Pattern of Breast Cancer Referral to Palliative Care and the Complimentary Role of a Palliative Care Unit in A Resource-Limited Country

Abstract

Background: Poor quality of end of life care is an information problem. Information about palliative and end of life care is sparse from developing countries. Only 10 percent of the information in this field of care emanates from developing countries where about 85%
of annual deaths due to cancerous diseases occur. We present review of breast cancer patients referred to Palliative unit of our hospital between May 2009 and June 2013. This article demonstrates challenges to palliative care and the complementary role of the
palliative unit to palliative care in developing countries

Method: The records of the Palliative unit University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital were reviewed for information about the stage of the disease at referral, performance status of the patients, the support given by the palliative unit and outcome of care.
Result: One hundred and one patients were reviewed for breast cancer by the Palliative unit during the study period. Most of the referrals were from one of a general surgery units in the hospital. The number of referrals per year showed no sustained commitment to referral for palliation. The palliative unit provided counselling, home visitation and source of psychosocial and financial support. The median survival duration was 3 months. 59 percent of the recorded deaths were at home
Conclusion: This report demonstrated that even though the palliative unit filled a void in the management of breast cancer patients, palliative care is still not widely accepted.