Palliative Care

San Francisco, CA—If you know someone who has cancer, reaching out could be the medicine he or she needs. According to data presented at the 2019 ASCO Supportive Care in Oncology Symposium, increased social support may function as an analgesic that helps to mitigate one of the most common symptoms experienced by patients with cancer—pain.

San Francisco, CA—Reducing pain without increasing the use of opioids is feasible in patients with advanced cancer, according to the results of a retrospective analysis presented at the 2019 ASCO Supportive Care in Oncology Symposium. Among the 300 patients seen by an inpatient palliative care team, 50% of patients achieved clinically improved pain control without an increase in oral morphine-equivalent daily dose.

San Francisco, CA—As a result of recent advances in therapy, indications for stem-cell transplant are expanding, along with the number of patients eligible for the procedure. However, the intense and cure-oriented nature of transplants can lead to various forms of distress in patients who undergo this treatment, said Christina K. Ullrich, MD, MPH, Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, at the 2016 Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium.

San Francisco, CA—In addition to being costly for public and private payers, hospital readmissions can lead to increased risk for complications, hospital-acquired infections, and psychological distress in patients with advanced cancer. Although preventing readmissions would improve patient outcomes and decrease healthcare costs, the underlying causes of rehospitalization are not completely understood, suggested Robin L. Whitney, RN, PhD, Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, University of California, Davis, and colleagues in a poster presentation at the 2016 Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium.

Early intervention utilizing a team approach is important to successful palliative care, agreed a multidisciplinary panel convened at the 2016 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) annual conference.

San Antonio, TX—An innovative care model program for end-of-life care for patients with cancer improved symptom management, reduced hospitalizations and in-hospital deaths, and increased the use of hospice care.

Boston, MA—Delivering the keynote lecture at the 2015 Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium, Howard L. McLeod, PharmD, Medical Director of the DeBartolo Family Personalized Medicine Institute at Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, discussed advances in personalized medicine as they relate to palliative care, as well as the continuing challenges in cancer care.