Palliative care improves the quality of life of patients and families who face life-threatening

illness, by providing pain and symptom relief, spiritual and psychosocial support to from
diagnosis to the end of life and bereavement.
Palliative care

provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms;

affirms life and regards dying as a normal process;

intends neither to hasten or postpone death;

integrates the psychological and spiritual aspects of patient care;

offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death;

offers a support system to help the family cope during the patients illness and in their
own bereavement;

uses a team approach to address the needs of patients and their families, including
bereavement counselling, if indicated;

will enhance quality of life, and may also positively influence the course of illness;

is applicable early in the course of illness, in conjunction with other therapies that are
intended to prolong life, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy, and includes
those investigations needed to better understand and manage distressing clinical
complications.

In most of the world, the majority of cancer patients are in advances stages of cancer when
first seen by a medical professional. For them, the only realistic treatment option is pain relief
and palliative care. Effective approaches to palliative care are available to improve the quality
of life for cancer patients.