Acceptability and Feasibility of Early Palliative Care Among Women with Advanced Epithelial Ovarian Cancer: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study

What is an “early palliative care” intervention? A scoping review of controlled studies in oncology

“…Sample sizes ranged from 23 30 to 969 41 patients (median = 156, mean = 208). The most prominent study countries were the USA (n = 16), [25][26][27][32][33][34]37,39,41,47,50,51,[55][56][57]60 Canada 30,46,63,64 (n = 4) and Italy (n = 3). 36,40,49…”

“…Patients were most frequently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer ( n = 10) 31,35,36,40,41,50,52,56,61,64 and non‐small cell lung cancer ( n = 9) 25,29,35,36,39,55–57,62 . Eight studies 25,29,38,39,45,47,63,64 used stage III or IV as inclusion criterion for specifying the status of disease, while others described the stage of disease eligible for ECP studies as “advanced” or “incurable.” 26,27,31,32,35,37,40–42,44,48–50,52,54–61 Other criteria amenable for EPC in the studies were the line of therapy or treatment 30,33,34,45,52 or resistance to a certain regime 31,63,64 . Two studies used a symptom burden over 33% regarding four symptoms, one symptom with at least 50% burden measured by the EORTC‐QLQ‐C30, 38 or cancer‐related pain higher than 3 measured by the Brief Pain Inventory, 61 to determine eligibility for the EPC intervention.…”

“…Exclusion of 2397 articles was based on the screening of title and abstract. The assessment of the remaining 254 full‐text articles resulted in the inclusion of a total of 40 studies 25–64 for synthesis. See Figure 1 for details on the PRISMA Flowchart.…”

“…25,29,35,36,39,[55][56][57]62 Eight studies 25,29,38,39,45,47,63,64 used stage III or IV as inclusion criterion for specifying the status of disease, while others described the stage of disease eligible for ECP studies as "advanced" or "incurable." 26,27,31,32,35,37,[40][41][42]44,[48][49][50]52,[54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61] Other criteria amenable for EPC in the studies were the line of therapy or treatment 30,33,34,45,52 or resistance to a certain regime. 31,63,64 Two studies used a symptom burden over 33% regarding four symptoms, one symptom with at least 50% burden measured by the EORTC-QLQ-C30, 38 or cancer-related pain higher than 3 mea...…”

“…15 The assessment and management of physical (n = 28), psychological/emotional/spiritual (n = 27), and social (n = 21) symptoms or needs are the most common interventions within the context of ECP. Case management or coordination of care (n = 16), 25,28,29,35,36,40,[43][44][45]47,49,53,55,57,61,62 goals of care/ACP/assistance with decision-making (n = 15), 29,30,32,[34][35][36]39,41,42,44,53,55,57,59,64 illness understanding…”