# Prognostic evaluation in advanced cancer

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/prognostic-evaluation-advanced-cancer/  
OnCo record `prognostic-evaluation-advanced-cancer` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

When cancer is advanced, doctors sometimes estimate how much time may be left so that people can plan care and what matters to them. Any estimate is about groups of people, is uncertain for one person, and you can choose whether and how you hear it.

## Summary

ESMO's 2023 clinical practice guideline on prognostic evaluation in patients with advanced cancer in the last months of life (Stone and colleagues, ESMO Open) gives recommendations for patients with an expected survival of months or less. It notes that prognostication in practice often relies on subjective clinician predictions of survival, and reviews multivariable tools including the Palliative Prognostic Score (PaP), which stratifies patients into three groups by 30-day survival probability, its delirium-modified version, and the Palliative Prognostic Index, which combines performance status, oral intake, oedema, breathlessness and delirium. The guideline states that clinicians need to understand the characteristics and limitations of these tools for appropriate use.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-11-04
- Also known as: prognostication in advanced cancer; Palliative Prognostic Score; Palliative Prognostic Index; PaP; PPI
- Tags: supportive

## Sources

- Stone et al., prognostic evaluation in the last months of life: ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline (ESMO Open 2023): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esmoop.2023.101195

## Connected records

- technologies: [Early integrated palliative care](https://onco.cc/technologies/palliative-care/)
- terms: [Advance care planning](https://onco.cc/terms/advance-care-planning/)

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