Palliative care referral across the disease trajectory in high-grade glioma

Adults with high-grade glioma (HGG; WHO grade III or IV) have substantial palliative care needs. A retrospective study at Icahn School of Medicine (New York, NY) investigated occurrence and timing of palliative care consultation (PCC) in HGG. Only 21.6% of patients received PCC. Of the patients receiving PCC, 48.5% received PCC in the end-of-life phase. Patients who received PCC prior to end-of-life phase had longer survival from diagnosis than those referred during end-of-life (16.5 versus 11.0 months; p<0.01). The authors conclude that only about one in ten patients in the entire cohort received the potential benefits of early PCC.