Top advances of the year: Palliative and supportive care in oncology.

Palliative care, or care that aims to reduce suffering, manage symptoms, and improve quality-of-life for those living with serious illness, is recognized as essential to high-quality cancer care. However, challenges to equitable and timely access and integration persist. Scientific and clinical practice advances in recent years have made considerable progress in leveraging technology and improving workflows for more efficient and scalable palliative care delivery, while also expanding palliative and supportive care services for patients across cancer types. In parallel, treatment advances have emerged to better address complex cancer-related symptoms alongside growing interest in technology to aid in symptom monitoring. These advances offer promising solutions for a future in which palliative and supportive care strategies are more readily accessible, and avoidable suffering for patients with cancer is prevented and/or relieved with evidence-based and clinically useful approaches.

Duke Scholars

Author Thomas William LeBlanc Medicine, Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy