Review Article
Palliative Care in Gynecologic Cancers
Fusun Terzioglu1* and Fatma Uslu Sahan21Professor, Dean, Director of MLP Care Nursing Services Head, Istinye University, Istanbul, Turkey
2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecologic Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey
- *Corresponding Author:
- Fusun Terzioglu, PhD, MSN, RN, Professor, Dean
Director of MLP Care Nursing Services Head
Istinye University, Istanbul, Turkey
Tel: +90 212 481 36 88
E-mail: fusunterzioglu@gmail.com
Received date: July 12, 2016; Accepted date: September 06, 2016; Published date: September 09, 2016
Citation: Terzioglu F, Sahan FU (2016) Palliative Care in Gynecologic Cancers. J Palliat Care Med 6:281. doi:10.4172/2165-7386.1000281
Copyright: © 2016 Terzioglu F. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Gynecologic cancers constitute a significant part of cancer load, especially in developing countries, and may be an important reason for mortality and morbidity for women in these countries. Procedures in diagnosis and treatment for gynecologic cancers might remain insufficient, and disorders related to symptoms may negatively influence the quality of life of women and their families. In this respect, interest on palliative care in gynecologic cancer cases has increased. The literature demonstrates that palliative care allows women to remain active as much as possible in the period between diagnosis and death, aids in management of pain and discomfort during the terminal stage, and ensures a comfortable death process. Palliative care has been shown to improve quality of life, mood, symptom control, satisfaction, survival duration, and caregiver satisfaction, depression, and stress burden. Palliative care improves healthcare utilization outcomes such as decreased hospital costs. Therefore, healthcare provider training and palliative care for patients need to be integrated into standard oncology care.
