PALLIATIVE CARE FOR PATIENTS WITH ADVANCED COLORECTAL CANCER: AN INTEGRATIVE REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Abstract

This study reviews and analyzes palliative care for patients with advanced colorectal cancer, using an integrative literature review. The literature search was carried out in the PubMed databases and the Regional Portal of the Virtual Health Library of the Ministry of Health (VHL), using the descriptors “Palliative Care”,“Advanced Colorectal Cancer” and “Patients”. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were adopted, filtering 25 articles that provided important information about care. The results emphasize the need for a person-centered approach, comprehensive care that minimizes symptoms in the final part of the patient's life, through a multidisciplinary team that presents a more sensitive and personalized language, from the beginning to the end of the disease, with the objective to share information and content about the palliative care adopted and the disease in a repeated and simple way. The purpose of this demand is to promote comfort, dignity and quality of life for patients. However, challenges such as socioeconomic issues, limited access to palliative care services, unprepared teams and the development of specific interventions for different complications of colorectal cancer persist, highlighting the continued need for research, education and multifactorial collaboration. Therefore, it is crucial to improve clinical practice, aiming to improve the well-being of patients with advanced colorectal cancer and their caregivers.