Need for palliative care for neurological diseases.

The new concept of palliative care supports the idea of palliation as an early approach to patients affected by disabling and life-limiting disease which focuses on the patient's quality of life along the entire course of disease. This model moves beyond the traditional concept of palliation as an approach restricted to the final stage of disease and widens the fields of intervention. There is a growing awareness of the importance of palliative care not only in oncological diseases but also in many other branches of medicine, and it appears particularly evident in the approach to many of the most frequent neurological diseases that are chronic, incurable and autonomy-impairing illnesses. The definition and implementation of palliative goals and procedures in neurology must take into account the specific features of these conditions in terms of the complexity and variability of symptoms, clinical course, disability and prognosis. The realization of an effective palliative approach to neurological diseases requires specific skills and expertise to adapt the concept of palliation to the peculiarities of these diseases; this approach should be realized through the cooperation of different services and the action of a multidisciplinary team in which the neurologist should play a central role to identify and face the patient's needs. In this view, it is paramount for the neurologist to be trained in these issues to promote the integration of palliative care in the care of neurological patients.

[Palliative care in neurology]. / La dimensione delle cure palliative in neurologia.

Palliative care in neurology is characterized by the need of taking into account some distinguishing features which supplement and often differ from the general palliative approach to cancer or to severe organ failures. Such position is emphasized by a new concept of palliative assistance which is not limited to the "end of life" stage, as it was the traditional one, but is applied along the entire course of progressive, life-limiting, and disabling conditions. There are various reasons accounting for a differentiation of palliative care in neurology and for the development of specific expertise; the long duration of the advanced stages of many neurological diseases and the distinguishing features of some clinical problems (cognitive disorders, psychic disorders, etc.), in addition to the deterioration of some general aspects (nutrition, etc.), make the general criteria adopted for cancer, severe respiratory, hepatic or renal failures and heart failure inadequate. The neurological diseases which could benefit from the development of a specific palliative approach are dementia, cerebrovascular diseases, movement disorders, neuromuscular diseases, severe traumatic brain injury, brain cancers and multiple sclerosis, as well as less frequent conditions. The growing literature on palliative care in neurology provides evidence of the neurological community's increasing interest in taking care of the advanced and terminal stages of nervous system diseases, thus encouraging research, training and updating in such direction. This document aims to underline the specific neurological requirements concerning the palliative assistance.