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Patients with cancer on the ICU: the times they are changing

Evert de Jonge1* and Monique M Bos2

Author Affiliations

1 Department of Intensive Care, Academic Medical Center, 1100 DD Amsterdam, the Netherlands

2 Department of Internal Medicine and Oncology, Reinier de Graaf Hospital, Reinier de Graafweg 3, 2625 AD Delft, the Netherlands

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Critical Care 2009, 13:122 doi:10.1186/cc7721

Published: 2 March 2009

Abstract

A recent paper by Taccone and coworkers showed that 15% of patients from 198 European intensive care units (ICUs) had a malignancy, mostly solid tumors but also hematological malignancies. Over the past years, the prognosis of cancer patients has improved significantly, even when ICU admission is necessary. Refusal of ICU admission should not be based on a diagnosis of cancer as the underlying condition. In contrast, these decisions should be based on the availability of treatment options, and on patients' own preferences.