Author Description

Palliative care aims to optimise function and to enhance quality of life for patients with serious and life-limiting illnesses. It focuses on reducing the burden of symptoms, and supporting patients and caregivers. This Monograph provides a comprehensive overview of palliative care in respiratory disease, including coverage of policy variations around the world, epidemiology of advanced respiratory diseases, access to palliative care and the need for care in a range of chronic respiratory diseases from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis to lung cancer and cystic fibrosis. There are detailed sections on breathlessness, focusing on symptom definition, patient and caregiver experiences, physiological mechanisms, measurement and management; and on care for patients with advanced disease who are in the terminal phases of their illness.