Saturday, October 17, 2026 · Edition updated 6:00 AM ETSAT, OCT 17 · 6 AM ET editionNext edition in Next --:--:--

Testing a structured palliative care plan guided by patient questionnaires for adults

Recruiting · Augusto Caraceni

What this means

This is a planned trial that will compare a structured care plan with usual palliative care. It will test whether the plan helps symptoms, mood, and care satisfaction, but no results have been reported yet.

Plain-English summary written by an AI model from the registry listing.

Status
Recruiting
Who can join
Ages 18 and over
Where
1 site

Contacts and how to join ↗

The science

Registered title
MultidISciplinary Care paThway tailoRed on frAilty in Cancer Patients Referred to Outpatient paLliative Care
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
interventional
Conditions
Palliative Care, Palliative Care, Health Services, Patient Reported Outcome (PRO), Patient Reported Outcome Measurements, Frailty, Cancer, Outpatient
What is tested
Structured Palliative Care, Classical Palliative Care
Sponsor
Augusto Caraceni
Ages
18 Years to no maximum
Dates
First posted Mar 13, 2026 · updated Mar 13, 2026

Registry summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether a structured, Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs)-tailored palliative care pathway improves clinical outcomes and care experience in adults with advanced cancer referred to outpatient palliative care.

Patients with advanced cancer often experience multiple symptoms and complex needs. Standard outpatient palliative care is usually guided by clinical judgment on patient-reported questionnaires. In this study, researchers aim to test whether a more structured approach, based on predefined cut-offs from PROMs, can improve symptom control, satisfaction with care, and use of healthcare resources. The main questions the study aims to answer are:

Does a structured, PROM-driven palliative care pathway reduce symptom burden and psychological distress compared with usual care? And through this, to improve patients' and caregivers' satisfaction with care or reduce emergency room visits, hospital admissions, healthcare costs, and aggressive treatments near the end of life?

Researchers will compare two groups:

Control group: Participants will receive standard outpatient palliative care. PROMs are collected as usual, but without predefined cut-offs or structured intervention checklists.

Experimental group: Participants will receive a structured palliative care pathway tailored to symptoms/needs identified at baseline using PROM cut-offs. Specific multidisciplinary interventions are activated according to identified needs.

Sites (1)

  • IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Via Venezian n1, Milan, Lombardy, Italy
Report a problem