Profile of cancer patients treated at the emergency room of a tertiary cancer care centre in southern Brazil.

The number of cancer care visits in the emergency department for evaluation and treatment has been steadily increasing. Cancer patients represent a challenge for the emergency team because they may have acute symptoms of still undiagnosed malignancy, vague symptoms related to the disease or complications of cancer treatment, all of which can be either mild or potentially life-threatening. The Santo Antonio Hospital is a public institution located in the city of Blumenau (SC, southern Brazil), which serves as a reference centre for cancer care patients for a population of over a million and a half. The objective of this research was to describe the epidemiological profile of the oncologic population who were treated at the emergency department of this hospital, during a period of over six months, starting on April 1st , 2011 to October 31st of the same year. There were 1,051 oncologic visits during this period, with the age ranging from 19 to 89 years. The greater demand for care was sought by patients with urological, breast, upper and lower gastrointestinal tract and lung cancer. The three major complaints of the consultations were pain, respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms. The visits occurred mainly during daytime mostly on Mondays and Tuesdays. The improvement of primary care services and efficiency of oncology clinics in meeting the high demand for appointments is extremely important, in order to prevent unnecessary visits to the emergency department.