Increasing use of advanced radiation therapy technologies in the last 30 days of life among patients dying as a result of cancer in the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

We sought to analyze trends in radiation therapy (RT) technology use and costs in the last 30 days of life for patients dying as a result of cancer.

Methods

We used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) -Medicare and Texas Cancer Registry-Medicare databases to analyze claims data for 13,488 patients dying as a result of lung, breast, prostate, colorectal, melanoma, and pancreas cancers from 2000 to 2009. Logistic regression modeling was used to conduct adjusted analyses regarding influence of demographic, clinical, and health services variables on receipt of types of RT. Costs were calculated in 2009 US dollars.

Results

The proportion of patients treated with two-dimensional RT decreased from 74.9% of those receiving RT in the last 30 days of

SUBMITTER: Guadagnolo BA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4094648 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature