Benedict Konzen

Advance Directives and Do-Not-Resuscitate Orders in Patients with Cancer with Metastatic Spinal Cord Compression: Advanced Care Planning Implications

OBJECTIVES Communication about end-of-life decisions is crucial. Although patients with metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC) have a median survival time of 3 to 6 months, few data are available concerning the presence of advance directives and do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders in this population. The objective of this study was to determine presence of advance directives and DNR order among patients with MSCC. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed data concerning advance directives for 88 consecutive patients with cancer who had MSCC and required rehabilitation consultation at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center from September 20, 2005 to August 29, 2008. We characterized the data using univariate descriptive statistics and used the Fisher exact test to find correlations. RESULTS The mean age of this patient population was 55 years (range, 24-81). Thirty patients (33%) were female. Twenty patients (23%) had a living will, 27 patients (31%) had health care proxies, and 10 patients (11%) had either out-of-hospital DNR order and/or dictated DNR note. The median survival time for these patients was 4.3 months. CONCLUSION Despite strong evidence showing short survival times for MSCC patients, it seems many of these patients are not aware of the urgency to have an advance directive. This may be an indicator of delayed end-of-life palliative care and suboptimal doctor-patient communication. Using the catastrophic event of a diagnosis of MSCC to trigger communication and initiate palliative care may be beneficial to patients and their families.

Inpatient cancer rehabilitation: the experience of a national comprehensive cancer center.

Objective: Cancer rehabilitation is an important but often underutilized treatment in the comprehensive care of the cancer patient. Cancer patients have varying levels of access to rehabilitation services. Acute inpatient, inpatient consultation-based, and outpatient-based cancer rehabilitation services have been described in the literature. We will discuss acute inpatient cancer rehabilitation and some of its outcomes at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX, which is the only national comprehensive cancer center to have its own acute inpatient rehabilitation unit dedicated solely to cancer patients. Design: We retrospectively reviewed the inpatient medical records of consecutive inpatients admitted to the acute inpatient cancer rehabilitation unit from September 2008 to August 2009 for the following information: patient age, sex, primary tumor type, rehabilitation diagnoses, length of stay, discharge destination, and payer source. Results: From September 2008 to August 2009, the physical medicine and rehabilitation service at MD Anderson Cancer Center had 1098 inpatient consultations, of which 427 patients were admitted to the inpatient rehabilitation unit with a mean length of stay of 11 days. Of the 427 patients, 73 (17%) were patients with primary neurologic-based tumor, 71 (16%) were patients with hematologic-based tumors, 48 (11%) were sarcoma patients, 35 (8%) were gastrointestinal tumor patients, 27 (6%) were head and neck tumor patients, 25 (6%) were prostate and bladder cancer patients, 24 (6%) were lung cancer patients, 22 (5%) were melanoma patients, 20 (5%) were breast cancer patients, 15 (4%) were renal cancer patients, 14 (3%) were gynecologic cancer patients, and 53 (12%) were patients with other types of cancer. Of the 427 patients admitted to acute inpatient rehabilitation at MD Anderson Cancer Center, 324 (76%) were discharged home, 72 (17%) went back to acute care service, 15 (4%) were sent to a skilled nursing facility, 9 (2%) were discharged to palliative care, and 5 (1%) were discharged to a long-term acute care facility. Conclusions: An active inpatient rehabilitation unit within a national comprehensive cancer center receives referrals from patients with a wide variety of tumor types and is able to successfully discharge home 76% of its patients.

Inpatient Rehabilitation Performance of Patients With Paraneoplastic Cerebellar Degeneration

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the functional improvement of rehabilitation inpatients with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration. DESIGN Retrospective review. SETTING Referral-based hospitals. PARTICIPANTS Cancer rehabilitation inpatients (N=7) admitted to 3 different cancer centers with a diagnosis of paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration. INTERVENTION Medical records were retrospectively analyzed for demographic, laboratory, medical, and functional data. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE FIM. RESULTS All 7 patients were white women (median age, 62y). Primary cancers included ovarian carcinoma (n=2), small cell lung cancer (n=2), uterine carcinoma (n=2), and invasive ductal breast carcinoma (n=1). Mean admission total FIM score was 61±23.97. Mean discharge total FIM score was 73.6±29.35. The mean change in total FIM score was 12.6 (P=.0018). The mean length of rehabilitation stay was 17.1 days. The mean total FIM efficiency was .73. Of the 7 patients, 5 (71%) were discharged home, 1 (14%) was discharged to a nursing home, and 1 (14%) was transferred to the primary acute care service. CONCLUSIONS To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate the functional performance of a group of rehabilitation inpatients with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration. Despite the poor neurologic prognosis associated with this syndrome, these patients made significant functional improvements in inpatient rehabilitation. When appropriate, inpatient rehabilitation should be considered. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed.

The Effects of a Brief Relaxation Program on Symptom Distress and Heart Rate Variability in Cancer Patients

To determine whether a 15‐minute, one‐time guided relaxation program for cancer patients could improve symptom distress as measured by the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS). In addition, we were interested in characterizing the changes of the autonomic nervous system, as demonstrated by heart rate variability (HRV) high‐frequency (HF) spectral analysis, before and after this relaxation program.

Evaluating Disability Insurance Assistance as a Specific Intervention by Physiatrists at a Cancer Center

Abstract Because of their expertise, physiatrists provide disability insurance assistance for cancer survivors. In this brief report, we perform a descriptive retrospective analysis of all new (354) outpatient physiatry consultations from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2013, at a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center. Disability and/or work accommodations were brought up at some point with the physiatrist during the duration of their care for 131 (37%) of 354 patients. More than 90% of the discussions took place during the first visit. Of those patients who had a documented disability/employment discussion, 58 (44.3%) of 131 patients were originally referred for disability assistance specifically, and 58 (44.3%) of 131 also had disability insurance paperwork completed by the physiatrist. Outcomes of initial physiatry disability insurance assistance were 45 (77.6%) of 58 approved/renewed, 5 (8.6%) of 58 denied, and 8 (13.8%) of 58 unknown/died during the disability application process. The median form size was 33 (SD, 25.95) items. This study is the first of its kind and provides an initial look at work-related discussions and support with disability insurance paperwork as a specific intervention provided by physiatrists at a cancer center. The results are compelling and demonstrate that physiatrists frequently provide these interventions. These interventions take considerable time and effort but are generally successful.

Rehabilitation in Orthopedic Oncology

Rehabilitation of the orthopedic oncology patient poses some unique challenges. The goal of rehabilitation is to return the patient to the level of his or her highest premorbid function. Meeting this goal can be difficult since considerable musculoskeletal deficits may result from the resection of large segments of the skeletal system. For different regions of the body, rehabilitative efforts focus on specific goals. In addition, other aspects of the patient’s overall well-being should be addressed. Patient education, nutrition, skin care, wound care, lymphedema, psychosocial issues, and sexuality all are important components of rehabilitative medicine. These needs may be complicated by the psychological burden of carrying a cancer diagnosis, as well as by the need for additional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy after surgery.