- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- List of contributors
- Glossary
- Case 1 Squamous cell carcinoma of unknown head and neck primary site
- Case 2 Nasopharyngeal carcinoma
- Case 3 Small cell lung cancer during pregnancy
- Case 4 Breast metastasis from non-small cell lung cancer
- Case 5 Lung cancer in non-smokers
- Case 6 Single brain metastasis from breast cancer
- Case 7 Breast cancer at a nuclear power station
- Case 8 Oesophagus
- Case 9 Stomach
- Case 10 Neuroendocrine tumour
- Case 11 A patient presenting with painless jaundice
- Case 12 Colon cancer
- Case 13 Rectal cancer
- Case 14 Anal cancer
- Case 15 Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma in an adult
- Case 16 Prostate cancer
- Case 17 Testicular cancer
- Case 18 Cervical cancer
- Case 19 Ovarian cancer
- Case 20 Cancer in a renal transplant recipient
- Case 21 Melanoma
- Case 22 Merkel cell carcinoma
- Case 23 Soft tissue sarcoma
- Case 24 Bone sarcoma
- Case 25 Brain tumour
- Case 26 Hodgkin lymphoma
- Case 27 Solitary plasmacytoma
- Case 28 Clinical trial
- Case 29 A jejunal tumour
- Case 30 The role of specialist palliative care
- List of cases by diagnosis
- List of cases by principal clinical features at presentation (case numbers in italics)
- List of cases by aetiological mechanism (case numbers in italics)
- Index
(p. 275) The role of specialist palliative care
- Chapter:
- (p. 275) The role of specialist palliative care
- Author(s):
Nicola Holtom
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780199664535.003.0030
Specialist palliative care is defined as the active holistic care of patients with advanced life threatening disease. It includes supporting the patient as they cope with the loss of health and adjustment to the fact that they have life threatening disease. Symptom management should be provided within a holistic framework as symptoms are rarely purely physical or psychological. Intractable symptoms inevitably impact on the mood and emotional well-being of patients and their carers. An understanding of these interactions and provision of patient-centred holistic care is fundamental to specialist palliative care. Although the supportive and palliative care guidelines states that palliative care may be applicable early in the course of the illness together with disease specific treatments, it would not be standard practice for patients having radical treatment to be referred to specialist palliative care. This case highlights the importance of specialist palliative care input for patients who are being treated with curative intent but are struggling with inordinate symptom burden or psychological distress.
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- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- List of contributors
- Glossary
- Case 1 Squamous cell carcinoma of unknown head and neck primary site
- Case 2 Nasopharyngeal carcinoma
- Case 3 Small cell lung cancer during pregnancy
- Case 4 Breast metastasis from non-small cell lung cancer
- Case 5 Lung cancer in non-smokers
- Case 6 Single brain metastasis from breast cancer
- Case 7 Breast cancer at a nuclear power station
- Case 8 Oesophagus
- Case 9 Stomach
- Case 10 Neuroendocrine tumour
- Case 11 A patient presenting with painless jaundice
- Case 12 Colon cancer
- Case 13 Rectal cancer
- Case 14 Anal cancer
- Case 15 Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma in an adult
- Case 16 Prostate cancer
- Case 17 Testicular cancer
- Case 18 Cervical cancer
- Case 19 Ovarian cancer
- Case 20 Cancer in a renal transplant recipient
- Case 21 Melanoma
- Case 22 Merkel cell carcinoma
- Case 23 Soft tissue sarcoma
- Case 24 Bone sarcoma
- Case 25 Brain tumour
- Case 26 Hodgkin lymphoma
- Case 27 Solitary plasmacytoma
- Case 28 Clinical trial
- Case 29 A jejunal tumour
- Case 30 The role of specialist palliative care
- List of cases by diagnosis
- List of cases by principal clinical features at presentation (case numbers in italics)
- List of cases by aetiological mechanism (case numbers in italics)
- Index