When a loved one is unfortunately diagnosed with advanced cancer, patients and their families are in great pain, whether to try every possible way to save the patient’s life by trying various anti-tumor treatments at all costs, or to face the reality and choose “palliative care” to improve the quality of life so that their loved ones can spend their limited but precious life as peacefully and happily as possible. As a matter of fact, a large number of advanced cancer patients in China are forced to receive “over-treatment”, either intentionally or with good intentions, which exceeds the treatment needs of the disease, and sometimes the “over-treatment” aggravates the disease and causes treatment-related complications. In the end, they still finish their last journey in pain. What is palliative care? Palliative care, also known as palliative care, refers to the active and comprehensive medical care for patients with advanced cancer; controlling pain and related symptoms, and paying attention to psychological, social and spiritual problems. Its aim is to gain the best quality of life for the patient and family. Palliative cancer care is against abandonment of treatment; against overtreatment; against euthanasia; and against any disrespect for life. It improves the quality of survival of advanced cancer patients; helps cancer patients to face difficulties with a calmer mind and stronger perseverance; relieves patients’ pain and prolongs their lives. Misconceptions of over-treatment of advanced cancer Some family members feel that if advanced cancer patients are not given surgical treatment, it is against human nature, filial piety and face, and even if the dying patients are allowed to lie on the operating table, it can make them feel relieved inside and think they have done their best. Since life is priceless, it seems to be the rule in clinical practice to “try to save at all costs”. Even near the end of life, patients may still be undergoing chemotherapy, or invasive surgery or radiation therapy. The harm of over-treatment to advanced cancer patients is obvious, for example, some advanced cancer patients, who have metastasized and spread in many places, cannot undergo radical surgery, and if there are no life-threatening comorbidities, surgery is harmful; some patients have repeated chemotherapy, resulting in low white blood cells, decreased immunity and weakness, at this time chemotherapy will only increase pain and accelerate death; some cancer patients have excessive radiotherapy caused by The sequelae of radiotherapy are often more difficult to treat and painful than the tumor itself. In addition, the molecular targeted drugs introduced in recent years have brought new hope for some advanced cancer patients to prolong their lives with relatively mild adverse effects. However, these new drugs are expensive, and the huge drug costs significantly increase the economic burden of patients’ families and society. Many patients with advanced cancer have ended up with “no money and no life”. Life is priceless, but medical treatment is limited, and medical resources are even more limited. It is true that we should try to cure cancer patients in order to obtain the most survival time. However, if the current treatment cannot achieve a cure, or if the patient’s physical condition does not allow it, or if it is certain that anti-cancer treatment will do more harm than good, then we should be aware of the “times” and retreat to the next level, with the main goal of improving the patient’s quality of life. Palliative care for advanced cancer “palliative care” for cancer patients used to be considered as giving up treatment and has been in a marginal supporting role, but nowadays “palliative care” medicine has become a specialized discipline and is rapidly becoming the main character in comprehensive cancer treatment. Nowadays, “palliative care” medicine has become a specialized discipline and is rapidly becoming the main role in comprehensive cancer treatment, providing symptom relief and pain relief for cancer patients at all stages of the disease. Palliative care has become an important part of the comprehensive cancer treatment model, forming a national professional academic committee and standardized treatment guidelines. To advocate palliative care for advanced cancer patients and avoid overtreatment, we must first change our concept and establish the view of living with tumor and living in peace. Since advanced cancer is not curable at present, the goal of treatment is: to relieve patients’ pain, improve the quality of survival and prolong their lives. When the cancer progresses and can no longer receive conventional radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery, a palliative treatment plan should be formulated under the guidance of professional oncologists by assessing the patient’s overall symptoms, such as the degree and nature of cancer pain, whether it is accompanied by anxiety and depression and other symptoms. Despite the advanced stage of the disease, patients can still enjoy life without significant pain. The palliative treatment plan of tumor includes: pain management for advanced cancer; palliative surgery to reduce or prevent various late complications; palliative radiotherapy to relieve pain and spinal cord compression; implementation of various interventional palliative measures; doctor-patient communication and psychotherapy during palliative treatment; supportive treatment and care for end-stage patients, etc. In addition, it also includes TCM palliative care, which has its unique advantages in alleviating patients’ pain and improving the quality of survival. Of course, before implementing palliative care, the patient’s family should be fully explained to gain understanding and avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. In addition, palliative care can also achieve good results, and certain cancer patients can survive with tumor for quite a long time after palliative care. When the existing anti-cancer treatment has little effect and the side effects or sequelae are large, or the disease is developing very slowly, we can consider suspending the special treatment and giving clinical observation or palliative treatment instead. For some cancer patients with no hope of cure, palliative care may be the only right choice.