Journal of palliative medicine
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Background: Widespread implementation of specialist palliative care screening in oncology can be facilitated by efficient screening tools. It has been shown that patient-reported outcome measures are useful as screening tools and might reduce staff effort. Short forms could further improve feasibility. ⋯ A six-item IPOS short form that included the most predictive items of each of the three IPOS dimensions identified specialist palliative care need with 87.5% sensitivity (specificity = 56.4%; area under the curve = 0.786). Conclusions: IPOS short forms can facilitate efficient screening for specialist palliative care need, and the validation results are comparable to the full version of IPOS. Results also indicate which symptoms and problems might be most relevant as red flags in routine data or staff-based screening approaches.
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Background: New treatment options for patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) have proven to be safe but, in addition, may have an effect on the patient's quality of life. Objectives: To evaluate the effect of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) combined with intradermal heat-killed mycobacterium obuense (IMM-101) vaccination on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), pain, and sleep, in patients with LAPC. Design: Prospective cohort study. ⋯ Results: Univariable linear mixed model analysis revealed significant improvement for EORTC QLQ-C30 items "cognitive functioning" and "emotional functioning." Outcomes on RCSQ subscales and "RCSQ total score" did not significantly change. In the multivariable model, with "Global HRQoL scale" and "RCSQ total score" as outcomes, we did not find a significant change during treatment. Conclusion: In this prospective cohort study, we found that SBRT combined with IMM-101, in patients with LAPC, is well tolerated and does not negatively affect HRQoL, sleep quality, and pain.