[Prolonging home residence and treatment of cancer in patients with recurrent stomach cancer].
A study was conducted on 27 patients with cancer of the stomach who died from a postoperative recurrence of the cancer, 26 of whom died in the hospital and one of whom died at home. The period from the manifestation of initial symptoms of the recurrence to confirmed diagnosis was less than two months in 20 of the 26 cases (77%). The period from confirmed diagnosis to terminal hospitalization was in excess of three months in 11 of the 26 cases (42%). Of these cases, there were some in which it appeared that the time spent at home could have been extended through means such as another operation, insertion of an intraperitoneal access apparatus, or insertion of a subselective movable catheter. Forty-six percent (46%) of the patients were notified of their diagnosis, but none of them were notified of the recurrence of the cancer, suggesting the difficulty of notifying a patient of a diagnosis of cancer recurrence. A private home-care medical system was used in the case of the patient who had died at home of terminal stomach cancer. There were no major problems with this system other than the complaint that it placed a great financial burden on the family.
Sairenji
M
M
Third Dept. of Surgery, Kanagawa Prefectural Cancer Center.
Rino
Y
Y
Okugawa
T
T
Tsuburaya
A
A
Kobayashi
O
O
Motohashi
H
H
Okamoto
T
T
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D018575:Home Care Services, Hospital-Based; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000628:therapy*; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D013727:Terminal Care