Singapore, Aug 23, 2010: A precedent-setting study published in the New England Journal of Medicine is said to demonstrate definitively that early referrals to palliative care prolongs life for patients living with metastatic lung cancer.

While palliative medicine specialists have long observed improvements among their patients, this study conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston is the first randomized, controlled study to show that people with life-limiting illnesses can live far longer and far better, with much less pain, anxiety and depression.

"This news is precedent-setting for all of us in the palliative care field," said Dr Charles von Gunten, Provost of The Institute for Palliative Medicine at San Diego Hospice. "The patients involved in this study who received palliative care from the moment of their cancer diagnosis along with standard cancer treatment lived twice as long as patients receiving cancer treatment alone. And they were spared much of the physical and emotional suffering that is far too common among people with life-limiting illnesses.

"What's exciting to us is that this study demonstrates that palliative care should not be considered a last resort, or giving up," noted Dr von Gunten. "It should be offered as early as possible as part of standard treatment."

According to Dr von Gunten, significant breakthroughs in the field of palliative medicine such as the results of this study have a dual benefit. First, there is the actual effect on the patient receiving palliative care. "But second and in many ways equally as important is the opportunity to bring more awareness to the enormous benefits of palliative medicine, especially when it is made available to patients with life-limiting illness as early as possible," said he.