When my husband was diagnosed
with terminal, widespread lung cancer, I began thinking about the loss
of appetite, the wasting, and the pain that my grandfather experienced
when he was dying of cancer long ago. In many ways, the pain and suffering
is as bad as the fact that the disease is terminal.
A number of cancer control studies have led to improvements in the quality of life of cancer patients. These improvements offer cancer patients relief that was unobtainable only a decade ago. Recent research has demonstrated that therapy with corticosteroids, a class of widely used hormonal drug agents, increases appetite. Megestrol acetate, a progestational hormonal drug, has been found to have both appetite-enhancing and weight-promoting properties in patients with terminal cancer as well as in patients with AIDS.
Other supportive care research has defined better clinical strategies to deal with cancer pain, allowing for better use of widely available pain medications and the development of more effective, longer acting anti-pain drugs. In addition, supportive care research has led to better strategies of delivering drugs in a way that minimizes breakthroughs of severe pain. As a result of comparing various pain medication delivery strategies, health care professionals have a better scientific rationale to administer potent pain medications in a way that gives patients more effective ways to control their own pain.