Effect of early palliative care on quality of life of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer, a randomized controlled trial. (FWOAL624)

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines palliative care (PC) as an approach to improve the quality of life of patients facing life-threatening illness, through prevention and relief of pain and of physical, psychosocial and spiritual problems. PC is traditionally offered late in the course of the incurable illness, e.g. when death is imminent. Studies suggest that PC should be provided early to have meaningful effects on the quality of life and quality of care in the final phase of life. This study is in line with a recent randomized controlled trial study that measured the effect of introducing early PC on metastatic lung cancer patients in the US.
In our case it will be performed with metastatic pancreatic cancer patients recruited from the ambulatory hospital setting of the hospital of Ghent university, one of the largest university hospitals in Belgium. It is hypothesized that metastatic pancreatic cancer patients who, in combination with standard oncology care, receive PC early after diagnosis of the metastatic disease will have a better health-related quality of life at 12 weeks than patients who receive standard oncology care alone. Secondary outcomes are median survival time, mood of the patients and quality of end-of-life care provided.

Keywords:Medical Sociology

Disciplines:Sociology and anthropology