Does More Systemic Treatment for Advanced Cancer Improve Survival?

A study published in JAMA Oncology found that patients with metastatic or advanced cancer who received systemic care in the last two weeks of life did not have longer survival rates compared to those who received low rates of such care. The study, which used data from the Flatiron Health electronic health records database, included 78,446 adults with advanced or metastatic cancer. The findings suggest that oncologists should focus more on honest communication with patients about their choices rather than providing systemic anticancer therapy at advanced stages of cancer. The study also challenges the widely adopted cancer quality metric that focuses on systemic treatment within 14 days of death. [Extracted from the article]