Palliative care of respiratory disease

Bourke, SJ; Peel, ET

doi:10.1007/978-1-4471-2230-2_1

Palliative care of respiratory disease

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Stephen Bourke, Dr Timothy Peel

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Abstract

© 2013 Springer-Verlag London. All rights are reserved. Respiratory disease is a major cause of suffering and death. There is a broad range of disease from acute illnesses such as pneumonia and acute lung injury to chronic progressive diseases such as chronic obstructive lung disease, cystic fibrosis, and neuromuscular disease. The different trajectories of lung disease are outlined including sudden death from catastrophic illness, the cancer trajectory in patients with lung cancer, the chronic disease trajectory for patients with progressive lung diseases, and the transplant trajectory for patients with diseases such as cystic fibrosis or idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Palliative and supportive care run in parallel with disease-modifying therapies throughout the course of life-threatening respiratory disease. A multidisciplinary integrated approach is needed in treating these patients and good quality palliative care must be achieved in a variety of settings including the patient's home, care homes, clinics, emergency departments, wards, and intensive care units.