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Palliative Care in Adolescents and Young Adults

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Abstract

Despite cancer continuing to be the third leading [1] cause of death in adolescents and young adult (AYA); palliative care is often only been considered towards end of life [2]. The majority of AYAs with progressing or relapsing disease continue to die in hospital receiving cancer-directed therapies [3]. With access to more clinical trials and further lines of therapies, the AYA may live longer, burdened with increasingly complex symptoms, as a result of their cancer or its treatment. This, and the recent evidence [4] of early palliative care input having a life prolonging effect even in the face of less cancer-directed therapy and active intervention at end of life, supports its early introduction, from either diagnosis 57 or first relapse.

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Correspondence to Anna-Karenia Anderson .

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Anderson, AK. (2018). Palliative Care in Adolescents and Young Adults. In: Chisholm, J., Hough, R., Soanes, L. (eds) A Practical Approach to the Care of Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66173-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66173-5_9

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