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
511P - Phase II trial of carboplatin, nab-paclitaxel and bevacizumab for advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (CARNAVAL study; TORG1424/OLCSG1402)
Presenter: Toshio Kubo
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract
485P - A real-world experience of first-line afatinib in Korean patients with EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer
Presenter: Seong Hoon Yoon
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract
522P - Weekly nab-PTX and weekly PTX for relapsed small cell lung cancer
Presenter: Hajime Oi
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract
512P - A phase I and extension study of S-1 and carboplatin for previously untreated patients aged 75 years or more with advanced non-small cell lung cancer
Presenter: Hisao Imai
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract
497P - Real-word efficacy of osimertinib in patients with metastatic EGFRm NSCLC: An interim analysis from a multi-center study in China
Presenter: Xiangyun Ye
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract
507P - Immune checkpoint inhibitors for patients acquired resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitors with EGFR mutated non-small cell lung cancer: A multicenter retrospective study
Presenter: Takeshi Uenami
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract
516P - Clinical outcomes in elderly patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer: A prospective multicenter study of the National Hospital Organization in Japan
Presenter: Masahiro Shimada
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract
486P - Phase II study of low-dose afatinib maintenance treatment for patients with EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NJLCG1601)
Presenter: Mami Morita
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract
515P - Polypharmacy as a prognostic factor in elderly patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors
Presenter: Taiki Hakozaki
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract
518P - Real world prospective clinical impact of finding actionable genomic alterations by plasma cell-free DNA next generation sequencing in advanced non-small cell lung cancer
Presenter: Beung chul Ahn
Session: Poster display session
Resources:
Abstract