This single-center retrospective study assessed the time between final chemotherapy and death in 53 patients with advanced or recurrent gastric cancer who had complete records for final chemotherapy, mortality, and concurrent laboratory tests. The reported median interval from last chemotherapy to death was 67 days. Fifteen patients (28.3%) received chemotherapy within 30 days of death, meeting the study definition of near-end-of-life chemotherapy.
A planned end-of-life care setting in this analysis was defined as a scheduled transition to one of the following: a palliative care unit, institutional care, or home-based care with visiting nursing support. The study was retrospective and single-center in design; it included patients for whom final chemotherapy timing, death date, and laboratory values were fully available. The primary endpoint was administration of chemotherapy within 30 days of death.
Fifty-three patients with advanced or recurrent gastric cancer were included. The abstract reports that all included patients had complete data on final chemotherapy, date of death, and concurrent laboratory findings. Specific demographic breakdowns, prior treatment details, performance status distributions, and other comorbidities are not detailed in the abstract and therefore are not reported here.
The primary endpoint was whether patients received chemotherapy within 30 days before death. Key laboratory measures analyzed in relation to this endpoint included serum albumin and C-reactive protein (CRP) at the time of final chemotherapy. The authors evaluated albumin levels as a potential clinical marker to signal reassessment of ongoing systemic therapy and to prompt planning for end-of-life care transitions.
The analysis found that albumin ≤2.9 g/dl and CRP >1.0 mg/dl were associated with failure to transition to a planned end-of-life care setting. This suggests that combined laboratory indicators of nutritional status and systemic inflammation measured at the time of final chemotherapy may identify patients at higher risk for unplanned acute deterioration and for not entering a scheduled palliative or domiciliary care pathway.
Based on the reported results, the authors propose that low serum albumin measured at the time of final chemotherapy could serve as a simple, practical clinical trigger to reassess the advisability of continuing systemic anticancer therapy in patients with advanced or recurrent gastric cancer. Identifying albumin ≤2.9 g/dl — particularly when accompanied by elevated CRP — may prompt clinicians to initiate timely discussions about goals of care and to arrange transitions to a planned end-of-life care setting (palliative unit, institution, or home care with visiting nursing), potentially reducing emergency hospitalizations and sudden deterioration.
These findings highlight the potential value of routine, readily available laboratory tests as decision-support signals to coordinate treatment cessation and supportive care planning near the end of life in this population.
The abstract indicates this was a single-center retrospective study of 53 patients. Details on other limitations—such as selection criteria beyond the availability of complete records, adjustments for confounders, performance status, prior lines of therapy, or external validation—are not reported in the abstract and therefore are not available from the source text.