EI and hope to initiate a discussion about specific recommendations for EI.