[Meaningfullness and duration of palliative chemotherapy with regard to the quality of life of palliative patients]

Abstract

I am reporting on a 74-year-old female patient with primary pulmonary and hepatic metastatic colon cancer. In the course of three-and-a-half years the patient decided to receive multiple cycles of palliative chemotherapy, irradiation of the liver and of the upper body. As a result of the extended anti-tumour therapy, remissions of the advanced cancer disease could be achieved repeatedly, which lead to a substantial increase of the patient's quality of life. This case shows that even in an advanced palliative situation the goal of a multimodal treatment is to curb disease progression and to extend the life and increase quality of life of the patient.