Infection in palliative care patients with cancer

Objective: to describe infection in in-patients at the Palliative Care Unit (PCU). Methods: a retrospective study of infection in-patients at the PCU in Hospital General de Ciudad Real during one year of follow-up (December 2008-November 2009). We collected age, sex, cancer, infection, and germ. Results: patients hospitalized for 1 year were 181. Thirty-six (20%) patients were diagnosed with infection using clinical, laboratory and radiology results. In this group, mean age was 70.27 years (40-86); 20 (55.5%) were men and 16 (44.4%) were women. Infection sites included the respiratory tract (44.4%), urinary tract (33.3%), skin (11.1%), and others (11.1%). Antibiotic treatment was used for 88.9% of cases. Antibiotics more commonly used included levofloxacin (31.3%) and amoxicillin-clavulanate (31.3%). Oral antibiotics were used by 34.4%, and parenteral ones by 65.6% of patients. Outcome was good for 58.3% of patients, who were discharged. Conclusions: in our study, antibiotic treatment was favorable for a vast majority of patients. In any case, the decision to use antibiotic treatment should be made on an individual basis.