• B Alt-Epping, A-L Haas, M Jansky, and F Nauck.
• Klinik für Palliativmedizin, Universitätsmedizin Göttingen, Robert-Koch-Straße 40, 37075, Göttingen, Deutschland. bernd.alt-epping@med.uni-goettingen.de.
• Schmerz. 2018 Apr 1; 32 (2): 90-98.

BackgroundWhen patients suffer from incurable cancer, drug-based, systemic anticancer therapy is usually used with the aim of longer survival, while minimizing toxicity and ensuring a tolerable quality of life. It is unclear to what extent and with what degree of success systemic tumor therapy can be used to specifically improve pre-existing pain and an already compromised quality of life (QoL).MethodsTherefore, a systematic review of oncological therapy studies (PubMed) was conducted. Only studies that identified the pain-relieving and QoL-enhancing effects of systemic anticancer therapy as the primary endpoint were selected and evaluated descriptively.ResultsOf the 2229 abstracts identified using a piloted search string, only 13 studies met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 10 studies showed an improvement in QoL-parameters through the use of systemic tumor therapies.DiscussionOnly a few studies focused primarily on the improvement of parameters related to quality of life-although this is the primary therapeutic goal for many patients suffering from incurable and advanced cancer. The study results encourage regular inclusion of symptom- and QoL-related data in clinical studies and to more explicitly address the potential of systemic anticancer therapy in relieving pain and other symptoms, thereby supporting the goals of palliative care.

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