Palliative care applied together with oncology treatment in patients with advanced tumors

06/2017

MUDr. Marek Sochor, MUDr. Jiří Bartoš

Komplexní onkologické centrum, KN Liberec a.s.

SUMMARY

Patients with advanced cancer, with limited prognosis, are the most demanding group of oncological patients. In that patients anticancer therapy isn't applied with curative intent, it is oriented to prolong life and to make better quality of life. Patients suffer from many physical symptoms, are suspended to psychic distress and have almost complicated social situation. These all factors worsen quality of life, complicate anticancer treatment and shorten life. In the last ten years grows knowledge about significance of early application of multimodality palliative care initiated in time of diagnosis of cancer and realized parallel to anticancer treatment. This concept was confirmed in many randomized trials. In a next future of scientific investigation and real clinical practice we have to figure out who will provide palliative care, which modalities are the most effective and which models of care between palliative care specialists and oncologist are the most suitable for patients. Review article documents our current knowledge about early palliative care in oncology.

KEY WORDS

palliative care, early palliative care, oncology, symptoms, quality of life