Modern Medicine (Jun 2024)
The Palliative Care in Patients with Oncological Diseases - a New Medical and Therapeutic Approach
Abstract
The life expectancy increase in patients with cancer requires more attention to the quality of life and mental health status of this population. The aim of the current research is to change the perspective on the evolution of oncological disorders, regardless of their localization, stage, or complications, in terms of survival chances, by exploring the essential role of psychiatric medication on the core physical and mental health-related outcomes. This is a prospective, naturalistic study, that enrolled 284 oncological patients, distributed in three groups, diagnosed with lung cancer, metastatic lung cancer or other types of cancer, who received psychotropic medication for their mood symptoms, and changes in the primary outcomes (i.e., patients’ mood and pain, and quality of the mental status of the caregivers) were monitored for six months. The results reflected the efficacy of psychopharmacological intervention initiated early after the diagnosis of cancer was formulated, according to the scores on the Integrated Palliative Care Outcome Scale (IPOS). The severity of pain, the intensity of depression, and anxiety in family members decreased significantly during six months of the standard-of-care psychotropic medication administered for depressive disorders. In the long term, the objective is to change the oncological protocols to accommodate an early introduction of psychiatric medication in the evolution of oncological disease, even in the context of moderate physical symptoms with uncertain etiology, which causes a deterioration in overall functionality and quality of life. A new notion, created by the first author, is supported by this research, i.e., “long-term oncological survivorship care,” which will replace the former concept of palliative care, which refers to “end-of-life care,” or “comfort care,” in relation to the oncological context.
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