[Factors affecting the continuation of at home treatment]

Study of 125 terminal patients with malignancies who received our SECOM Home Medical Service revealed that the duration of at-home treatment was positively correlated with pain control, absence of ascites and the good performance status scale, but not with the patients wish to be treated at home, information of the malignancy or the medical treatment modalities. These results suggest that terminal patients could be encouraged to return home for at-home treatment as soon as the symptoms are controlled even if not perfectly.