Evaluation of Ovarian Cancer Care at the End of Life in a Single Tertiary Hospital ()
ABSTRACT
Aim: Fundamentally, aggressive care is considered to be avoided for the patients
at the end of life. However, this is not always adhered in real-world practice.
We attempted to determine whether, and if so how, the aggressive care is made
for patients with ovarian cancer during the last month prior death. Methods: Enrolled were a total of 104
patients with ovarian cancer (including fallopian tube or primary peritoneal
cancer), who were treated in Kuopio University Hospital in Finland during
2009-2014. The aggressive care was defined according to the standards outlined
by the National Quality Forum; shortly, chemotherapy,
emergency-room/intensive-care visit/admission, hospital admission, and death in
hospital. Results: Two thirds of patients (67%) had received at least one form of
aggressive care during the last month of their lives. Especially, admission in
hospital in the last 30 days of life was the most common form of aggressive
cancer care. Younger patients (<72 years) received significantly more often
aggressive care than the older patients (80% vs 43%, p = 0.004). Those women that underwent end-of-life discussions earlier than
one month prior to death had significantly less aggressive care than those
women that had discussions during the last month (48% vs. 90%, p = 0.001). Conclusions: Ovarian
cancer patients received commonly at least one form of aggressive care at the
end of their lives. More efforts should be taken to improve the quality of
palliative and end-of-life care.
Share and Cite:
Sallinen, H. , Rintanen, V. , Keski-Nisula, L. and Anttila, M. (2021) Evaluation of Ovarian Cancer Care at the End of Life in a Single Tertiary Hospital.
Journal of Cancer Therapy,
12, 86-96. doi:
10.4236/jct.2021.122010.