Prognosis in Advanced Cancer

ABOUT THIS BOOK

• A comprehensive guide to the prognosis of palliative care conditions
• Includes principles of prognosis, covering formulating the prediction and communicating it with ethical considerations
• Written to aid quick navigation, so information on natural history, prognostic factors, effects of treatment, and short and long term outlooks for various cancers can be easily found
• Features a quick reference summary table of short and long term prognosis, and survival curves to assist the reader

Predicting survival and other outcomes is increasingly being recognized as an important skill for palliative care doctors and nurses, oncologists, and other healthcare professionals who treat patients with advanced cancer. Accurate prognosis is essential if we are to offer quality of care and 'a good death', as well as to aid decision-making. There is much prognostic information available that is scattered throughout the palliative care and oncological literature but this is the first time it has been gathered systematically in one place.

Glare and Christakis, leaders in the field of prognosis, bring together a team of international contributors from across the fields of palliative care and oncology. This comprehensive but practical guide begins with the principles of prognostication, including formulating the prediction and then communicating it. Topics such as statistical issues, evidence-based medicine, and the ethics of prognostication are also covered. The second section addresses prognostication in 15 specific cancer sites once they have reached the advanced stage, following a standard template for consistency and easy access to the key information. The third section deals with prognostication in patients with a variety of common clinical conditions at the end of life, such as bowel obstruction, hypercalcaemia, and brain metastases. In addition, survival curves are provided within each chapter, palliative care conditions are examined for the first time, and a summary table of long and short term prognosis ensures this book remains practical.

Readership: Palliative care doctors and nurses, oncologists, and anyone caring for a patient towards the end of life.

REVIEWS

"...the quality of this book is outstanding...very necessary for physicians and other medical personnel." - Marlene S. Foreman, BSN, Hospice of Acadiana, Inc.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART 1: SCIENCE OF PROGNOSTICATION
1: Paul Glare and Nicholas Christakis: Overview: advancing the clinical science of prognostication
2: William J. Mackillop: Differences in prognostication between early stage cancer and advanced cancer
3: Elizabeth B. Lamont: Foreseeing: formulating an accurate prognosis
4: Phyllis Butow, Rebecca Hagerty, Martin Tattersall, and Martin Stockler: Foretelling: communicating the prognosis
5: Phyllis A. Gimotty: Statistical concepts and issues related to prognostic models
6: Paul Glare, Marco Maltoni and Cinzia Brunelli: Evidence based medicine
7: Jay F. Piccirillo and Anna Vlahiotis: Tools for formulating prognosis
8: Bert Broeckaert and Paul Glare: Ethics

PART 2: PROGNOSTICATION IN SPECIFIC CANCERS
9: C. Martin Tammemagi: Lung cancer
10: Tony Geoghegan and Michael J. Lee: Colorectal cancer
11: Fabio Efficace and Laura Biganzoli: Breast cancer
12: Luigi Schips and Richard Zigeuner: Bladder cancer
13: Timothy Gilligan: Prognosis of prostate cancer
14: Moritz Koch, Jürgen Weitz and Markus W. Büchler: Pancreatic cancer
15: Kelvin K. Ng and Ronnie T. Poon: Hepatoma
16: Ceri Hughes and Steve Thomas: Head and neck cancer
17: Jonathan Carter: Gynaecological cancer
18: Hiroko Ohgaki: Brain cancer
19: Charles Dumontet and Catherine Thieblemont: Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL)
20: Paul Glare: Leukaemia and myeloma
21: Katherine T. Morris and Murray F. Brennan: Sarcoma
22: Jonathan Dowell: Unknown primary
23: Anne Hamilton and Katherine Clark: Melanoma

PART 3: PROGNOSIS IN PALLIATIVE CARE
24: Edward Chow and Albert Yee: Bone secondaries
25: Andrew Broadbent and George Hruby: Brain secondaries
26: Vicki Jackson and Lida Nabati: Leptomeningeal disease
27: Angela Byrne and Michael Lee: Liver metastases
28: David Currow and Christine Sanderson: Lung secondaries
29: Niklas Zojer and Martin Pecherstorfer: Hypercalcemia
30: Nora Janjan, Anita Mahajan, Eric L. Chang, Edward Lin, Sunil Krishnan, and Edward Chow: Spinal cord compression
31: Maria Montoya and Eduardo Bruera: Pain relief
32: Sebastiano Mercadante: Malignant bowel obstruction
33: Lara Alloway, Vaughan Keeley and Irene Higginson: Breathlessness
34: Miriam Friedlander and David Kissane: Delirium
35: Aminah Jatoi: Weight loss
36: Tugba Yavuzsen and Mellar P. Davis: Fatigue

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Edited by Paul Glare, Head of Palliative Care, Sydney Cancer Centre, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital; Clinical Associate Professor, Central Clinical School (Medicine), Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney, Australia, and Nicholas A Christakis, Professor, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School; Department of Medicine, Mt. Auburn Hospital, Boston, USA