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Integrating Palliative Medicine into Comprehensive Breast Cancer Therapy - a Pilot Project
Jan Gaertner1, Rachel Wuerstlein, Ursula Klein
1Department of Palliative Medicine, University Hospital, Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
Breast Care (Basel, Switzerland)
|July 23, 2011
Summary
Early palliative care (PC) integration in breast cancer (BC) improved symptom management and understanding of PC. However, patients still presented with advanced disease, suggesting a need for disease-specific guidelines to optimize PC integration.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Palliative Care
Background:
- World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines recommend early palliative care (PC) for breast cancer (BC).
- Institutional directives were implemented to integrate PC early in the BC disease trajectory.
- This study assesses the impact of this early PC integration initiative.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effects of early palliative care consultation on breast cancer patients.
- To analyze changes in patient condition, symptom burden, and reasons for consultation over time.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective systematic chart analysis over a 2-year period.
- Evaluation of the first palliative care consultation for breast cancer patients.
- Analysis focused on physical condition, symptom burden, and consultation reasons.
Main Results:
- Initially, many breast cancer patients presented with reduced physical status and high symptom burden.
- After one year, there was a decrease in identified symptom burden at first PC consultation.
- Clinicians increasingly sought PC support for non-somatic issues, indicating improved understanding of PC.
Conclusions:
- A year into the initiative, there was improved understanding and utilization of palliative care competencies.
- Breast cancer patients continued to be diagnosed at late stages at the time of first PC contact.
- Disease-specific guidelines are recommended to optimize the integration of palliative care into breast cancer treatment.
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