Role of intensive care unit in a medical oncology department.

Over a 4-year period, 912 patients were admitted to the ICU of the medical oncology service at the Institut Jules Bordet: 574 (63%) were admitted for medical emergencies and 338 (37%) for intensive treatment and/or monitoring. In the first group, the main causes of admission were hypercalcemia, thromboembolic disease, cardiac arhythmias, encephalopathies and pneumopathies. Overall mortality during the ICU stay was 23% (133/574). In the second group, patients were admitted primarily in order to receive, under optimal surveillance, anticancer treatment, either because they were at high risk of complications or because the approach was mainly investigational; several investigations, in the fields of supportive care and anticancer treatment, were successfully conducted within the ICU environment.