The Current Status of Palliative Care and Radiotherapy

This chapter defines palliative care, enumerates the benefits and risks of such care, discusses the standards for palliative treatment, and suggests ways in which palliative care can fit into a typical radiation oncology practice. It focuses primarily on the role that palliative care can play in the care of patients with cancer. It presents a few case vignettes illustrating the diverse types of cancer patients who might be able to benefit from palliative care interventions. The chapter shows National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and many professional organizations, including American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO), published detailed guidelines for pain and symptom management in cancer patients. Further, it provides examples of commonly encountered clinical situations where radiation therapy (RT) can provide symptom palliation and suggests techniques for improving the therapeutic ratio of RT.