Palliative care provides comprehensive support for severely affected patients with any life-limiting or life-threatening diagnosis. To do this effectively, it requires a disease-specific approach as the patients' needs and clinical context will vary depending on the underlying diagnosis. Experts in the field of palliative care and oncology describe in detail the needs of patients with advanced cancer in comparison to those with non-cancer disease and also identify the requirements of patients with different cancer entities. Basic principles of symptom control are explained, with careful attention to therapy for pain associated with either the cancer or its treatment and to symptom-guided antineoplastic therapy. Complex therapeutic strategies for palliative cancer patients are highlighted that involve both cancer- and symptom-directed options and address a range of therapeutic aims. Issues relating to drug use in palliative cancer care are fully explored, and a separate section is devoted to care in the final phase. A range of organizational and policy issues are also discussed, and the book concludes by considering likely future developments in palliative care for cancer patients. Palliative Care in Oncology will be of particular interest to palliative care physicians who are interested in broadening the scope of their disease-specific knowledge, as well as to oncologists who wish to learn more about modern palliative care concepts relevant to their day-to-day work with cancer patients.

Die Palliativmedizin widmet sich schwerstkranken, nach heutigem Stand der Wissenschaft unheilbaren Krebspatienten. Das Buch gibt einen Uberblick uber die Entwicklung dieses wichtigen Wissenschaftsbereichs sowie der Palliativstationen in Deutschland wahrend des letzten Jahrzehnts. Besprochen werden die Moglichkeiten der Tumorschmerztherapie sowie Symptomkontrolle und Pflege bei Erwachsenen und Kindern. Die Bedeutung der engen Kooperation von Arzten, Pflegepersonal, psychosozialen Hilfsgruppen, Physiotherapeuten, Theologen und ehrenamtlichen Helfern/Angehorigen im Sinne einer ganzheitlichen Behandlung wird aufgezeigt und anhand eines entsprechenden Konzeptes dargestellt. Die Beitrage geben daruber hinaus wichtige Hinweise fur Kostentrager und fur im Gesundheitswesen tatige Politiker.