Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Palliative Care
Palliative care is treatment of the discomfort, symptoms, and stress of serious illness. It provides relief from distressing symptoms including:
- Pain
- Shortness of breath
- Fatigue
- Constipation
- Nausea
- Loss of appetite
- Problems with sleep
It can also help you deal with the side effects of the medical treatments you're receiving.
Hospice care, care at the end of life, always includes palliative care. But you may receive palliative care at any stage of an illness. The goal is to make you comfortable and improve your quality of life.
It sits within Health System and Personal Health Issues.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Palliative Care
1,590 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Yunzhi Essence to Improve the Quality of Life of Patients With Advanced Stage of CancerChinese University of Hong Kong
- Augsburg Longitudinal Plasma Study for the Evaluation of Liquid Biopsy as Diagnostic Tool.University Hospital Augsburg
- Primary Palliative Care - a Feasibility Cluster TrialUniversity of Coimbra
- Periganglionic Resiniferatoxin for the Treatment of Intractable Pain Due to Cancer-induced Bone PainNational Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
- IN-TALK: Co-producing a Hospice Intimacy Support Toolkit in EnglandDorothy House Hospice
- Living With Multimorbidity: Care Coordination and Symptom Management Program (COORDINATE)Johns Hopkins University
Research already completed
- Utilizing Palliative Leaders In Facilities to Transform Care for Alzheimer's DiseaseIndiana University
- Telemedicine Versus In-Person Follow-up for Cancer Pain Management: An Equity and Cost Analysis Comparison Using a Prospective Quasi-Experimental DesignMahidol University
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Palliative Care: The Relief You Need When You Have a Serious IllnessNational Institute of Nursing Research
- What Is Palliative Care?Center to Advance Palliative Care
Related Issues
- Meet the Palliative Care TeamCenter to Advance Palliative Care
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Palliative CareNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Palliative Care. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Palliative Care, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.