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Introduction: Malignant fungating wounds (MFWs), non-healing wounds caused by aggressive proliferation of malignant tumors, afflict 5%–14.5% of patients with advanced cancer. We conducted an integrative review to evaluate the level of evidence of peer-reviewed literature published from 2000 to 2019 on symptoms of MFWs, and the impact of the symptoms on functional performance among patients with advanced cancer.

Methods: Four electronic databases were searched and 1506 articles were retrieved. A total of 1056 abstracts were screened for relevance and a full review of the 26 articles was performed. A total of 12 articles met inclusion criteria. An established quality assessment tool was used to rate the quality of the included studies.

Results: The overall quality of the included 12 studies was adequate. This integrative review of the literature provided strong evidence that patients with MFWs suffered …