Difference in the Estimation of Prognosis

The goal of this research study is to identify the difference in the estimation of prognosis of advanced cancer patients between medical or gynecological oncologists, and palliative care physicians. Up to 140 patients will be enrolled in this study.

• Estimation of Prognosis Questionnaire (Behavioral), also known as Survey: Survey will examine two aspects of prognosis estimation: 1.) physician factors, 2.) prognosis estimation and contributing factors to patient prognosis. Survey will take approximately 5 minutes to complete.

Primary outcomes

• Estimation of Patient Overall Survival by Oncologists and by Palliative Care Physicians per Estimation of Prognosis Questionnaire [6 weeks]: The answer to the question #4, "How long do you think this patient will live?" in the questionnaire is the primary endpoint. Denoting the oncologist estimated OS time from the day of palliative care consult to death by TOnc, palliative care physician estimate by TPalliative, and the true OS time by T0, we define the accuracy of the estimation of OS by oncologists and by palliative care physician as ΔOnc = TOnc - T0 ΔPalliative = TPalliative - T0. And the difference between these two estimates is calculated as ΔOS = ΔOnc - ΔPalliative. Based on the above formulas, ΔOS is actually calculated as (TOnc- TPalliative). The true survival time, T0, is cancelled out by the subtraction.

Sex: All, ages: 18 Years to any, accepts healthy volunteers

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Medical oncologists or gynecological who referred patients to the palliative care team; Palliative Care physicians to whom the patients were referred; Patients with locally advanced, metastatic, or, not curable cancer.
2. 18 years old or older

Exclusion Criteria:

N/A

• Angelique N. Wong, MD, Principal investigator, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center