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Palliative care: Difference between revisions
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(Created page with "<section begin="oncology" />'''Palliative care''' refers to an approach that attempts to improve the quality of life of patients and their close ones and to relieve their suffering. It's most frequently used in life-threatening diseases, most commonly cancer. Palliative care is a symptomatic approach, aiming to relieve symptoms; it does not involve disease-specific treatment. Treatment of pain, distress, anxiety, and nausea/vomiting are the cornerstones. Palliative...") |
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<section begin="oncology" />'''Palliative care''' refers to an approach that attempts to improve the quality of life of patients and their close ones and to relieve their suffering. It's most frequently used in life-threatening diseases, most commonly [[cancer]]. Palliative care is a symptomatic approach, aiming to relieve symptoms; it does not involve disease-specific treatment. Treatment of pain, distress, anxiety, and nausea/vomiting are the cornerstones. | <section begin="oncology" />'''Palliative care''' refers to an approach that attempts to improve the quality of life of patients and their close ones and to relieve their suffering. It's most frequently used in life-threatening diseases, most commonly [[cancer]]. Palliative care is a symptomatic approach, aiming to relieve symptoms; it does not involve disease-specific treatment. Treatment of pain, distress, anxiety, and nausea/vomiting are the cornerstones. | ||
Palliative care is often confused with end-of-life care. There's also the misconception that employing palliative care means that the patient is end-of-life, but this is not true. Also false is the commonly held idea that palliative care is not indicated as long as curative treatment or disease-specific treatment is administered. | Palliative care is often confused with end-of-life care. There's also the misconception that employing palliative care means that the patient is end-of-life, but this is not true. Also false is the commonly held idea that palliative care is not indicated as long as curative treatment or disease-specific treatment is administered. In reality, palliative care should be practiced at every step along the way in case of life-threatening disease or other disease with significant decreased quality of life. | ||
== Cancer pain == | == Cancer pain == | ||