Yu X, Huo CL, Wang S. Palliative treatment and social support needs in patients with liver, gallbladder, and pancreatic tumors. World J Psychiatry 2025; 15(11): 108686 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i11.108686]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Shuai Wang, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Jingzhou Hospital Affiliated to Yangtze University, Chuyuan Avenue, Jingzhou District, Jingzhou 434020, Hubei Province, China. chenglonghuo123@126.com
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Psychiatry
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Retrospective Study
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This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Nov 19, 2025 (publication date) through Nov 3, 2025
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World Journal of Psychiatry
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2220-3206
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Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA
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Yu X, Huo CL, Wang S. Palliative treatment and social support needs in patients with liver, gallbladder, and pancreatic tumors. World J Psychiatry 2025; 15(11): 108686 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i11.108686]
World J Psychiatry. Nov 19, 2025; 15(11): 108686 Published online Nov 19, 2025. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i11.108686
Palliative treatment and social support needs in patients with liver, gallbladder, and pancreatic tumors
Xiao Yu, Cheng-Long Huo, Shuai Wang
Xiao Yu, Cheng-Long Huo, Shuai Wang, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Jingzhou Hospital Affiliated to Yangtze University, Jingzhou 434020, Hubei Province, China
Co-first authors: Xiao Yu and Cheng-Long Huo.
Author contributions: Yu X and Huo CL contribute equally to this study as co-first authors; Yu X and Huo CL designed the study, performed the primary literature review and data extraction, analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; Yu X and Wang L revised the manuscript for important intellectual content; all authors have read and approved the final version.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Science and Research Office of Jingzhou Hospital Affiliated to Yangtze University (No. 2025-118-01).
Informed consent statement: All study participants or their legal guardians provided written informed consent for personal and medical data collection before enrollment. All collected data were de-identified and analyzed anonymously, and the study protocol complied with the ethical standards of the Declaration of Helsinki.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Shuai Wang, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Jingzhou Hospital Affiliated to Yangtze University, Chuyuan Avenue, Jingzhou District, Jingzhou 434020, Hubei Province, China. chenglonghuo123@126.com
Received: June 17, 2025 Revised: July 22, 2025 Accepted: August 25, 2025 Published online: November 19, 2025 Processing time: 138 Days and 21.9 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Malignant hepatobiliary and pancreatic (HBP) tumors occur in organs such as the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas. Their primary characteristics include invasive growth, high cellular atypia, and high rates of recurrence and metastasis. HBP tumors pose a serious threat to human health
AIM
To explore palliative treatment and social support for depression and anxiety in patients with end-stage HBP cancers.
METHODS
We retrospectively analyzed 100 patients with end-stage HBP tumors who were admitted to our hospital between January 2021 and January 2024. The control group (n = 47) received routine treatment and intervention, whereas the observation group (n = 53) received palliative treatment and social support. Anxiety and depression levels, social support, quality of life, cancer-related fatigue, and 1-year survival were compared between groups.
RESULTS
There were no significant differences in pre-intervention anxiety, depression, social support, or cancer-related fatigue scores between the two groups (P > 0.05). The post-intervention anxiety and depression scores of the observation group were 30.53 ± 4.15 and 42.04 ± 3.86 points, respectively. Both scores were significantly lower than those in the control group (P < 0.05). The post-intervention social support score of the observation group was 79.04 ± 5.74, which was significantly higher than that of the control group (67.82 ± 5.69; P < 0.05). All dimensions of post-intervention quality of life of the observation group were significantly better than those of the control group (P < 0.05). The post-intervention cancer-related fatigue score of the observation group was 2.63 ± 1.15, which was significantly lower than that of the control group (6.28 ± 1.04; P < 0.05). The 1-year survival rate of the observation group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P < 0.05).
CONCLUSION
Palliative treatment can relieve pain in patients with medical professional capabilities, and social support can prevent social vulnerability through humanistic care.
Core Tip: This mixed-methods study pioneered the integration of palliative care with structured psychosocial support for patients with end-stage hepatobiliary and pancreatic (HBP) cancer, demonstrating synergistic efficacy in alleviating depression–anxiety comorbidity. By establishing a multidimensional symptom management protocol (targeting neuroendocrine dysregulation and inflammatory cascades) and an interdisciplinary social support network (addressing existential distress and familial burden), the intervention achieved significant survival benefits alongside enhanced quality of life, redefining holistic care paradigms for terminal HBP malignancies.
