Access to Palliative Care Consultation and Advance Care Planning for Adults with High-Risk Leukemia

Although strong evidence supports early palliative care (PC) and consistent advance care planning (ACP) for patients with poor-prognosis Stage IV solid tumors, best practice standards have not been established for hematologic malignancies. Our primary objective was to describe current access to specialty PC consultation and ACP for inpatients with high-risk leukemia. Secondary objectives were to describe components of ACP and PC practices.

We enrolled all patients with high-risk leukemia (acute leukemia ≥65 years or relapsed leukemia >18 years) admitted to the University of North Carolina Cancer Hospital from October 1, 2015, to August 1, 2016. Structured chart reviews provided data on demographics, disease characteristics, PC consultation, frequency and components of documented ACP, and quality measures for PC practices.

Of 50 high-risk leukemia patients, 52% were 65 years of age or older with a new diagnosis of acute leukemia and 48% were under the age of 65 with relapsed leukemia. Most patients (64%) reported pain on admission. Twenty-two percent of patients died within 3 months of hospitalization. Sixteen percent of patients received PC consultation and 24% had complete ACP, with an identified surrogate decision-maker documented treatment preferences.

In this descriptive study of inpatients with high-risk leukemia, we found that despite a poor prognosis and high symptom burden, the frequency of PC consultation and ACP documentation was low. Findings suggest missed opportunities to provide PC to a high-risk subset of hematologic malignancies, and may help to target future interventions.