Objective Evaluation during Transition from Chemotherapy to Palliative Care in Cases of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

Abstract

Objective: We investigated whether objective evaluation by using the palliative prognostic index (PPI), prognostic nutritional index (PNI), and controlling nutritional status (CONUT) can provide prognostic information during the transition from chemotherapy to palliative care in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Methods: The subjects were 79 patients with colorectal cancer who died of their disease between April 2009 and March 2015.

Results: The PPI score and CONUT score for patients who died within 90 days of completing chemotherapy were significantly higher than the scores for patients who survived for 90 or more days. The PNI score for patients who died within 90 days of completing chemotherapy was significantly lower than the score for patients who survived for 90 or more days. The surviving number of days for patients with PPI score under 3 or with PNI score 40 and over or with higher CONUT score were significantly shorter.

Conclusion: Our study suggests that the PPI, PNI, and CONUT may be useful for objective evaluation during the transition from chemotherapy to palliative care.