[Palliative Care for Non-cancer Patients]

Although palliative care has been developed and implemented as care for cancer pain, it is holistic care for suffering that includes physical, psychosocial and spiritual pain of life-threatening illness. It turned out that non-cancer patients in the end-stage are also suffering from various pain that should be treated as cancer patients. Trajectories of illness in non-cancer patients are with more gradual decline than those of cancer patients with steady progression and it is often difficult to make decision about end-of-life. The purpose of advance care planning was originally to help describe legal documents. This process is proved to contribute to improving QOL of patients and their families to discuss preference, hope, economic problems, spiritual question as well as medical treatment In Japan guideline of decision making process in end-of-life stage has been established. A program of communication training in end-of-life discussion has been made. Under current situation some comments on the role of anesthesiologists are also mentioned.