Racial Disparities in End-of-Life Care Among Patients With Prostate Cancer: A Population-Based Study.

Objective: To examine racial disparities in end-of-life (EOL) care among black and white patients dying of prostate cancer (PCa).

Methods: Relying on the SEER-Medicare database, 3789 patients who died of metastatic PCa between 1999 and 2009 were identified. Information was assessed regarding diagnostic care, therapeutic interventions, hospitalizations, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, and emergency department visits in the last 12 months, 3 months, and 1 month of life.

Chemotherapy for advanced cancers.

The decision to treat with chemotherapy in advanced cancers is a complex process that requires oncologists to weigh the indications and benefits. Treatment of patients with advanced cancer is typically multidimensional and should ideally include oncologists in coordination with palliative care specialists. When the intent of chemotherapy for patients with advanced neoplasms is no longer curative, palliative care can and should be delivered simultaneously with antineoplastic agents.

Bridging the gap: a palliative care consultation service in a hematological malignancy-bone marrow transplant unit.

Background: There is often a lack of collaboration between hematological malignancy-bone marrow transplantation (HM-BMT) units and palliative care (PC) services. In this paper, we describe a quality improvement project that sought to close this gap at a tertiary care hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from August 2006 to May 2010.

Design And Methods: Through a needs assessment, didactic lectures, clinical consultation, and the informal presence of PC clinicians, the team created a palliative care service in HM-BMT unit of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital in Pittsburgh.