Intensive care in cancer patients in the age of immunotherapy and molecular therapies: SEOM-SEMICYUC’s commitment.

Abstract

Cancer patients comprise a vulnerable collective exposed to numerous, serious risks, beyond the cancer itself. In recent years, these individuals’ prognosis has improved substantially thanks to several advances, such as immunotherapy, targeted molecular therapies, surgical techniques, or developments in support treatment. This coincides with the prolonged survival of oncological patients hospitalized in the ICU for critical complications. Thus, the time has come to revisit intensive care support for these patients, which poses new professional as well as organizational challenges. An agreement was therefore signed in 2017 between SEOM and SEMICYUC with the aim of improving the quality of care of cancer patients with critical complications. It seeks to aid in decision-making, standardize criteria, decrease subjectivity, generate channels of communication, and delve deeper into the ethical and scientific aspects of these situations. This document sets forth the most important reasons that have led us to undertake this initiative.