Palliative therapies

Palliative care addresses physical, psychological, social and spiritual sources of distress for patients with advanced or life-threatening disease and their families. The goal of palliative care is to provide comfort and to maintain the highest possible quality of life for as long as life remains.

Those diagnosed with mesothelioma experience a variety of different symptoms. Often, the level of pain experienced with mesothelioma is very high. Pain control is usually one of the first symptoms addressed with mesothelioma palliative care. Palliation can include the traditional pain management programs, such as prescribing several different pain medications, but it also can focus on behaviour modification, stress management, meditation, or even massage therapy. Palliative surgery can be done to reduce pain caused by the tumor or to prevent fluid from accumulating. Studies have shown that radiation therapy is useful in relieving pain due to mesothelioma. Palliative care can be a sound choice to increase the remaining quality of life for patients who suffer from mesothelioma.

At the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, patients will have the opportunity to enrol in a quality of life protocol in which patients will undergo bi-weekly palliative care assessment and symptom management. Patients will be assessed and treated by skilled palliative care practitioners, teaming with the oncology team, anesthesia pain specialists and psychologists. The techniques and methods are available to make sure that every patient with mesothelioma can have adequate pain control at any stage of the disease.