In recognition of Cancer Awareness Month, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) in collaboration with the American Cancer Society has released the Advanced Cancer and Palliative Care Treatment Guidelines for Patients, the latest in a groundbreaking series for individuals and their caregivers.
The Advanced Cancer and Palliative Care Treatment Guidelines help patients and physicians understand and respond to the range of medical, psychological, and social issues they may be facing. UNMC and The Nebraska Medical Center, UNMC’s hospital partner, are part of the NCCN.
Since its founding in 1995, physicians have looked to the collective expertise of the NCCN, an alliance of 19 of the world’s leading cancer centers, as the standard for clinical treatment in oncology.
“A lot of times as you get to the end-of-life of a terminal illness and can’t make the condition go away, then what we have to offer are things to manage symptoms so patients can live day-to-day in comfort and live life to the fullest,” said Cathy Eberle, M.D., assistant professor of geriatrices at UNMC.
Dr. Eberle said the guidelines are meant to give patients and families information and help physicians re-focus on patient symptoms.
“In advanced cancer, aggressive anti-cancer therapy must be coupled with aggressive palliative care to optimize both quantity and quality of life,” said Michael Levy, MD, PhD, chair of the NCCN Palliative Care Clinical Practice Guidelines panel. “When further anti-cancer therapy becomes no longer effective, appropriate, or desired, comprehensive palliative care must be intensified to ensure the relief of suffering for both the patient and the family.”
Dr. Levy went on to say that “at the end of life, satisfactory palliative care provides skilled pain and symptom control, avoids prolongation of dying, promotes a sense of control for the patient, relieves burdens, and strengthens patient and family relationships.”
Ralph B. Vance, MD, FACP, national volunteer president of the American Cancer Society, said for the first time in history, the United States is experiencing a downward trend in cancer diagnoses and deaths.
“Progress made in cancer early detection and treatment increase both the likelihood of surviving a cancer diagnosis and the length of survival. Yet with this hope comes the need to provide cancer survivors and their care givers with current, relevant, and understandable information on palliative care,” said Dr. Vance. “The American Cancer Society, in collaboration with the NCCN, is pleased to announce these guidelines that enable patients and their families to make timely and informed decisions on how to maintain the best possible quality of life.”
Through its treatment guidelines for patients, the NCCN reaches out directly to patients and their families to give them the same information that their doctors use. Be it type of cancer — bladder, breast or colon, or supportive care issues such as fatigue, anemia and pain — the NCCN through physician outreach and education, brings state-of-the-art cancer care information to patients in need.
“By developing treatment guidelines for patients from the NCCN clinical practice guidelines, we’re empowering the patient and caregiver, while providing medical professionals with a more open and informed channel of communication through which to work,” said William T. McGivney, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of NCCN.
“Although decades of advances in early detection, diagnosis, and treatment have significantly improved the chances of a patient surviving cancer, still over half a million Americans will die from the disease each year,” added Dr. Vance. “If each patient has two caregivers and many more people beyond that who are affected throughout his or her final year of life, the impact of these guidelines is significant.”
Copies of Advanced Cancer and Palliative Care Treatment Guidelines for Patients, in English and soon to be released in Spanish, are available free of charge on NCCN’s web site at www.nccn.org
and by calling NCCN toll-free at 1-888-909-NCCN. They can also be ordered from the American Cancer Society at www.cancer.org or by calling 1-800-ACS-2345.
Some common definitions related to advanced cancer and palliative care:
- Palliative care – treatment that relieves symptoms, such as pain, but is not expected to cure the disease. The main purpose is to improve the patient’s quality of life. Also called palliative treatment; supportive care.
- Advanced disease or cancer – cancer that has recurred and/or spread to vital organs in the body.
- Caregiver – a person [be it a family member, friend or health care provider] who provides direct care (as for children or the chronically ill).
- Hospice – a special kind of care for people in the final phase of illness, their families and caregivers. The care may take place in the patient’s home or in a homelike facility.
- Advance directives- legal documents that tell the doctor and family what a person wants for future medical care, including whether to start or when to stop life-sustaining treatment.