Telephone consultation in palliative care for cancer patients: 5 years of experience in The Netherlands. 
To analyze cancer patient-related consultations of a telephone helpdesk (TH) for palliative care over a period of 5 years in the region of Utrecht, The Netherlands.  A descriptive analysis was performed of consultations over a period of 5 years (2001-2006).  The discipline and location of requesting professionals, patient characteristics, reasons for calling, symptoms, palliative care problems and needs for support were registered.  A total of 1,794 consultations were analyzed.  There was an increasing number of consultations during the study period.  Of the patients, 51% were male and their median age was 65 years (range 0-104).  Eighty-four percent were treated at home by their general practitioner.  Two thirds of the patients had a life expectancy <4 weeks.  Most questions referred to pain (49%), delirium (20%), nausea and vomiting (16%) and dyspnea (12%).  The median number of symptoms was 1 (0-6).  Of the questions, 54% were related to pharmacological problems, 19% to psychological problems and 21% to the organization of care.  Of the requesting professionals, 17% asked for support for themselves.  Of the consultations, 14% were related to end-of-life issues: palliative sedation (11%) and euthanasia (3%).  After more than 5 years, the 24-h telephone consultation service fulfills a need for general practitioners dealing with daily dilemmas in palliative care treatment for cancer patients at home during the last period of their life.