Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Mar 20;38(9):905-914.
doi: 10.1200/JCO.19.00470. Epub 2020 Feb 5.

Palliative Care and the Management of Common Distressing Symptoms in Advanced Cancer: Pain, Breathlessness, Nausea and Vomiting, and Fatigue

Lesley A Henson  1 , Matthew Maddocks  1 , Catherine Evans  1 , Martin Davidson  2 , Stephanie Hicks  2 , Irene J Higginson  1
Affiliations
Review

Palliative Care and the Management of Common Distressing Symptoms in Advanced Cancer: Pain, Breathlessness, Nausea and Vomiting, and Fatigue

Lesley A Henson et al. J Clin Oncol. .

Abstract

Good symptom management in oncology is associated with improved patient and family quality of life, greater treatment compliance, and may even offer survival advantages. With population growth and aging, the proportion of patients with multiple symptoms-both related and unrelated to their cancer-is anticipated to increase, supporting calls for a more routine and integrated approach to symptom management. This article presents a summary of the literature for the use of symptom assessment tools and reviews the management of four common and distressing symptoms commonly experienced by people with advanced cancer: pain, breathlessness, nausea and vomiting, and fatigue. We also discuss the role of palliative care in supporting a holistic approach to symptom management throughout the cancer trajectory.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIG 1.
FIG 1.
Minimum-maximum symptom prevalence (%) for patients with cancer (n = total number of patients involved in the studies for each symptom). Adapted from systematic review findings of Solano et al.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. J Pain Symptom Manage. 1996;12:3–10. Vainio A, Auvinen A: Prevalence of symptoms among patients with advanced cancer: An international collaborative study. Symptom Prevalence Group. - PubMed
    1. Solano JP, Gomes B, Higginson IJ. A comparison of symptom prevalence in far advanced cancer, AIDS, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and renal disease. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2006;31:58–69. - PubMed
    1. Al Qadire M, Al Khalaileh M. Prevalence of symptoms and quality of life among Jordanian cancer patients. Clin Nurs Res. 2016;25:174–191. - PubMed
    1. Chiu TY, Hu WY, Chen CY. Prevalence and severity of symptoms in terminal cancer patients: A study in Taiwan. Support Care Cancer. 2000;8:311–313. - PubMed
    1. Grond S, Zech D, Diefenbach C, et al. Prevalence and pattern of symptoms in patients with cancer pain: A prospective evaluation of 1635 cancer patients referred to a pain clinic. J Pain Symptom Manage. 1994;9:372–382. - PubMed