Palliative care in lung cancer: from the challenges to the home care

Background: Lung cancer is currently one of the mostcommon malignant neoplasms worldwide. Distress symptomsrelated to the primary disease or in combination with diseaseprogression have challenges faced by the patients, family, andthe health care team. Aims: Demonstrate the benefits of an integrated palliativecare approach for lung cancer patients at the time ofdiagnosis and also the benefits of care these patients athome. Methods: Integrative review on the ISI Web of Knowledge,PubMed, CINAHL and Academic Search Complete. Thekeywords were “Lung Cancer”, “Palliative Care”, “Approaches”and “Therapies”. The inclusion criteria were articles in theEnglish published until 2015 with full-text and referencesavailable and peer-reviewed. The research anddocumentation were carried out in accordance with thePrisma 2009 Referencia guidelines. Results: 164 articles were found, of which 33 were selectedto full analysis. Most of the lung cancer patients suffer frommultiple distressing symptoms with high levels of intensityand are simultaneously influenced by disease progressionand the undertaken therapies. Palliative interventions havean integrative philosophy that has been demonstrate to be aneffective relief of the patients suffer. Moreover, palliativedevelops interventions that control the symptoms related tothe disease and integrates the different dimensions of peopleand their problems in the evaluation of their health status andtherapeutic intervention to respond favorably to the patientsand family’s needs because many cancer patients prefer aconservative or supportive treatment. Conclusion/discussion: The provision of specialized palliativecare at home allows the respect of the patients’ preferencesand providing humane care throughout the course of thedisease, particularly at the end-of-life.