Palliative care and pain management in patients with stomach cancer

Abstract

Introduction: Palliative care and pain management are increasingly important for the active and comprehensive treatment of patients who do not respond to curative treatment. Objective: To identify palliative care and pain management in patients with stomach cancer. Methods: Using a qualitative and descriptive approach, national and international literature, publications and scientific articles were reviewed to investigate palliative care and pain management in patients with stomach cancer. Results: The articles identified five treatments focused on palliative care, defined as palliative gastrectomy, bypass, palliative radiotherapy, and stenting. Pain management in patients with gastric cancer was also examined using selected studies. Conclusion: Studies focused on controlling symptoms and maintaining or improving quality of life in patients with gastric cancer were analyzed. The collected studies reported survival as the primary outcome variable. Consistent evidence was identified that patients with advanced gastric cancer benefit in both survival and quality of life with a combination of chemotherapy plus supportive care compared to receiving supportive care alone, which will be in combination with the use of opioid analgesics.