Palliative Care in Patients with Advanced Heart Failure

Abstract

The heart failure (HF) guidelines recommend palliative care; however, it can often be difficult to determine the timing of palliative care referral. Because HF with fluid retention and low-cardiac output may trigger several unpleasant symptoms, continuous HF treatment is required to alleviate these symptoms in advanced HF. The patients with HF often suffer from total pain; therefore, the support from a multidisciplinary team plays a crucial role to improve quality of life of the patients and their families not only in the terminal phase but also from the early stage.

Keywords: Advance care planning; End-of-life; Hospice; Opioid; Palliative inotrope; Shared decision making.