Surgery for Cancer With Option of Palliative Care Expert (NCT03436290)
🩺 Plain-English Summary (8th-Grade Level)
Frequently people diagnosed with cancer experience physical and emotional symptoms during the course of their disease. These symptoms can be very distressing to both the patient and the family members. The study doctor wants to know if the introduction of a team of clinicians that specialize in the lessening of many of these distressing symptoms may improve your overall care. This team of clinicians is called the palliative care team and they focus on ways to improve your pain and other symptom management (i.e. shortness of breath, fatigue, anxiety, etc.) and to assist you and your family in coping with the emotional, social, and spiritual issues associated with your diagnosis. The team consists of physicians, advanced practice nurses, case managers, and nurses who have been specially trained in the care of patients facing serious illness. This research study is being done because although many people with cancer receive palliative care late in the course of their illness, the study team thinks palliative care may be more useful when it is started earlier and in this case before surgery. The main purpose of this study is to compare two types of care -usual surgery and cancer care and usual surgery and cancer care with comprehensive palliative care services to see which is better for improving the experience of patients and families with cancer.
Who can join: To join this study, participants generally need to meet the listed inclusion criteria (9 items) and avoid the listed exclusions (13 items).
Location: Vanderbilt University Medical Center — Nashville, Tennessee
📋 "Do I Qualify?" — 1-Minute Self Screener
Instant ChecklistCheck every box below. If you can check all of them, you may meet the study's basic screening requirements (final eligibility is confirmed by the site team).
Usually NOT eligible if any of the following apply:
- Exclusion Criteria:
- Non-English speaking patient
- Residence \>150 miles away from Vanderbilt and do not visit the Nashville area regularly
- No telephone or otherwise unwilling/unable to complete follow-ups
- Prisoner
- Current enrollment in a study that does not allow co-enrollment or that uses a non-pharmacologic, non-procedural intervention directed at surgical or cancer care.
- Deaf
- Severe prior cognitive or neurodegenerative disorder that prevents a patient from living independently at baseline
- Inability to obtain informed consent from patient meeting all inclusion criteria for the following reasons:
- Attending surgeon refusal
- Patient refusal
- Period of time between screening patient and time of operation does not allow preoperative outpatient palliative care visit.
🔍 Extracted verbatim from the official NIH eligibility criteria. Always confirm with the study coordinator.
📍 All Participating Trial Locations (1 Sites)
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center — Nashville, Tennessee
💰 Cost, Insurance & Patient Rights
- 100% Free Items: The investigational treatment and protocol-required procedures are supplied at zero cost by the sponsor.
- Routine Patient Care: Under federal law (ACA § 2709) and many state statutes, routine care costs are covered during participation.
- Voluntary Participation: You may withdraw at any time without affecting your standard medical care.