Implications for the future of palliative care for pancreatic cancer: A retrospective institutional study.

153Background: Five year overall survival rate for localized and metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC) is discouraging at 31.5% and 2.7%, respectively. Evidence supports that early palliative care (PC) involvement leads to better quality of life and prolongs OS. Referral to PC is often delayed as it is perceived as an alternative rather than adjunctive care. We conducted a retrospective study to identify different variables that affect PC consultation among patients (pts) with PAC admitted to the hospital and to study the impact of health care utilizations on OS. Methods: A retrospective medical record review of pts with PAC diagnosed/treated at SUNY Upstate University hospital was conducted (2011-2015). Variables like age, sex, race, stage at diagnosis, insurance status, performance status (PS), frequency of hospital admissions, nights spent, procedure visits, blood products used, and time variable to PC referral from diagnosis were collected. OS was calculated using Kaplan Meier analysis. Results: ...