Palliative care in the era of novel oncological interventions: needs some "tweaking"

Abstract

Cancer treatment has evolved enormously over the last 20 years, with developments in surgery, radiotherapy, chemo- therapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy. As a result, many cancer patients have improved outcomes (versus pre- vious cohorts of cancer patients), with more patients living with cancer for longer, and more patients living beyond can- cer (“cancer survivors”). Specialist palliative care has also evolved during this period, with the emergence of “early” palliative care, and the greater engagement in support- ive care. However, the current / future role of specialist palliative care services within oncology remains a topic of heated debate.