Impact of hospice and palliative home care on chemotherapy use at the end of life (EOL).

e16611 Background: Many cancer patients (pts) receive chemotherapy at the end of life (EOL) with negative effects on quality of life and high economic burden. Palliative care services and hospice facilities became widely available in Italy during the last decade. We analyzed if this had an impact on chemotherapy use at EOL comparing current data with those obtained in a study carried out in year 2002, where we observed 33% of pts treated with chemotherapy in the last month of life (Giorgi et al. Proc ASCO 22: #6081, 2004). Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of pts died in year 2010 and treated in three oncology divisions in which palliative care and hospice services have been available since 2004. Results were compared with those obtained in year 2002 when there was no palliative care program in the same oncology units. Results: Clinical records of 335 pts dead during 2010 were reviewed (F 156, M 179). The most frequent tumors were: breast 53 pts, NSCLC 53, colorectal 48, gastric 30, pancr...