Challenges with the Emergency Departments Use among Cancer Patients; a Mini Review

Abstract

According to the studies the rate of emergency departments use among cancer patients exceed among those of the general population; however there are differences in study populations by cancer type, initial treatments, socioeconomic status, disease stages, and health insurance status and so on. Patients' symptoms and severity of complications are varied as well. The emergency departments are actively involved in different stages of cancer management such as primary diagnosis, ongoing treatments and end-of-life period. Cancer patients in their end of life period usually have more serious complications and need more specialized cares, as well as those received chemotherapy and surgical treatments. Understanding the reasons of such visits could be useful in the development of dedicated interventions for preventing un-necessary emergency department visits by cancer patients which is discussed in this mini review.

Keywords

• Cancer emergency
• Emergency Department
• Acute cancer representations
• Emergency cancer management
• End-of-life care