Supportive treatment
Supportive care can be chosen early to relieve symptoms, alleviate treatment-induced side effects, and prevent psychological, social, and spiritual problems associated with cancer or treatment.
During the active treatment of cancer, supportive therapy helps patients stay healthy and comfortable, such as correcting anemia, improving nutrition, and adjusting psychologically, and can better tolerate treatment.
In the final stages of cancer, when the goal is no longer a cure, supportive therapy can be used primarily to alleviate treatment side effects and improve the patient’s quality of life.
Palliative care
For patients with incurable advanced lung cancer, when anticancer therapy is no longer beneficial, palliative care is the main goal to relieve symptoms, relieve pain, and improve quality of life.
For patients with severe and life-threatening disease, palliative care can relieve pain and other symptoms. Palliative care is available in some hospitals, outpatient centers, and can be done at home.
Palliative care helps improve the quality of life for patients with end-stage disease, prevents and relieves suffering, and improves the quality of life at home when patients feel more comfortable.
Palliative care relieves symptoms such as pain and helps patients and families address emotional, social and spiritual concerns. Palliative care given by a physician at the end of a patient’s life focuses on relieving all discomfort and pain during this period and will give the patient or family the medical care they desire.
Hospice care
When treatment no longer works, there is also the option of hospice care, which provides essential care and attention to patients nearing the end of life and who have stopped treatment, focusing on the quality rather than the length of life.
Hospice providers provide physical, emotional and spiritual support for patients with a life expectancy of no more than six months, helping patients to enjoy each day to the fullest, providing comfort and relief from symptoms.
Treatment may include supportive and palliative care to manage pain and other symptoms and keep the patient as awake and comfortable as possible, in addition to hospice attention to the emotional, social and spiritual needs of the patient and family.
A good start
During hospice care, patients can enjoy family time with friends and relatives, as well as in hospices, hospitals and nursing homes.
Hospice providers include doctors, nurses, counselors, social workers, nutritionists and volunteers who are specially trained to understand how to provide the most appropriate care and attention in all aspects.
If you want hospice services, you can consult with your doctor.
At present, hospice care in China is still far from meeting the needs of patients, mainly due to the lack of professional organizations and personnel, the weakness of social intervention, and the lack of awareness of hospice care in addition to the low government investment.
It is gratifying to see that in recent years people are gradually accepting the concept of hospice care, which is a good start.
Co-reviewed by: Dr. Kai Yin, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital and Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute.