Early Palliative Care With Standard Care or Standard Care Alone in Improving Quality of Life of Patients With Incurable Lung or Non-colorectal Gastrointestinal Cancer and Their Family Caregivers

Randomized Study of Early Palliative Care Integrated With Standard Oncology Care Versus Standard Oncology Care Alone in Patients With Incurable Lung or Non-Colorectal Gastrointestinal Malignancies

The study intervention consists of the early integration of palliative care services into standard oncology care in an outpatient setting for patients with advanced lung and non-colorectal gastrointestinal malignancies who are not being treated with curative intent. The palliative care services provided to patients randomized to the intervention will be provided by board-certified physicians and/or advanced practice nurses and will focus on the following areas: (1) developing and maintaining the therapeutic relationship with the patients and family caregivers; (2) assessing and treating patient symptoms; (3) providing support and reinforcement of coping with advanced cancer in patients and family caregivers; (4) assessing and enhancing prognostic awareness and illness understanding in patients and family caregivers; (5) assisting with treatment decision-making; and (6) end-of-life care planning.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Depression; Small Cell Lung Cancer; Gastric Cancer; Pancreatic Cancer; Esophageal Cancer; Malignant Mesothelioma; Non-small Cell Lung Cancer; Liver Cancer; Anxiety Disorder; Extrahepatic Bile Duct Cancer
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Early palliative care

Detailed Description

There will be about 400 patients enrolled in this intervention study and there will be about 300 family caregivers enrolled as well. This study will consist of two study groups as previously described. The effects of the early involvement of the palliative care team will be compared to the usual approach of receiving care mostly from the cancer treatment team. The stratification factors include tumor type (lung vs. esophageal/gastric vs. hepatic/biliary/pancreatic) and family care giver participation (yes vs. no). Patients will be on this study for as long as they receive care. Institutions must have an outpatient palliative care clinic that meets the study site requirements as defined in the protocol. The outpatient clinic leadership must include a physician and/or advanced practice nurses board certified in palliative care. The primary and secondary endpoints are described below.

Primary Endpoint:

To determine the efficacy of early integrated palliative care on patient reported quality of life at 12 weeks using the FACT in patients with newly diagnosed incurable lung or non-colorectal gastrointestinal cancer

Secondary Endpoints:

• To determine the efficacy of early integrated palliative care on other patient reported outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed incurable lung or non-colorectal gastrointestinal cancer, by assessing the endpoints defined in the protocol
• To determine the efficacy of early integrated palliative care on family caregiver reported outcomes in those newly diagnosed incurable lung or non-colorectal gastrointestinal cancer, by assessing the endpoints defined in the protocol
• To assess the impact of early integrated palliative care on the quality of end-of-life care and resource utilization in patients with newly diagnosed incurable lung or non-colorectal gastrointestinal cancer by assessing the endpoints defined in the protocol
• To determine concordance between patient and family caregiver report of prognosis/ curability

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 405
• Phase: Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • La Jolla, California, United States, 92093
      • UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center
  • Hawaii
    • Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, 96813
      • Queen's Medical Center
  • Illinois
    • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60637
      • University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center
    • Evanston, Illinois, United States, 60201
      • NorthShore University HealthSystem-Evanston Hospital
    • Glenview, Illinois, United States, 60026
      • NorthShore University HealthSystem-Glenbrook Hospital
    • Highland Park, Illinois, United States, 60035
      • NorthShore University HealthSystem-Highland Park Hospital
  • Iowa
    • Iowa City, Iowa, United States, 52242
      • University of Iowa/Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center
  • Massachusetts
    • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02114
      • Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
  • Michigan
    • Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States, 49503
      • Mercy Health Saint Mary's
  • Minnesota
    • Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, 55415
      • Hennepin County Medical Center
    • Rochester, Minnesota, United States, 55905
      • Mayo Clinic
    • Saint Louis Park, Minnesota, United States, 55416
      • Park Nicollet Clinic - Saint Louis Park
    • Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, 55101
      • Regions Hospital
  • New Hampshire
    • Lebanon, New Hampshire, United States, 03756
      • Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
  • New York
    • New Hyde Park, New York, United States, 11040
      • North Shore-LIJ Health System/Center for Advanced Medicine
    • New York, New York, United States, 10032
      • Columbia University/Herbert Irving Cancer Center
  • North Carolina
    • Durham, North Carolina, United States, 27710
      • Duke University Medical Center
  • North Dakota
    • Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States, 58201
      • Altru Cancer Center
  • Oklahoma
    • Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, 73104
      • University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
  • Virginia
    • Richmond, Virginia, United States, 23298
      • Virginia Commonwealth University/Massey Cancer Center
  • Wisconsin
    • La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States, 54601
      • Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center
    • Marshfield, Wisconsin, United States, 54449
      • Marshfield Clinic
    • Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, 53226
      • Froedtert and The Medical College of Wisconsin

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Study Patient Participant Eligibility Requirements:

1. Documentation of Disease: Confirmed advanced lung cancer (NSCLC, small cell lung cancer, or mesothelioma) or non-colorectal GI cancer (esophageal, gastric, hepatic, biliary, or pancreatic) not being treated with curative intent.
2. Informed of diagnosis of incurable disease within the previous 8 weeks.
3. Age ≥ 18 years
4. ECOG Performance Status 0-2
5. Ability to read and respond to questions in English or able to complete questions with minimal assistance required from an interpreter or family member.
6. Planning to receive all medical care for cancer at the enrolling institution.
7. Participants must be under the care of an oncologist, but their current plan may or may not include chemotherapy or other forms of tumor-directed therapies.

