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Special Issue "Advances in Supportive and Palliative Care in Cancer"

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Palliative, Rehabilitation & Integrative Medicine The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd, Unit 1414, Houston, TX 77030, USA
Interests: palliative care

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Patients with advanced cancer often experience severe physical and psychological distress resulting in a significant impact on the patients’ quality of life. Palliative and supportive care focuses on improving patients’ quality of life. Since the inclusion of palliative and supportive care as a subspeciality in the American Board of Medical Specialties (2006), the field has seen an incremental growth with significant advances in symptom management of the most distressing symptoms, including pain, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and delirium. Another very important area of significant growth is the improvement of access to and delivery of palliative care. In this Special Issue, we aim to discuss the advances in the field of supportive and palliative care in cancer, with a focus on cancer-related symptoms and access to palliative and supportive care. Additionally, in the articles of this Special Issue, we will focus on the current challenges in the management of these palliative care issues and discuss strategies to overcome these challenges through education and research.

Prof. Dr. Sriram Yennurajalingam
Guest Editor

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Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

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Research

9 pages, 241 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Tertiary Inpatient Palliative Care within Region-Wide Services: A Retrospective Examination of Psychosocial and Medical Demographics at Admissions

and

Cancers 2023, 15(23), 5578; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15235578 - 25 Nov 2023

Viewed by 210

Abstract

Palliative care offers symptom relief and improved quality of life. Tertiary palliative care units (TPCUs) focus on complex suffering under the care of specialist palliative physicians and interdisciplinary teams. The Intensive Palliative Care Unit (IPCU) is a TPCU integrated in well-developed region-wide palliative services in Calgary, Canada. We compared the population accessing the IPCU to published data from other Canadian sites. Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted using 8 sample months over a 2-year period. We gleaned psychosocial and medical demographics alongside the self-reported symptom burden on the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System. Descriptive statistics were calculated. Results: Adults (n = 117) with cancer admitted to the IPCU were 5–10 years younger, had later-stage cancer, and had higher discharges to preferred locations than other published Canadian TPCUs. Up to two months before admission, most commonly reported symptoms were consistent with the outpatient literature although with higher reported intensity. Discussion: With more advanced disease, younger age, and elevated symptom burden before admission, the IPCU still discharged patients to preferred locations at higher rates than other sites. This may be due to integration in the region’s organized palliative care services. Conclusion: With proper integration, a TPCU may be able to improve quality of life and reduce deaths in hospitals. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Supportive and Palliative Care in Cancer)

11 pages, 8043 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Complications of Central Venous Access Devices Used in Palliative Care Settings for Terminally Ill Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Clement Chun-Him Wong

Horace Cheuk-Wai Choi

and

Victor Ho-Fun Lee

Cancers 2023, 15(19), 4712; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15194712 - 25 Sep 2023

Viewed by 531

Abstract

(1) Background: Central venous access devices (CVADs) have been commonly employed during various courses of anticancer treatment. Currently, there are a few types of clinically available CVADs, which are associated with short-term and long-term complications. However, little is known about the complication rates when CVADs are used only in palliative care settings. We therefore performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of all the published literature to evaluate the complication rates of CVADs in this clinical setting. (2) Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to identify publications from PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase (Ovid), Scopus, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Google Scholar, and trial registries. Publications reporting the complication rates of PICCs, central lines, and PORTs in palliative settings for terminally ill cancer patients were included, while those on the use of systemic anticancer therapy and peripheral venous catheters were excluded. The outcome measures included overall complication rate, rate of catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI), and rate of thromboembolism (TE). This systematic review was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42023404489). (3) Results: Five publications with 327 patients were analyzed, including four studies on PICCs and one study on central lines. No studies on PORTs were eligible for analysis. The overall complication rate for PICCs (pooled estimate 7.02%, 95% CI 0.27–19.10) was higher than that for central lines (1.44%, 95% CI 0.30–4.14, p = 0.002). The risk of CRBSI with PICCs (2.03%, 95% CI 0.00–9.62) was also higher than that with central lines (0.96%, 95% CI 0.12–3.41, p = 0.046). PICCs also had a trend of a higher risk of TE (2.10%, 95% CI 0.00–12.22) compared to central lines (0.48%, 95% CI 0.01–2.64, p = 0.061). (4) Conclusions: PICCs for palliative cancer care were found to have greater complications than central lines. This might aid in the formulation of future recommendation guidelines on the choice of CVAD in this setting. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Supportive and Palliative Care in Cancer)

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Special Issue "Advances in Supportive and Palliative Care in Cancer"

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