Dr. El-Jawahri on the impact of palliative care on end-of-life care for AML and MDS

Dr. El-Jawahri on the impact of palliative care on end-of-life care for AML and MDS 
OncLive; by Areej R. El-Jawahri, MD; 8/12/24 
Areej El-Jawahri, MD, associate director, Cancer Outcomes Research and Education Program, director, Bone Marrow Transplant Survivorship Program, associate professor, medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses findings from a multi-site, randomized trial (NCT03310918) investigating a collaborative palliative oncology care model for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) receiving nonintensive therapy at 2 tertiary care academic hospitals. Patients in the study who received the palliative care interventions had a median of 41 days from end-of-life care discussions to death, compared with 1.5 days in the standard care group (P < .001). Additionally, patients who received the palliative care interventions were more likely to articulate their end-of-life care preferences and have these preferences documented in electronic health records, El-Jawahri begins. This documentation correlated with fewer hospitalizations in the final 30 days of life, she notes. Furthermore, palliative care recipients experienced QOL improvements and a trend toward reduced anxiety symptoms vs the patients who received usual care, El-Jawahri says. These findings underscore the necessity of integrating palliative care as a standard of care for patients with AML and high-risk MDS, El-Jawahri emphasizes.