Palliative Care for Patients With Breast Cancer in a Palliative Care Unit of a Japanese Hospital

Background This study describes the end-of-life care management in palliative care units (PCUs) for patients with breast cancer in Japan. Methods The medical data of patients admitted to the palliative care unit of Kashiwara Municipal Hospital between October 2017 and December 2023 were analyzed. A chi-square test was conducted to analyze the data using the Excel software (Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA). Results The most common clinical condition among the 32 patients with breast cancer in our palliative care unit was pleural effusion (17/32, 53.1%), followed by obstructive jaundice (6/32, 18.8%), disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) (4/32, 12.5%), and hypercalcemia (1/32, 3.1%). Most patients had no indications for pleural effusion removal, biliary drainage, or anticoagulation therapy. Palliative sedation was performed in 25% of the patients with breast cancer, mainly to relieve intolerable general fatigue. There were no statistically significant differences in the sedation ratios between breast cancer and cancers at other primary sites. Conclusion Palliative treatments using appropriate infusion, narcotics, oxygen administration, various drugs, and sedation were administered in our palliative care unit to relieve symptoms instead of radical treatments for severe clinical conditions of breast cancer.