Disease-Specific Oncology - Disease-Specific Palliative Care

Cancer is a unique disease which requires special attention to the affected patients and families right from the time of diagnosis. These patients develop peculiar physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs that require a multidimensional approach to address them. It is therefore important for clinicians to have background knowledge of such special needs when caring for these patients. The presentation of palliative care cases can be disease specific, just like in many other medical cases. The disease trajectory, symptom profile, and the needs of cancer patients may be different from those of non-cancer cases. Even among cancer cases, there may be differences based on specific disease types and patient demographics such as age, gender, and ethnicity. It is also known that although there may be some differences in the physical symptoms, the psychological, social, and spiritual needs of these patients are invariably similar. The ultimate goal of palliative care is to deliver care that is patient specific rather than disease specific, and therefore personalized care is key to the delivery of a successful palliative intervention. The concept of prognostication is very important to both clinicians and patients and family members, but, regrettably, it is not well understood even among clinicians.