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Caring for terminal patients in haematology: the urgent need of a new research agenda

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Abstract

Although major therapeutic advances have led to improved survival for many hematologic malignancies in recent years, survival remains poor for some disease subtypes and a substantial proportion of patients are ultimately destined to die from their disease and/or related complications. Despite this, there is evidence that patients are not always referred to palliative/home care services as often as those with other cancers, although this situation may be improving in some areas. More research is needed, however, to explore reasons for this and identify whether patients may consequently have unmet needs that impact on their quality of life at this time.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hematology Division, Sant’Eugenio Hospital, Piazzale dell’Umanesimo, 10, 00144, Rome, Italy

    Pasquale Niscola, Andrea Tendas, Marco Giovannini, Laura Scaramucci, Alessio Perrotti & Paolo de Fabritiis

  2. Epidemiology and Cancer Statistics Group, Department of Health Sciences, University of York, Seebohm Rowntree Building, York, YO10 5DD, UK

    Debra A Howell

Authors
  1. Pasquale Niscola
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  2. Andrea Tendas
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  3. Marco Giovannini
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  4. Laura Scaramucci
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  5. Alessio Perrotti
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  6. Paolo de Fabritiis
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  7. Debra A Howell
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pasquale Niscola.

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Niscola, P., Tendas, A., Giovannini, M. et al. Caring for terminal patients in haematology: the urgent need of a new research agenda. Support Care Cancer 23, 5–7 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-014-2489-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-014-2489-4

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