LAUSR

CONTEXT Critically ill patients with brain metastases (BM) face significant uncertainty regarding prognosis and survival and can benefit from Palliative care (PC). However, research regarding the role of PC in this population is lacking. OBJECTIVES We sought to compare BM patients admitted to an ICU who received an inpatient PC consult (PC cohort) to those who did not (Usual Care, UC cohort). METHODOLOGY We performed a single-institution retrospective cohort analysis. Our outcome variables were mortality, time from ICU admission to death, disposition, and change in code status. We also evaluated PC's role in complex medical decision making, symptom management and hospice education. RESULTS PC consult was placed in 31/118 (28%) of patients. The overall mortality rates were not statistically different (78.8% vs 90.3%, p=0.15, UC vs. PC cohort). Patients in the PC cohort had a shorter time to death, higher rate of death within 30 days of admission, increased rate of discharge to hospice, and increase percentage of code status change to 'do not attempt resuscitation' during the admission. The primary services provided by PC were symptom management (n=21, 67.7%) and assistance in complex medical decision making (n=20, 64.5%). CONCLUSION In our patient cohort, PC is an underutilized service that can assist in complex medical decision making and symptom management of critically ill BM patients. Further prospective studies surveying patient, family and provider experiences could better inform the qualitative impact of PC in this unique patient population.