End-of-life care of women with gynecologic malignancies: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: There are limited data regarding the end-of-life care for women with gynecologic malignancies. We set out to generate pilot data describing the care that women with gynecologic malignancies received in the last 6 months of life. Patient demographics, patterns of care, and utilization of palliative medicine consultation services were evaluated. METHODS: One hundred patients who died of gynecologic malignancies were identified in our institutional database. Only patients who had received treatment with a gynecologic oncologist within 1 year of death were included. Medical records were reviewed for relevant information. Data were abstracted from the electronic medical record, and analyses were made using Student t test and Mann-Whitney U test with SPSS software. RESULTS: The mean age of patients was 60 years (range, 30-94 years). Racial/ethnic distribution was as follows: 38%, white; 34%, black; and 15%, Hispanic. Seventy-five percent of patients received chemotherapy within the last 6 months of life, and 30% received chemotherapy within the last 6 weeks of life. The median number of days hospitalized during the last 6 months of life was 24 (range, 0-183 days). During the last 6 months of life, 19% were admitted to the intensive care unit, 17% were intubated, 5% had terminal extubation, and 13% had cardiopulmonary resuscitative efforts. Sixty-four percent had a family meeting, 50% utilized hospice care, and 49% had palliative medicine consultations. There was a significant difference in hospice utilization when comparison was made between patients who had 14 days or more from consultation until death versus patients who had 14 days or less or no consultation, 21 (72%) versus 29 (41%), P = 0.004. Patients who were single were less likely to have a palliative medicine consultation, P = 0.005. CONCLUSIONS: End-of-life care for patients with gynecologic malignancies often includes futile, aggressive treatments and invasive procedures. It is unknown whether these measures contribute to longevity or quality of life. These pilot data suggest that factors for implementation of timely hospice referral, family support, and legacy building should include specialists trained in palliative medicine.

Histopathologic differences account for racial disparity in uterine cancer survival.

OBJECTIVE: The incidence for uterine cancers has been reported to be higher among white women, whereas mortality is higher among black women. Reasons for the higher mortality among black women are not completely understood. The aim of our study is to examine the relationship between race/ethnicity, histopathologic subtype, and survival in uterine cancer. METHODS: We abstracted socio-demographic, treatment, and survival data for all women who were diagnosed with uterine cancer at Montefiore Medical Center from January 1999 through December 2009. Pathology records were reviewed. RESULTS: 984 patients were identified. Racial/ethnic distribution was 382 (39%) white, 308 (31%) black, 232 (24%) Hispanic, and 62 (6.3%) other races, mixed, or unknown. 592 (60%) patients had endometrioid histology. Blacks were much more likely than whites to have non-endometrioid histologies (p<0.001), including papillary serous, carcinosarcoma, and leiomyosarcoma. Blacks and Hispanics were at least as likely as whites to receive either chemotherapy or radiation therapy. The hazard ratio for death for black versus white patients was 1.94 (p<0.001) when all histological subtypes were included. The hazard ratio for Hispanics for death was 1.2 (p=0.32) compared to whites. However, when patients were divided into endometrioid and non-endometrioid histological subtypes, there was no significant difference in survival by race/ethnicity. CONCLUSION: Black patients with uterine cancer are much more likely to die and are much more likely to have non-endometrioid histologies than white patients. There are no differences in survival among white, black, or Hispanic women with uterine cancer, after control for histological subtype.