[Current status of palliative care in medical oncology].
A team approach is efficient in palliative care for cancer patients. People suffered from cancer have a right to receive high-quality palliative care earlier in cancer treatment. In Japan the National Act for Strategy against Cancer was enacted in 2007. Systematic educational programs supported by the Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare has been conducted for medical staffs, home care staffs, local pharmacists, care managers etc. at core institutes in each district. Pain control is still major target for cancer palliative medicine. Recently various types of opioids can be used routinely in daily clinical setting for Japanese cancer patients. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) may also effective in some patients but further study for proving scientific evidence in CAM should be warranted. Tailor-maid pain control will be established in the near future with molecular based pharmacogenomics.
Division of Medical Oncology, Teikyo University Hospital.
Tsubasa
T
Sasaki
Syuji
S
Ohta
Nobuhiko
N
Seki
Kenji
K
Eguchi
D000529:Complementary Therapies; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008495:Medical Oncology; D008503:Medical Staff / Q000193:education; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D010166:Palliative Care; D014944:World Health Organization