Early Palliative Care for Patients with Advanced Cancer
A special issue of Journal of Clinical Medicine (ISSN 2077-0383). This special issue belongs to the section "Oncology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 August 2026 | Viewed by 6
Special Issue Editor
Interests: palliative care; supportive care; advanced cancer patients
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The WHO defines palliative care as a holistic approach to the care of patients and their families facing serious illness, to manage the physical, psychosocial, and spiritual burden of the disease. There is strong evidence that introducing this care early in the cancer trajectory, and in complement to disease-modifying treatment, improves the quality of life for patients and their caregivers by preventing and relieving physical, mental, and emotional suffering.
Oncologists are often among the most responsible providers (MRPs) for people living with incurable cancer and appropriately positioned to initiate discussions regarding a palliative approach to care. While great strides have been made towards increasing access to palliative care and normalizing this approach, for many cancer patients, this care is still not realized until the end of life. Shifting the introduction of a palliative approach upstream requires interventions to promote cancer care provider education, patient activation and illness understanding, and systems that support the early integration of this care.
This Special Issue will feature reviews and original studies of initiatives to facilitate an early palliative approach to care in oncology, that includes identification, management, and optimal treatments that allow patients with incurable cancer and their families to live better during this stage in their illness.
Dr. Daryl Bainbridge
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- palliative care
- early integration
- cancer care transitions
- communication
- symptom management
- end of life
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