title: Early integration of palliative and supportive care in the cancer continuum: challenges and opportunities.
abstract: Palliative care has become synonymously associated with hospice care in the minds of patients and physicians. Supportive care is a more acceptable term and leads to earlier referral. Miscommunication and a "collusion of hope" centered on cancer treatment is detrimental to care at the end of life and results in complicated bereavement. Patients, despite being told prognosis, may not comprehend the news even if delivered in an empathetic manner. There are resource and policy barriers to palliative care. However, integration of palliative care early in the management of advanced cancer has demonstrated multiple benefits without reducing survival.
authors.affiliation: From Cleveland Clinic Lerner School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, and Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, Harvard Medical School and Breast Oncology Center, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Mellar P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bruera
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Morganstern
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D013727:Terminal Care