Palliative care for breast cancer patients
Palliative therapy, a specialized type of care helps breast cancer survivors to improve their psychosocial, emotional well-being and ultimately QOL. Patients with the advanced stage of breast cancer urgently need palliative care services, an important and essential component of cancer therapy. It is a specialized medical care with an intension to relieve pain, symptoms and stress of the serious illness. Palliative care is a collaborative work involving number of disciplines. Pain management, psychological and spiritual supports are the core components of palliative care. Palliative care can be provided at home, in a hospice, hospital or palliative care center. Though palliative care is considered as a part of end-of-life, it can be integrated at any phase during cancer treatment. In the present review, we emphasized the role of palliative care in overall treatment plan for breast cancer from the point of diagnosis of the disease.