Re-examining early in early palliative care: Precedent, reality, and future research priorities

Re-examining early in early palliative care: Precedent, reality, and future research priorities
JCO Oncology Practice; by Laura A. Petrillo, Julia L. Agne; 6/25
Nearly 700,000 people in the United States are living with metastatic solid tumor malignancies in 2025, a number that continues to grow because of advances in survival-extending therapy. Even with therapeutic advances, however, metastatic cancer continues to negatively affect patients' quality of life because of bothersome symptoms and psychological, social, and spiritual distress. Palliative care is specialized medical care focused on alleviating suffering for individuals with serious illness, including those with advanced cancer. On the basis of on substantial evidence demonstrating its efficacy in improving quality of life, ASCO and other organizations now recommend the early integration of palliative care with oncology care for all individuals living with advanced cancer. [Also see accompanying article: Early Integration of Outpatient Palliative Care Among Adults With Advanced Cancer in a Safety-Net Health System: A Patterns of Care Analysis; by Lisa DiMartino, Vincent Merrill, Celette Sugg Skinner, Timothy P. Hogan, Navid Sadeghi, Alva Roche-Green, Winnie Wang, Arthur S. Hong]