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Palliative care in onco-hematology: a perspective

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Abstract

Palliative care (PC) is focused on individualized symptomatic control, psychological help, and support in the context of severe disease. Oncologic patients are still the most referred to PC and hematologic patients are only 7%. This is a commentary about PC applied to hematologic patients. There is evidence supporting that these patients behave as a special group in PC when compared with other tumors: there is a smaller number of referrals, with more advanced disease status, more symptomatology expressed, and less time between the last treatment date and the referral date or death. This article also expresses the experience of an oncologic palliative care unit. More health education programs in PC are needed for specialized professionals in hematology, as well as a change of nowadays health politics, in order to increase the participation of this specialized care in hematology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Onco-hematology Service, Instituto Português de Oncologia do Porto Francisco Gentil E.P.E., Porto, Portugal

    Maria Eduarda Couto

  2. Palliative Care Service, Instituto Português de Oncologia do Porto Francisco Gentil E.P.E., Porto, Portugal

    José Ferraz-Gonçalves

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  1. Maria Eduarda Couto
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  2. José Ferraz-Gonçalves
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Correspondence to Maria Eduarda Couto.

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This is a commentary about the particularities of treating onco-hematologic patients in palliative care.

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Couto, M.E., Ferraz-Gonçalves, J. Palliative care in onco-hematology: a perspective. Support Care Cancer 29, 2251–2253 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05895-y

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