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The role of palliative care in patients with neurological diseases.
Journal article

The role of palliative care in patients with neurological diseases.

  • Borasio GD Palliative Care Service, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, University of Lausanne, Avenue Pierre Decker 5, CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland. borasio@chuv.ch
  • 2013-04-03
Published in:
  • Nature reviews. Neurology. - 2013
Decision Making
Delivery of Health Care
Humans
Nervous System Diseases
Palliative Care
Terminal Care
English Palliative care aims to improve the quality of life of patients and their families affected by life-threatening illness. This approach applies to a large and growing proportion of neurological disorders, most prominently stroke and dementia. Challenges in the palliative care of patients with incurable neurological diseases include the broad spectrum of the rate of symptom progression, a lack of reliable prognostic markers, scarcity of evidence for efficacy of symptomatic treatments, and a high prevalence of difficulties with communication, cognitive impairment and behavioural disturbances. A genuinely multidisciplinary approach to neurological palliative care is, therefore, required. However, palliative care is not an integral part of neurological training in most countries. This Perspectives article aims to underscore the importance of integrating palliative care into daily clinical practice. The basic principles and challenges of neurological palliative care are also outlined in the light of relevant literature.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/265228
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