Patients With Cancer Can Benefit from Palliative Care Earlier

For patients with cancer, it’s never too soon to begin discussing palliative care options with their care team, as an expert explained to CURE®.

Patients and their caregivers should discuss palliative care options with their care team “as early as possible,” said Dr. Cari Low of the University of Utah Huntsman Cancer Institute.

Low is an associate professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine and the medical director of the University of Utah Supportive and Palliative Care Program.

“What the data show us is that for patients with advanced cancer, their best benefits are actually within eight weeks of diagnosis,” she said. “So, the American College of Clinical Oncologists actually recommend that for patients with advanced cancer, they receive palliative care early in their treatment journey and alongside their cancer treatment.”

Low spoke with CURE about the benefits of palliative care, which include improvements to patients’ quality of life and survival.

Transcript:

I think the two most important benefits of palliative care are improvements in quality of life and survival. Patients live longer when they receive palliative care alongside their curative cancer treatment. We know that as patient/clinician communication is improved, satisfaction is improved [and] patients have lower rates of depression. Their mood is better, as are their caregivers’ moods, which is amazing that caregiver rates are actually improved with palliative care as well.

We know that for folks who do receive palliative care in the outpatient setting, they have a significantly lower likelihood of needing to go to the emergency room or be admitted, and for those patients who receive palliative care on the inpatient side, [there is] a 50% lower likelihood of being readmitted to the hospital. So I think that's the other piece [that’s important], is just really highlighting all these amazing benefits that palliative care brings to your cancer treatment.

This transcript was edited for clarity and conciseness.

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