Advanced Care Planning Prior to Oncologic Surgery: An Assessment of Utilization and Implications

Excerpt

Advanced care planning (ACP) empowers patients to actively engage in medical decision making and ensures that their care aligns with personal values, goals, and preferences.¹ For cancer patients, the trajectory of functional decline and the anticipated terminal phase associated with the disease make ACP critically important.² Despite its known benefits, the perioperative utilization and implications of ACP remain unknown in cancer patients. Additionally, the optimal timing for initiating ACP in this population remains controversial.³ We hypothesized that ACP, especially when initiated preoperatively, is associated with improved patient outcomes and reduced healthcare utilization among cancer patients. This study aimed to evaluate the utilization and implications of ACP in the perioperative period within an integrated cancer network. …