Palliative care shows surprising benefit

New research published August 19, 2010, in the New England Journal of Medicine has shown that adding prompt palliative supportive care to standard treatment may not only improve mood and quality of life in cancer patients, but it may even extend survival. The study, which examined 151 metastatic non-small cell lung cancer patients, showed that those assigned to additional palliative care had a median survival of 11.6 months, compared to 8.9 months for those who received standard treatment alone. Palliative care helps the patient cope with symptom management, psychological and social effects and also serves as a spiritual aid. This type of comprehensive care helps the patients and their families handle the trauma of the illness, as well as helping them understand treatment options and cope with effects of their disease.