This textbook provides a highly coordinated, interdisciplinary model for future clinical cancer supportive care programs in National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Clinical and Comprehensive Cancer Centers and NCI Community Oncology Research Programs (NCORPs). At the same time, it is intended to serve as an up-to-date resource for oncologists and primary care providers that addresses the many aspects of supportive care associated with cancer survivorship. Accordingly, the book covers a wide range of areas and topics, including but not limited to patient navigation, psychosocial oncology, patient and family education, lifestyle change counseling, palliative care, symptom management (eg. Pain control), cancer risk and genetic counseling, and financial planning.

The symposium on supportive care in cancer patients, which took place in St. Gallen, Switzerland, on February 18-21, 1987, wel comed renowned experts in the field and more than 600 partici pants from 25 countries with the aim of stimulating discussion on how to improve our professional skills and personal attitudes to ward cancer patients in all stages of their disease. Why did we or ganize such a symposium on supportive care in cancer patients? Recent decades have witnessed remarkable success in cancer treat ment, and we have learned how to cure a finite number of neoplas tic diseases. Some malignant tumors that previously entailed high fatality rates, such as leukemias, lymphomas, and testicular can cers, can now be cured, even when at an advanced stage. Yet it seems to many that our struggle to improve results and to fight death from cancer has also imposed greater toxicity on patients. Conventional scientifically based oncology has only recently made adequate efforts to improve the subjective quality of life of cancer patients, for example through prophylaxis against emesis, nausea, and scalp hypothermia, pain control and the development of psy chosocial support structures. The search for less toxic and yet equally effective treatment measures has not been one of our pri mary goals in the past. Supportive care has always been part of nurses' professional aim, even though many have not known how best to offer it.

Three of every four children and adolescents with cancer can now be cured. However, physicians are using increasingly intensive treatment regimens. These treatments can expose patients to toxic chemotherapeutic agents, invasive surgical procedures, and radiation oncology interventions that risk disfigurement, neuropsychiatric damage, and life-threatening organ toxicity. These potentially dire consequences have mandated that advances in cancer treatment go hand in hand with supportive care measures that sustain patients through their therapeutic ordeal and allow each patient to achieve maximum quality of life. In this book, now in its third edition, the discipline of supportive care in pediatric oncology is covered in depth. Supportive Care of Children with Cancer is a ready-reference handbook designed for use at the hospital bedside, in the oncology outpatient clinic, or in the physician's office. To create this book, leading experts in the field recommended approaches to supportive care which were then critically reviewed by members of the Children's Oncology Group, the world's largest cooperative study group for children's cancer. For students, house officers, fellows, pediatric oncologists, surgeons, nurses, nutritionists, social workers, and psychologists, this book provides essential information about the care of pediatric oncology patients. The third edition features a new chapter on recognition, prevention, and remediation of burnout in pediatric oncology staff members, while throughout the book, chapters have been revised and updated to reflect the impact of new antibiotic agents, new antiemetics, and new approaches to pain management.

Through more than 50 chapters, cancer care specialists and nearly 80 other medical experts answer every conceivable question concerning a cancer patient's physical, psychological, and spiritual needs.

This open access book provides a valuable resource for hospitals, institutions, and health authorities worldwide in their plans to set up and develop comprehensive cancer care centers. The development and implementation of a comprehensive cancer program allows for a systematic approach to evidence-based strategies of prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, and palliation. Comprehensive cancer programs also provide a nexus for the running of clinical trials and implementation of novel cancer therapies with the overall aim of optimizing comprehensive and holistic care of cancer patients and providing them with the best opportunity to improve quality of life and overall survival. This book's self-contained chapter format aims to reinforce the critical importance of comprehensive cancer care centers while providing a practical guide for the essential components needed to achieve them, such as operational considerations, guidelines for best clinical inpatient and outpatient care, and research and quality management structures. Intended to be wide-ranging and applicable at a global level for both high and low income countries, this book is also instructive for regions with limited resources. The Comprehensive Cancer Center: Development, Integration, and Implementation is an essential resource for oncology physicians including hematologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, surgical oncologists, and oncology nurses as well as hospitals, health departments, university authorities, governments and legislators.

Handbook of Supportive Oncology and Palliative Care is a practical guide to providing evidence-based and value-based care to adult and pediatric cancer patients experiencing severe symptoms and stressors due to cancer diagnosis, cancer treatment, and comorbid conditions. This accessible reference provides the art and science behind the whole-person and family approach to care by delivering the best practices to relieving a cancer patient’s symptoms across physical, psychosocial, and spiritual dimensions. Unlike other resources, this book covers all dimensions of palliative care but with a special emphasis on primary palliative care. Part One of the handbook provides the essential background and principles of supportive oncology and palliative care, including chapters on understanding the adult and pediatric patient and family illness experience, the roles and responsibilities of the palliative care team, and the art of the palliative care assessment interview. Part Two covers symptom management and includes ten chapters considering the major physical and psychosocial symptoms a cancer patient may face—neurologic, cardiac, respiratory, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, psychiatric, sleep and fatigue, pain, and psychosocial and spiritual distress. Part Three addresses special considerations and issues that an oncologist, physician, nurse or other healthcare provider often face in these settings, including chapters on intimacy, sexuality, and fertility issues, grief and bereavement, running a family meeting, care for the caregiver, and survivorship. Written by expert clinicians, this state-of-the-art handbook is a necessary resource for any oncologist, nurse, primary care physician, psychosocial expert, or related practitioner who endeavors to improve quality of life and provide healing to those suffering from cancer and its treatment. Key Features: Provides the binding principles of palliative care for pediatrics, adults and families from diverse cultures and spiritual beliefs Easy-to-read format makes extracting content fast and convenient for both the clinical and educational setting Guides the clinician and practitioner through the palliative care assessment process, including the appropriate questions for the palliative care interview