Characteristics and outcome of patients with solid tumour requiring admission to the intensive care unit. Usefulness of three severity score systems

Prognostic factors in oncological patients with solid tumours requiring intensive care unit admission

“…In the critical care setting, scoring systems for quantifying severity of illness and organ failure such as APACHE II or SOFA scores have proved to be valuable tools for identifying patients at high risk for hospital mortality. So, the decision to admit cancer patients to the ICU should be based on the severity of the acute illness, as some authors have indicated (2,6,12,13,19,22,23). In our study, we also found that SOFA score at ICU admission, which identifies organ dysfunction, is one of the main prognostic factors in critically ill patients with cancer.…”

“…Supplemental oxygen and treatment of the underlying disorder is the fundamental approach to ARF, but severe cases require ventilatory support. However, despite significant advances in ventilatory support and cancer management, numerous studies have found invasive mechanical ventilation for more than 24 h to be associated with high mortality rates (13,18,19,22,26). Mortality may be related to multiple factors including complications of ventilation such as ventilator-induced lung injury or ventilator-associated pneumonia.…”