Internal medicine journal
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Internal medicine journal · Nov 2013
Multicenter StudyAdministration of chemotherapy with palliative intent in the last 30 days of life: the balance between palliation and chemotherapy.
Appropriately timed cessation of chemotherapy is an important aspect of good quality palliative care. There is wide variation in the reported rates of chemotherapy administration within the last 30 days of life. ⋯ Patients who received chemotherapy in the last 30 days of life were more likely to be male and have a shorter duration of palliative care team involvement. In this study, the observed rate of death within 30 days of chemotherapy is within the range of published data. It is recommended that a standard definition be used to benchmark medical oncology centres and individual oncologists, and to allow comparison over time.