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How Effective Is Palliative Care in Improving Patient Outcomes?

  • Palliative and Supportive Care (MP Davis, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Treatment Options in Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Opinion statement

As palliative care (PC) continues its rapid growth, an emerging body of evidence is demonstrating that its approach of interdisciplinary supportive care benefits many patient populations, including in the oncology setting. As studies and data proliferate, however, questions persist about who, what, why, when, and how PC as well as the ideal time for a PC consult and length of involvement. When comparing outcomes from chemotherapy trials, it is important to consider the dosing regimens used in the various studies. In the same way, it is important to account for the “dose” of the PC interventions utilized across studies, and apples to apples comparisons are needed in order to draw accurate conclusions about PC’s benefits. Studies which include a true interdisciplinary PC intervention consistently show improvements in patient quality of life, as well as cost savings, with further study needed for other outcomes. These benefits cannot be extrapolated to care which may be labeled “palliative care,” but which does not meet the standard of true interdisciplinary PC. The ultimate question is: Does PC indeed improve outcomes?

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Charles DJ Case for his assistance in editing this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics State University at Buffalo, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Sarah Milazzo MD

  2. Department of Supportive and Palliative Care, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Eric Hansen MD, Desi Carozza MD & Amy A. Case MD, FAAHPM

  3. Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, State University at Buffalo, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Eric Hansen MD, Desi Carozza MD & Amy A. Case MD, FAAHPM

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  1. Sarah Milazzo MD
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  4. Amy A. Case MD, FAAHPM
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amy A. Case MD, FAAHPM.

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Sarah Milazzo, Eric Hansen, Desi Carozza, and Amy A. Case declare they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Milazzo, S., Hansen, E., Carozza, D. et al. How Effective Is Palliative Care in Improving Patient Outcomes?. Curr. Treat. Options in Oncol. 21, 12 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11864-020-0702-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11864-020-0702-x

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