Symptom profiles and palliative care in advanced pancreatic cancer: a prospective study

To describe prospectively the prevalence and severity of disease-related symptoms, quality of life (QOL) and need for palliative care in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Fifty-one patients treated for advanced pancreatic cancer filled in the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) for symptom registration and the EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-PAN26 quality of life questionnaires at first contact (baseline) and the ESAS in the following consultations. Need for palliative interventions were registered. Of the 22 women and 29 men (mean age, 62 years), 20 had locally unresectable cancer, 19 had metastatic disease, and 12 had recurrent disease after curative resection. Forty-six patients died during follow-up (median survival, 99 days). At baseline, patients reported significantly impaired QOL on nine of 15 scales/items (p