[Descriptive study of the care of oncologic patients at the emergency service of a general hospital]

Abstract

Clinical records of 352 patients seen in the Emergency Room of Hospital La Paz between January and April 89 and previously diagnosed of a malignancy were retrospectively reviewed. From the present study we concluded: 85.5% of them had not been seen by a physician before admission; most common tumors were lung, breast and gastrointestinal; anxiety and respiratory diseases were the most frequent diagnoses. This group of patients rarely need sophisticated complementary tests or therapy, but they spend more time at the hospital than other patients.