Early Incorporation of Patient and Family to Attention and Care Program in Oncology Versus Standard of Care (PACO)

November 23, 2016 updated by: Oscar Gerardo Arrieta Rodríguez MD, Instituto Nacional de Cancerologia de Mexico

Management of Symptoms in Patients With Advanced Lung Cancer: Early Incorporation of Patient and Family to Attention and Care Program in Oncology

There is recent evidence that early palliative care administered to patients helps for their quality of life (QoL). It is however not part of the standard multidisciplinary treatment.

This study intents to evaluate the effect of early palliative care in patients with advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) compared to the standard of care.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

The multidisciplinary approach of palliative care for symptom management has an impact on the quality of life (QoL) of patients and their families. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) recommend incorporating early palliative care, simultaneously with cancer treatment. Unfortunately, this recommendation has not been followed in many cancer centers and late referrals to hospice are still frequent.

Patients with lung cancer have more symptoms than patients with other cancer. The impact on QoL and symptom management has acquired a great relevance. However, few studies demonstrating the benefit of early incorporation of palliative care in the management of patients with advanced lung cancer have been shown.

Palliative care is defined as the care given to patients with progressive active and advanced disease, and its main purpose is the relief and prevention of suffering and improving QoL.

In Mexico, the law defines palliative care as comprehensive care for those illnesses not responsive to curative treatment and include, but are not limited, to pain and other symptoms associated with the disease and psychological care, social and spiritual, of the patients and their families.

Psychological aspects The psychological manifestations in patients with lung cancer are determined by several factors. Depression and anxiety are the most common psychological reactions. It has been identified that 25% of cancer patients suffer from major depression at some point during the course of the disease and has been associated with decreased survival and QoL. Patients with anxiety disorders become more attached to medical treatment but seek alternative treatments more often. The main objective of psychological interventions is reducing maladaptive emotional reactions. In advanced stages, caregivers also confront stress and depression that could lead to health problems.

Nutritional aspects Malnutrition is reported in 60 to 79% in patients with lung cancer and is the largest contribution to morbidity and mortality. Cachexia is responsible directly or indirectly to death in one third of patients. The objectives of nutritional support are: improving tolerance to specific cancer treatment, decreasing the incidence of complications and, improving the QoL. Thus, it is necessary to conduct an early diagnosis of nutritional status in order to design nutritional intervention and improve their sense of comfort and QoL.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

201

Phase

  • Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Distrito Federal
      • Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
        • National Cancer Institute- México

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 90 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Clinical stage IV
  • ECOG 0-2
  • Patients treated virgin
  • Receive platinum-based chemotherapy

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Suicide Risk
  • Delirium
  • Cognitive impairment

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Standard care
Usual care given to the patients. Treatment, follow-up.
Experimental: Early Palliative Care

Intervention: Early allocation to palliative care. Intervention: Nutritional counseling. Intervention: patient and care-taker psychoeducation, depression and anxiety evaluation.

Standard of care: Oncological treatment according to stage of disease (IIIb/IV).

Treatment: Chemotherapy (platins, taxans, TKIs) Baseline: BMI, and anthropometric characteristics (weight, height). Follow-up: During 6 chemotherapy circles with: Quality of Life (EORTC qlq-c30), HADS, ESAS and ZARIT.

Symptoms management (e.g. Pain, nausea, dehydration management).
Other Names:
  • experimental
Nutritional status evaluation and dietary supplementation according to the patient requirements.
Patient and care-taker psychoeducation, depression and anxiety evaluation.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Global survival
Time Frame: from inclusion until at least 6 months after
Overall survival will be determined from the date of commencement of treatment to date of death, regardless of the cause of death. In patients who did not die at the time of final analysis will use the date of last contact.
from inclusion until at least 6 months after

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Progression Free Survival
Time Frame: from inclusion until at least 6 months after
Is defined as the time from start of treatment until the date of the first documented evidence of progression (RECIST criteria) or the date of death for any reason in the absence of disease progression (EP). For patients who have died or progressed at the time of final analysis, use the date of last contact.
from inclusion until at least 6 months after
Quality of life
Time Frame: from inclusion until at least 6 months after
by EORTC QLQ C30, QLQ LC13
from inclusion until at least 6 months after

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Oscar G Arrieta, MD Msc, Mexico. Nacional Cancer Institute

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

May 1, 2012

Primary Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 11, 2012

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 27, 2012

First Posted (Estimate)

June 29, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

November 25, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 23, 2016

Last Verified

November 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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