Clinical trials and socioeconomic implication in the treatment of bone metastasis: a report from the American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria Expert Panel on Radiation Oncology.

摘要

Palliative care is defined as treatment that relieves the symptoms of cancer. From the perspective of the patient, reducing the burden of symptoms of cancer is one of the most significant accomplishments that can be achieved by health care professionals. From the perspective of those who care for the patient, suffering compounds the physical and emotional stress of witnessing the process of death. From a socioeco-nomic perspective, death is the most expensive process in health care; medical care at the end of life consumes 12% of the total health care budget, and 27% of the total Medicare budget is spent in the last 30 days of life.The National Institutes of Health in 2004 estimated that the overall cost for cancer was dollar189.8 billion. This included dollar69.4 billion for direct medical costs, dollar16.9 billion resulting from lost productivity due to illness, and dollar103.5 billion caused by lost productivity due to death.