Study Family Caregiver Participant Eligibility Requirements:

1. Relative or friend who is identified by the patient participant who plans to regularly accompany the patient to the majority of their clinic visits.
2. Family caregiver must live with the patient or have in-person contact with him or her at least twice per week.
3. Ability to read and respond to questions in English or able to complete questions with minimal assistance required from an interpreter or family member.
4. Age ≥ 18 years

Note: An eligible patient may participate in this trial without an eligible family caregiver being registered.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Arm 1; Patients receive early palliative care and standard oncology care. Patients and family caregivers will be asked to complete quality-of-life questionnaires at weeks 6, 12, and 24. Survival follow-up will be every 4 months from week 24 until death or up to 3 years.	Other: Early palliative care
Experimental: Arm 2; Patients receive standard oncology care. Patient and family caregiver will be asked to complete self-report questionnaires at weeks 6, 12, and 24. Survival follow-up will be every 4 months from week 24 until death or up to 3 years. Palliative care visit only upon request from attending oncologist(s) or patient/family.	Other: Early palliative care

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Quality of Life (QOL) From Baseline to Week 12 Per the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G)	Quality of Life (QOL) was measured using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) on a 0-108 scale, with lower scores corresponding to worse overall QOL and higher scores corresponding to better overall QOL. Change from baseline to week-12 was calculated by subtracting the baseline scores from the scores at week-12. Higher scores on FACT-G indicate better QOL.	Up to 12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Overall Survival		Up to 3 years
Change in Quality of Life (QOL) From Baseline to Week 24 Per the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G)	Quality of Life (QOL) was measured using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) on a 0-108 scale, with lower scores corresponding to worse overall QOL and higher scores corresponding to better overall QOL. Change from baseline to week-24 was calculated by subtracting the baseline scores from the scores at week-24. Higher scores on FACT-G indicate better QOL.	Up to 24 weeks
Change in Quality of Life (QOL) From Baseline to Week 12 Per the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) - Depression	Quality of Life (QOL) was measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) - Depression on a 0-21 scale, with lower scores corresponding to lower depression and higher scores corresponding to higher depression. Change from baseline to week-12 was calculated by subtracting the baseline scores from the scores at week-12. Lower scores on the HADS-Depression indicate less depression symptoms.	Up to 12 weeks
Change in Quality of Life (QOL) From Baseline to Week 12 Per the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) - Anxiety	Quality of Life (QOL) was measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) - Anxiety on a 0-21 scale, with lower scores corresponding to lower anxiety and higher scores corresponding to higher anxiety. Change from baseline to week-12 was calculated by subtracting the baseline scores from the scores at week-12. Lower scores on the HADS-Anxiety indicate less anxiety symptoms.	Up to 12 weeks
Prognostic Understanding at Week-12 as Measured by "Have You and Your Oncologist Discussed Any Particular Wishes About the Care You Would Want to Receive if You Were Dying?" Question on the Prognosis and Treatment Perceptions Questionnaire	Prognostic Understanding at Week-12 as measured by Prognosis and Treatment Perceptions Questionnaire: "Have you and your oncologist discussed any particular wishes about the care you would want to receive if you were dying?" responses at Week-12 are reported below.	Up to 12 weeks
Change in QOL on the SF-36 Over Time		Up to 3 years
Rate of Referral, Enrollment and Length of Stay on Hospice		Up to 3 years
Location of Death		Up to 3 years
Number of Hospital and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Admissions and Days		Up to 3 years
Chemotherapy and Radiation Administration		Up to 3 years
Concordance Between Patient and Family Caregiver Report of Prognosis/Curability		Up to 3 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology
• Collaborators: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
• Investigators: Study Chair: Jennifer Temel, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Temel JS, Sloan J, Zemla T, Greer JA, Jackson VA, El-Jawahri A, Kamdar M, Kamal A, Blinderman CD, Strand J, Zylla D, Daugherty C, Furqan M, Obel J, Razaq M, Roeland EJ, Loprinzi C. Multisite, Randomized Trial of Early Integrated Palliative and Oncology Care in Patients with Advanced Lung and Gastrointestinal Cancer: Alliance A221303. J Palliat Med. 2020 Jul;23(7):922-929. doi: 10.1089/jpm.2019.0377. Epub 2020 Feb 7.
• Jacobs JM, Shaffer KM, Nipp RD, Fishbein JN, MacDonald J, El-Jawahri A, Pirl WF, Jackson VA, Park ER, Temel JS, Greer JA. Distress is Interdependent in Patients and Caregivers with Newly Diagnosed Incurable Cancers. Ann Behav Med. 2017 Aug;51(4):519-531. doi: 10.1007/s12160-017-9875-3.

Helpful Links

• Data Available: Select individual patient-level data from this trial can be requested from the NCTN/NCORP Data Archive

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 25, 2015
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 3, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): July 15, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 23, 2015
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 23, 2015
• First Posted (Estimated): January 28, 2015

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 15, 2025
• Last Verified: January 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Neoplasms by Site; Neoplasms; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Digestive System Neoplasms; Digestive System Diseases; Lung Diseases; Biliary Tract Diseases; Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial; Respiratory Tract Neoplasms; Thoracic Neoplasms; Adenoma; Neoplasms, Mesothelial; Pleural Neoplasms; Carcinoma, Bronchogenic; Bronchial Neoplasms; Bile Duct Diseases; Biliary Tract Neoplasms; Mesothelioma, Malignant; Anxiety Disorders; Lung Neoplasms; Mesothelioma; Small Cell Lung Carcinoma; Bile Duct Neoplasms
• Other Study ID Numbers: A221303; UG1CA189823 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract); U10CA037447 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract); NCI-2014-01943 (Registry Identifier: NCI Clinical Trial Reporting Program Office)