Tiempo de duración de la situación de los últimos días de pacientes atendidos en el Instituto Oncológico Nacional SOLCA-Guayaquil. Noviembre 2020-octubre 2021.

Abstract

End of life (EOL) is defined as the period that precedes death when it occurs gradually and in which there is intense physical deterioration, extreme weakness, high frequency of cognitive and consciousness disorders, difficulty relationship and intake and prognosis of life of days or hours. OBJECTIVE: To determine the duration of the End of life period of patients treated at the National Cancer Institute SOLCA-Guayaquil. METHODOLOGY: Observational, descriptive, prospective and cross-sectional study. RESULTS: 146 patients were analyzed, predominantly female with 57.5%, aged between 41 to 64 years in 48.6%, 22.6% had gastric cancer, 74% of cases are metastatic. Palliative hospitalization was the most frequent place of death, 57.5% of patients did not receive antibiotics in EOL 69.2% did not require sedation, and 83.6% did not require nutrition. The duration of the situation in the last few days was an average of 8.09 days. Signs and symptoms prior to death were severely reduced oral intake with fewer bites in 59.5%, edema in 51.4%, dyspnea at rest in 54.1%, delirium in 17.8%, followed by absence of delirium in 82.2%. The palliative prognostic index > 6 was associated with fewer days of hospitalization due to patients dying. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, the duration of the situation in the last few days was one week.