Can early palliative care with anticancer treatment improve overall survival and patient-related outcomes in advanced lung cancer patients? A review of the literature

摘要

Metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the leading cause of death from cancer worldwide, is a debilitating disease that results in a high burden of symptoms and poor quality of life; the estimated prognosis after the diagnosis has been established was less than 1 year until some years ago. At the present, the new targeted therapies and immunotherapy are changing the course of the disease. However, advanced NSCLC remains an incurable disease, with a poor prognosis for the majority of the affected patients, so that quality of life and relief from symptoms are primary objectives of treatment. Some evidences suggest that early palliative care (EPC) for these patients can improve quality of life and even survival.