Bank of Cyprus Oncology Centre, Nicosia, Cyprus.
EORTC Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium.
BMC Palliat Care. 2014 Dec 16;13(1):59. doi: 10.1186/1472-684X-13-59. eCollection 2014.
To examine availability of Palliative Care (PC) services and referral patterns of European Lung cancer specialists to PC.
All members of the EORTC Lung Cancer Group (LCG) were asked via email to participate in an on-line survey.
50 out of 170 (29.4%) replied: 24 medical oncologists, 14 radiation/clinical oncologists, 11 pulmonologists and 1 thoracic surgeon. All but two of respondents (96%) had access to at least one component of PC services. In terms of referral of patients to PC almost 75% of respondents would refer most of their patients when there were no treatment options or at the end of life, while only 22% would refer patients at earlier stages of disease. Barriers for referral to PC were negative attitudes of patients to PC (26%), lack of availability of PC services (20%), lack of expertise of PC physicians(18%), the belief that referral to PC signifies abandoning patients (8%), and that PC specialists discourage active oncological therapy (8%). Whilst most of the respondents expressed positive attitudes, 12-22% had overtly negative attitudes towards PC. Seventy-eight (78%) of respondents expressed an interest to participate in a trial of early PC (EPC).
Despite good availability of SPC services at institutions of members of the EORTC LCG, and most respondents expressing positive attitudes towards PC, their practice involved referral of patients to PC late in the disease trajectory, hence Lung Cancer specialists in Europe have not adopted the practice of EPC concurrent with active oncological care.
考察欧洲肺癌专家对姑息治疗（PC）服务的可及性和转诊模式。
通过电子邮件向所有欧洲癌症研究与治疗组织（EORTC）肺癌组（LCG）成员发出参与在线调查的邀请。
170 名成员中有 50 名（29.4%）做出了回应：24 名肿瘤内科医生、14 名放射/临床肿瘤医生、11 名肺病学家和 1 名胸外科医生。除了两名受访者（96%）之外，所有受访者都至少可以获得 PC 服务的一个组成部分。在向 PC 转诊患者方面，近 75%的受访者会在没有治疗选择或生命末期时将大多数患者转诊至 PC，而只有 22%的受访者会在疾病早期阶段将患者转诊至 PC。向 PC 转诊的障碍包括患者对 PC 的负面态度（26%）、PC 服务不可用（20%）、PC 医生缺乏专业知识（18%）、转诊至 PC 意味着放弃患者的信念（8%）以及 PC 专家劝阻积极的肿瘤治疗（8%）。尽管大多数受访者对 PC 持积极态度，但 12-22%的受访者对 PC 持明显的负面态度。78%的受访者表示有兴趣参与早期 PC（EPC）试验。
尽管 EORTC LCG 成员机构的 SPC 服务可用性良好，且大多数受访者对 PC 持积极态度，但他们的实践涉及在疾病轨迹的晚期将患者转诊至 PC，因此欧洲的肺癌专家尚未采用与积极肿瘤治疗同时进行的 EPC 实践。
