Background: Palliative care delivered to cancer patients late in the course of disease are inadequate to improve advance care planning and quality of life; thus, early palliative care is recommended. We retrospectively analyzed early palliative care delivered to patients with gastric cancer.
Method: Forty-nine gastric cancer patients who underwent surgery and had received interdisciplinary care from the first visit(early palliative care)were assessed for physical and psychosocial symptoms.
Results: All patients were followed up continuously by a nurse certified in palliative care support to provide quality patient-centered care from the beginning(advance care planning). Four patients had experienced relapse, and 3 older patients had decided not to receive chemotherapy following their advance care planning. However, all 4 patients were admitted to a palliative care unit without barriers.
Conclusion: Early palliative care might lead patients to have advance care planning, and a better quality of life.