Correlation between overall survival and the period without hospitalization or outpatient consultation in incurable cancer patients treated with palliative chemotherapy: an analysis of gastric and pancreatic cancer

We retrospectively evaluated gastric or pancreatic cancer patients with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0~2 (incurable) who were introduced to the Miyagi Cancer Center (Natori, Japan) between May 1, 2014 and December 31, 2018 and died until December 31, 2019. We collected data on sex, age, the spread of disease, the place of death, and OS. The LOH, and OCT were combined for the entire duration of the clinical course and HFS was obtained by subtracting the LOH and OCT from OS. We analyzed the relation between OS, the LOH, OCT and HFS.