{"entity":{"id":"palliative-treatment","kind":"term","name":"Palliative","aka":["palliation","palliative intent","palliative treatment","palliative therapy","palliative chemotherapy","symptom control","symptom relief","best supportive care","supportive care","end-of-life care","hospice","curative intent","curative-intent","with curative intent","non-curative","incurable"],"tldr":"Treatment aimed at relieving symptoms and improving quality of life rather than curing the disease. Not the same as end-of-life care: palliative treatments are given alongside anticancer drugs at every stage.","summary":"In oncology, 'palliative intent' describes treatment for a cancer that cannot be cured, where the aim is to shrink or slow it to relieve pain, breathlessness or obstruction and to extend life with good function; palliative radiotherapy to a painful bone metastasis is a textbook example. Palliative care as a specialty manages pain, nausea, fatigue and distress, and trials have shown that involving it early, from diagnosis of advanced cancer, improves quality of life and mood and may lengthen survival. Most systemic therapy for stage IV solid tumours is palliative in intent, which is why quality of life and toxicity matter so much in judging it.","asOf":"2026-09-09","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palliative_care","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palliative_care"}],"tags":[],"related":["quality-of-life","palliative-care","palliative-radiotherapy","metastasis","systemic-vs-local-therapy"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":["palliative-care"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Clinic basics"},"route":"/terms/palliative-treatment/","neighbours":{"term":[{"id":"metastasis","kind":"term","name":"Metastasis","route":"/terms/metastasis/"},{"id":"lung-palliation-breathlessness-effusion-obstruction","kind":"term","name":"Palliation in lung cancer: breathlessness, pleural effusion, blocked airway, bone and brain","route":"/terms/lung-palliation-breathlessness-effusion-obstruction/"},{"id":"quality-of-life","kind":"term","name":"Quality of life","route":"/terms/quality-of-life/"},{"id":"radiotherapy","kind":"term","name":"Radiotherapy","route":"/terms/radiotherapy/"},{"id":"systemic-vs-local-therapy","kind":"term","name":"Systemic versus local therapy","route":"/terms/systemic-vs-local-therapy/"}],"technology":[{"id":"palliative-care","kind":"technology","name":"Early integrated palliative care","route":"/technologies/palliative-care/"},{"id":"palliative-radiotherapy","kind":"technology","name":"Palliative radiotherapy","route":"/technologies/palliative-radiotherapy/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"lung-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"Lung cancer (all types)","route":"/cancers/lung-cancer/"},{"id":"metastatic-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"Metastatic cancer (cancer that has spread)","route":"/cancers/metastatic-cancer/"}],"trial":[{"id":"ample","kind":"trial","name":"AMPLE","route":"/trials/ample/"},{"id":"crest-thoracic-rt","kind":"trial","name":"CREST: consolidation thoracic radiotherapy in extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer","route":"/trials/crest-thoracic-rt/"},{"id":"dutch-bone-metastasis-study","kind":"trial","name":"Dutch Bone Metastasis Study","route":"/trials/dutch-bone-metastasis-study/"},{"id":"jrosg-99-1","kind":"trial","name":"JROSG 99-1 (Aoyama): stereotactic radiosurgery with or without whole-brain radiotherapy","route":"/trials/jrosg-99-1/"},{"id":"lurbinectedin-basket-sclc","kind":"trial","name":"Lurbinectedin basket trial, small-cell lung cancer cohort","route":"/trials/lurbinectedin-basket-sclc/"},{"id":"time2","kind":"trial","name":"TIME2","route":"/trials/time2/"}],"person":[{"id":"alexandre-chan","kind":"person","name":"Alexandre Chan","route":"/people/alexandre-chan/"},{"id":"deb-bulych","kind":"person","name":"Deb Bulych","route":"/people/deb-bulych/"},{"id":"luis-eduardo-martin-rodriguez","kind":"person","name":"Luis Eduardo Martín Rodríguez","route":"/people/luis-eduardo-martin-rodriguez/"}],"journal":[{"id":"cancer-treatment-reviews","kind":"journal","name":"Cancer treatment reviews","route":"/journals/cancer-treatment-reviews/"},{"id":"current-oncology-reports","kind":"journal","name":"Current oncology reports","route":"/journals/current-oncology-reports/"},{"id":"current-problems-in-cancer","kind":"journal","name":"Current problems in cancer","route":"/journals/current-problems-in-cancer/"},{"id":"current-treatment-options-in-oncology","kind":"journal","name":"Current treatment options in oncology","route":"/journals/current-treatment-options-in-oncology/"},{"id":"japanese-journal-of-clinical-oncology","kind":"journal","name":"Japanese journal of clinical oncology","route":"/journals/japanese-journal-of-clinical-oncology/"},{"id":"pediatric-blood-and-cancer","kind":"journal","name":"Pediatric Blood & Cancer","route":"/journals/pediatric-blood-and-cancer/"}],"institution":[{"id":"nicrh-dhaka","kind":"institution","name":"National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital","route":"/institutions/nicrh-dhaka/"}]}}