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ASCO Educational Book; 2009
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Update on the Integration of Palliative Care into Cancer Care

Jamie H. Von Roenn, MD, Florian Strasser, MD, ABHPM, and Charles F. von Gunten, MD, PhD, FACP, FAAHPM

From the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, the Feinberg School of Medicine and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL (Dr. Von Roenn); Oncological Palliative Medicine, Division of Oncology/Haematology and the Department of Internal Medicine and Palliative Care Centre, Cantonal Hospital, St. Gallen, Switzerland (Dr. Strasser); and Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, and the Center for Palliative Studies and Institute for Palliative Medicine, San Diego, CA (Dr. von Gunten)

Authors’ disclosures of potential conflicts of interest are found at the end of this article.

Address reprint requests to Jamie H. Von Roenn, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, The Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 676 North Saint Clair St, Suite 850, Chicago, IL 60611; e-mail: j-vonroenn{at}northwestern.edu

Overview: Oncologists can view the official recognition of the new subspecialty of palliative medicine and the introduction of interdisciplinary palliative care teams in hospitals and cancer programs as logical products of translational research on the relief of suffering associated with cancer and its treatment. Integration of palliative care into oncology in Europe has been fostered by the initiatives of oncology societies, such as the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the European Association for Palliative Care. ESMO has developed a policy of palliative care in oncology, a standing Palliative Care Working Group, an incentive program for cancer centers to integrate oncology and palliative care, educational initiatives, and palliative care grants. The American Society of Clinical Oncology has been a long-standing supporter of education in palliative care and recently has endorsed a set of recommendations to improve education and training in palliative cancer care. With the endorsement of these recommendations by the ASCO Board of Directors, it is hoped that education and training of palliative care oncologists will improve. Ideally, this will be followed by a commitment to future research and to the pathophysiology of symptoms, models for integration of oncology and palliative care, and the affect of palliative cancer care on outcomes for patients and their families.