Until new treatments are available, one of the standard methods for managing almost all types of cancer is chemotherapy. While doctors are realistic in saying it doesn't benefit everyone, it may also not offer better quality of life for end-stage doesn't always cure cancer, a new study suggests it may also not be beneficial for self-sufficient patients looking for better quality of life in their final weeks.
There are many ways to see cancer. It can be in its early stages or advanced that it has already spread or metastasized in other parts of the body. The latter is more difficult to treat, and in many cases, it becomes terminal.
On the other hand, cancer patients can be either self-sufficient or not. Non-self-sufficient ones are those that require almost round-the-clock care or severely sick. Several oncologists would advise forgoing treatments like chemo by then as their body may not survive them. More often than not, only self-sufficient end-stage patients do.
But in a new study that also determines their quality of life during chemo, these patients may also not be achieving their goal either. This is so far the findings of researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College's Center for Research on End-of-Life Care with its director Holly G. Prigerson as the lead author.
For the study, they chose more than 300 adult men and women who were diagnosed with various types of cancer and had been given at least 6 months to live. These patients were spread out among different hospitals in the country. Around 150 of them, meanwhile, went through end-stage chemo. After they succumbed to their diseases, the researchers provided questions to both their caregivers and family members who had a more comprehensive knowledge of their disease and experience during their sickness.
While there's no difference between before and after chemo for patients who were already quite sick during the study, it's a different story for 122 patients, in which only 31% seemed to have good quality of life because they didn't receive chemo.
For oncologists who were not part of the study, however, the results may be affected by the fact chemo drugs with fewer side effects may not yet be available at the time of the research. For others, it's a matter of being able to discuss the sensitive topic more fully with the patient.