End of life care in lung cancer patients: not at life's end?

Metastatic lung cancer has a poor prognosis, with a mortality of more than 80% within one year. As chemo- and radiotherapy are both effective in the palliation of symptoms, the emphasis of management is often too much put on these therapies, inducing unrealistic expectations. Since the most important aspect of caring for patients with metastatic lung cancer is to optimize or restore their quality of life (QoL), we need to integrate standard oncologic therapy with early palliative care to achieve a better understanding of the disease by the patient and his caregivers.