Oncological Emergencies from Pathophysiology and Diagnosis to Treatment: A Narrative Review

ABSTRACT

Oncological emergencies are defined as any acute possible morbid or life-threatening events in patients with cancer either because of the malignancy or because of their treatment. These events may occur at any time during malignancy, from symptoms present to end-stage disease. The aim of this study is the review of urgent conditions results from cancer or cancer treatment side effects that need to be addressed immediately. In this study, a comprehensive and in-depth narrative review was carried out by searching the databases of PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Google Scholar with the keywords of “cancer, emergency, metabolic emergency, neutropenic fever” along with the words, “tumor lysis syndrome, chemotherapeutic emergency, diagnosis, treatment “ in last two decades. Patients suffering from cancer mostly face the challenges that we are classified in different categories, including metabolic, hematologic, cardiovascular, neurologic, respiratory, infectious, and chemotherapeutic emergencies. These patients mostly complain of headaches, nausea, pain, and fever. In conclusion, knowledge of oncology emergencies and palliative care as part of a team approach is critical for treating cancer patients. In this light, it is pivotal for physicians to focus on the early detection of oncological emergencies. Moreover, training programs for cancer patients help them to timely recognize and report the oncologic emergency symptoms, leading to avoid deleterious consequences and unnecessary healthcare costs as well as improve the quality of life in these patients.

KEYWORDS:

• Oncology
• emergency
• tumor lysis syndrome
• diagnosis
• treatment

Acknowledgments

This study is related to the project NO 1397/68924 From Student Research Committee, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. We also appreciate the “Student Research Committee” and “Research & Technology Chancellor” in Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences for their financial support of this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Authors’ contributions

AJ designed the study and writing manuscript. MRT supervised the study. MRT and MS revision of the manuscript. AJ, MS, RT and ZJ edited the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript

Authors orcids

Ameneh Jafari: 0000-0002-8165-5978

Mostafa Rezaei Tavirani: 0000-0003-1767-7475