Palliative Care [Includes Cancer Painrelief, Nutritional Support et al in Advanced Cancers]

Palliative care is a multidisciplinary approach to specialized medical care for people with life-limiting illnesses. It focuses on providing people with relief from the symptoms, pain, physical stress, and mental stress of the terminal diagnosis.

Cancer pain occurs in many ways. Your pain may be dull, achy or sharp. It could be constant, intermittent, mild, moderate or severe.

A cancer specialist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, offers some insight into cancer pain, reasons why people might not get the pain treatment they need and what they can do about it.

Prescription medicines include: Opiate pain relievers, such as fentanyl, hydromorphone, methadone, morphine, oxycodone, and tramadol. Other medicines that may be used with opiate pain relievers. These medicines may be given to help your pain medicine work better or to treat your symptoms.

Most cancer pain is caused by the tumour pressing on bones, nerves or other organs in your body. Sometimes pain is related to your cancer treatment. For example, some chemotherapy drugs can cause numbness and tingling in your hands and feet or a burning sensation at the place where they are injected

Malnutrition in cancer patients results from multifactorial events and is associated with an alteration of quality of life and a reduced survival. A simple nutritional assessment program and early counselling by a dietitian are essential to guide nutritional support.. The provision of enteral or parenteral nutrients to treat or prevent malnutrition. Nutrition Support Therapy is part of Nutrition Therapy which is a component of medical treatment that can include oral, enteral, and parenteral nutrition to maintain or restore optimalnutrition status and health.