Comprehensive Palliative Care in Patients with Lung Cancer Admitted to an Acute Palliative Care Unit.
Simple Summary: People with advanced lung cancer often experience severe symptoms, especially breathlessness and pain, and may be admitted to hospital when problems become difficult to manage. Specialized acute palliative care units can provide intensive symptom control and help patients and clinici...
| Publicado en: | Cancers Vol. 18; no. 6; pp. 886 - 898 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , |
| Formato: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
MDPI
Mar2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=192598923&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 192598923 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 20726694 B74B jtl: Cancers issn: 20726694 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Mar2026 vid: 18 iid: 6 pid: 97109 pub: MDPI artinfo: ui: 192598923 192598923 192598923 10.3390/cancers18060886 192598923 ppf: 886 ppct: 12 formats: tig: atl: Comprehensive Palliative Care in Patients with Lung Cancer Admitted to an Acute Palliative Care Unit. aug: au: Mercadante, Sebastiano Mancuso, Gianfranco Grassi, Yasmine Lo Cascio, Alessio Casuccio, Alessandra affil: Main Regional Center for Pain Relief and Supportive/Palliative Care, La Maddalena Cancer Center, 90146 Palermo, Italy sug: subj: Patient Admission Lung Neoplasms Therapy Palliative Care Acute Care Treatment Outcomes Patient Discharge Symptom Burden Evaluation Human Male Female Comparative Studies Secondary Analysis Prospective Studies Descriptive Statistics Kaplan-Meier Estimator Data Analysis Software Confidence Intervals Mann-Whitney U Test Scales Questionnaires Cancer Patients Dyspnea Pain Measurement Survival Analysis Lung Neoplasms Prognosis Karnofsky Performance Status Male Female ab: Simple Summary: People with advanced lung cancer often experience severe symptoms, especially breathlessness and pain, and may be admitted to hospital when problems become difficult to manage. Specialized acute palliative care units can provide intensive symptom control and help patients and clinicians make clearer decisions about whether cancer treatments should continue or be stopped. In this study, we examined lung cancer patients admitted to an acute palliative care unit and compared them with a similar group of patients with other cancers. We measured symptoms at admission and at discharge and recorded where patients went next (home, home palliative care, hospice, or another hospital unit) and whether anticancer treatment was continued. Symptoms improved substantially by discharge, although breathlessness remained more prominent in lung cancer. Many patients were discharged with a shift towards palliative-focused care. These findings support the role of acute palliative care units in improving symptom relief and guiding appropriate care pathways. Background/Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to assess the symptom profile and changes observed at discharge of lung cancer (LC) patients following comprehensive palliative care. The secondary objective was to evaluate potential differences between LCr patients and those with other cancer (OC) diagnoses. Methods: A consecutive sample of LC patients admitted to the acute palliative care unit (APCU) was prospectively assessed and compared with a random sample of patients with OC. All patients underwent comprehensive palliative care treatment. Demographic data, Karnofsky, referral sources, recent oncological treatments, and patient status at admission and discharge (on-treatment, off-treatment, or uncertain) were collected. At admission (T0) and at the time of discharge (TX), symptom burden was assessed using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS). Lastly, there was subsequent referral to next care settings (discharge home, home palliative care, hospice, other units). Results: A total of 159 patients with LC were compared with a similar sample of OC. In all patients a significant decrease in the number of "on therapy" patients were reported at discharge, and concomitantly the number of "off-therapy" patients increased (p < 0.0005) in comparison with the data recorded at admission. Dyspnea intensity was higher in group LC at T0 and TX (p < 0.0005), as well as pain intensity, which was significant at TX (p < 0.0005). A statistical difference in MDAS was also observed at TX (p = 0.034). LC patients had a lower overall survival (p = 0.034). Conclusions: Comprehensive palliative care in APCU provided relevant changes in symptom burden, with the potential to prevent inappropriate admissions to other hospital units and to reduce costs associated with non-specialist interventions. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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