[Supportive therapy of lung cancer patients]

The effectiveness of cancer treatment given to lung cancer patients is indicated by the asymptomatic and non-toxic survival time. The goal is not to prolong the patients' suffering, but to lengthen the duration of the best quality of life lived (Time Without Symptoms and Toxicity-TWIST). Supportive care is the prevention and management of side effects which occur during therapy (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery) given to patients suffering from cancer. Supportive care is the widespread activity of doctors, nurses and social workers, including psychosocial assistance and rehabilitation through the various stages of illness till death. Though palliative therapy is understood to be the high level and professional treatment of terminally ill patients in those cases where curative measures are not possible anymore, supportive and palliative treatment often overlap (e.g. pain control, cachexia, obstructive syndromes). Palliative care is part of supportive therapy. The goal of supportive care is to reduce the patients' subjective symptoms to the minimum ("well being") during therapy, follow up and consequently until death. The essence of supportive care is to keep the patients' quality of life on the highest possible level. This article summarizes the pathophysiology, prevention and therapy of the most frequently occuring side effects observed during the management of lung cancer patients.