Symptom control in palliative medicine

Abstract

Palliative medicine has as its goal improving the quality of life of patients with incurable diseases and their family members. According to the WHO, alleviating pain and other physical symptoms, as well as addressing psycho-social and spiritual problems have the highest priority. The role of medicine and the physician is inseparably linked to psycho-social and nursing resources in a multi-disciplinary team. Advanced stages of cancer are particularly characterized by symptoms which can cause lasting impairment of normal life. In addition to pain, patients suffer from other, often extremely distressing physical symptoms such as constipation, nausea and vomiting, gastrointestinal obstruction and difficulty in breathing. The first priority is to determine the causes of the individual symptoms, since therapeutic decisions are based on the specific pathophysiological mechanisms. Effective symptom management presupposes exact knowledge of the pharmacokinetics. The often difficult decision between causal and symptomatic therapy options must - whenever possible - be made together with the patient and frequently in interdisciplinary medical consultation. Tumor pain therapy follows the guidelines of the World Health Organization. Crucial are long-term therapy and dose titration of the analgesics, stepped progression between the groups of medication, and specific therapy approaches for neuropathic pain components. The significance of constipation with its variety of possible complications is often underestimated in the context of the tumor patient. Effective prophylaxis and cause-based therapy do improve the nutritional care and can help to prevent the transition to an ileus. New findings concerning the role of neurotransmitters in triggering nausea and vomiting have opened up specific methods of attack. Dyspnoea therapy places high demands on the medical team, since nursing measures must effectively supplement the more limited medical possibilities.