---
name: oncology-assessment
description: Use when asked to administer, score, or explain an Oncology Assessment — cancer patient evaluation using ECOG Performance Status — grounded in FormExamples/form-examples.
---

# Oncology Assessment

Cancer patient evaluation using ECOG (Eastern Cooperative Oncology
Group) Performance Status, for treatment planning and prognosis.

## Scoring

**Instrument:** ECOG Performance Status. Range 0–5.

- **0** — fully active.
- **1** — restricted.
- **2** — ambulatory.
- **3** — limited self-care.
- **4** — completely disabled.
- **5** — dead.

## What it covers

Demographics; cancer diagnosis; treatment history; current treatment;
symptom assessment; side effects; laboratory results; current
medications; psychosocial status; and functional/nutritional status.

## Common pitfalls

- **Treating ECOG as a fixed, one-time rating** — performance status
  can change significantly over the course of treatment (both improving
  and declining); it should be reassessed at treatment decision points,
  not scored once at diagnosis and left static.
- **Using ECOG in isolation to decide treatment eligibility** — it's an
  important input to treatment-tolerance decisions, but not the only
  one; comorbidities, patient preference, and specific treatment
  toxicity profiles all factor in alongside it.
- **Skipping psychosocial assessment because the focus is oncological**
  — a cancer diagnosis has major psychosocial impact that materially
  affects treatment adherence and quality of life; it isn't a lower-
  priority afterthought.

## Learn more

- [FormExamples: oncology-assessment](https://github.com/FormExamples/form-examples/tree/main/forms/oncology-assessment) for the full implementation, clinical references, and worked examples.
- [[palliative-assessment]] for a related assessment relevant to advanced disease.