RT Book, Section A1 Badgwell, Brian A2 Morita, Shane Y. A2 Balch, Charles M. A2 Klimberg, V. Suzanne A2 Pawlik, Timothy M. A2 Posner, Mitchell C. A2 Tanabe, Kenneth K. SR Print(0) ID 1145765008 T1 Principles of Palliative Care for Patients with Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma T2 Textbook of Complex General Surgical Oncology YR 2018 FD 2018 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9780071793315 LK hemonc.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1145765008 RD 2024/10/06 AB Palliative care is an approach to care that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and assessment and treatment of pain and other problems—physical, psychosocial, and spiritual.1 As with many health care disciplines, there are both medical and surgical components to palliative care. Palliative medical care employs expertise on the assessment and management of problems including pain, cachexia, delirium, fatigue, dyspnea, and end-of-life issues. Although palliative care has long been demonstrated to improve symptom control and quality of life, recent evidence suggests it may also be associated with longer survival.2,3 Therefore, the American Society of Clinical Oncology has recently issued a statement suggesting that palliative care should be considered early in patients with metastatic disease and/or high symptom burden.4 Palliative surgery is defined as surgery for which the major intent is alleviation of symptoms and improving patient's quality of life.5