Palliative Care in Oncology

Palliative care provides comprehensive support for severely affected patients with any life-limiting or life-threatening diagnosis. To do this effectively, it requires a disease-specific approach as the patients' needs and clinical context will vary depending on the underlying diagnosis. Experts in the field of palliative care and oncology describe in detail the needs of patients with advanced cancer in comparison to those with non-cancer disease and also identify the requirements of patients with different cancer entities. Basic principles of symptom control are explained, with careful attention to therapy for pain associated with either the cancer or its treatment and to symptom-guided antineoplastic therapy. Complex therapeutic strategies for palliative cancer patients are highlighted that involve both cancer- and symptom-directed options and address a range of therapeutic aims. Issues relating to drug use in palliative cancer care are fully explored, and a separate section is devoted to care in the final phase. A range of organizational and policy issues are also discussed, and the book concludes by considering likely future developments in palliative care for cancer patients. Palliative Care in Oncology will be of particular interest to palliative care physicians who are interested in broadening the scope of their disease-specific knowledge, as well as to oncologists who wish to learn more about modern palliative care concepts relevant to their day-to-day work with cancer patients.

Inhalt
Oncology and Palliative Care Disease Specific Perspectives: Disease specific oncology disease specific palliative care.- Oncological and palliative care for patients with lung cancer or with breast cancer two opposite sides of the spectrum.- Patients with haematological malignancies Symptom Control: Definition, pathophysiology and assessment of pain.- Therapy of cancer related pain and of cancer therapy related pain.- Analgesic effects of anticancer therapies.- Symptom management: the nursing view. The Final Phase: Liverpool Care Pathway of the Dying (LCP): why it supports the care of cancer patients.- The final phase. Pharmacological Aspects: Drug interactions in palliative cancer care and oncology.- Drugs used in palliative care that can modify cancer growth.- Options and problems of drug application in patients with advanced cancer.- Policy and Structures: Outpatient and inpatient structures: what does it need to implement palliative care services.-"Early Integration": when best to involve palliative care services.- Psycho-Oncology and Palliative Care: two concepts that fit into comprehensive cancer care.- Emergencies in oncology and crises in palliative care.- Cancer therapy in developing countries: what is the role of palliative care?- The future of palliative care in oncology.