Abstract 357P
Background
Advanced Head and neck cancer despite multimodal treatment is associated with disfigurement, extreme pain, and psychological distress. To study the effects of a multimodal palliative approach involving psychological counselling, psychometric dug therapy and pain-relieving blocks to ameliorate the total pain state of such patient during end of life care.
Methods
This is a prospective, single-arm observational study conducted on 20 head and neck cancer patients, from January 2015 to December 2018. Patients who were on palliative treatment were processed for self-report of severe psychological distress and intractable pain by means of innovative distress score and quality of life index and the numeric pain rating scale and given combination therapy with antidepressants, antipsychotics, pain killers and neurolytic blocks along with repeated counselling sessions.
Results
20 patients were included in this study, of which 66.6 % were males and 33.3% were female. Age range was 44-79 years and they had mean pain scores of 7.61 (SD 1.577) before the intervention and mean distress scores of 8.33 (SD 1.237) suffering for a duration of 72.5 days (SD 24.81). A significant reduction in pain was noted by a decrease in mean Numeric rating scale to 2.83 (SD 0.618) and extension of the mean duration of analgesia to 24.33 days (SD 6.84) and reduction in distress score to 3.78 (SD 0.732). Pre- and post-procedure mean morphine requirement was also significantly reduced, at the end of 2 weeks. Significant easing of distress and improvement in performance was observed in all patients.
Conclusions
The application of a multimodal palliative approach to progressive head and neck cancer patients is an easy, safe, and cost-effective method to improve quality of life. Medical oncologists must be sensitized to elicit and measure the distress in such patients. Counseling sessions and pharmacotherapy, if indicated, are very effective in the care of such patients.
Clinical trial identification
Editorial acknowledgement
Legal entity responsible for the study
Rajiv Gandhi cancer Institute and Research Centre, New Delhi.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
Resources from the same session
371P - Clinical utility of Encyclopedic tumour analysis to treat patients advanced refractory head and neck cancers
Presenter: Rajnish Nagarkar
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract
372P - Real-world fusion landscape in advanced Chinese pancreatic cancer using next generation sequecing: A multicenter study
Presenter: Yiyu Shen
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract
373P - Molecular profiling of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in Asia with targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS): Interim analysis of a co-operative group study (ATORG-001)
Presenter: Aaron Tan
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract
374P - Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) identifies actionable genetic alterations in Middle Eastern and Asian (MEA) patients diagnosed with carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP)
Presenter: Nir Peled
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract
375P - Whole-exome sequencing of tumour-only samples reveals the association between somatic alterations and clinical features in pancreatic cancer
Presenter: Huixin Lin
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract
376P - Adoption of molecular testing in breast cancer in a tertiary care center in a developing country
Presenter: Prasanta Dash
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract
377P - NGS in advanced NSCLC in a developing country: Ready for prime time?
Presenter: Amrith B P
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract
378P - Germline BRCA1/2 testing: Trend in Tan Tock Seng Hospital Singapore
Presenter: Chia Wei Lim
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract
379P - Study of germline mutations in high risk cancer patients from a tertiary care center in India
Presenter: Padmaj Kulkarni
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract
380P - Ventricular–Subventricular zone involvement: A predictive factor for survival in glioblastoma
Presenter: Vibhay Pareek
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract