[Palliative care in patients without cancer: Impact of the end-of-life care team].

Palliative care improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing problems associated with life-threatening illnesses by promoting the prevention and relief of suffering. Palliative care in Japan has been developed mainly for cancer patients. At the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, an end-of-life care team (EOLCT) has been developed to promote palliative care for patients without cancer.

[Usefulness of support from end-of-life care teams in difficult decision-making].

It is unclear how hospitals should support a patient's decision to return home to die. Thus, we retrospectively examined the usefulness of support from an End-Of-Life Care Team in such difficult decision making. The subjects included non-cancer patients and the elderly.

[Comprehensive geriatric assessment and cancer care-choice of treatment and in-home palliative care executed by using advance care planning].

Choice of treatment and in-home palliative care are important for the cancer care of the elderly. In recent years, comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA), which has been developed as a multidimensional evaluation method for the elderly, has been attracting attention for cancer care as well. CGA can be a common language for the choice of treatment and in-home palliative care of elderly cancer patients.

[Role of home medical care support system in aged cancer patients' symptom relief and regional alliances].

The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of home medical care support system to relieve the symptom and regional alliances for elderly cancer patients. We investigated clinical parameters to study the features of this system. The home medical care support system is designed for patients who are B75-year-old with decrease in activities of daily living and severe dementia.