Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine (6^th Ed.)

This sixth edition of the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine takes us now into the third decade for this definitive award-winning textbook. It has been rigorously updated to offer a truly global perspective, highlighting the best current evidence-based practices, and collective wisdom from more than 200 experts around the world. This leading textbook covers all the new and emerging topics, updated and restructured to reflect major developments in the increasingly widespread acceptance of palliative medicine as a fundamental public health need. The sixth edition includes new sections devoted to family and caregiver issues, cardio-respiratory symptoms and disorders, and genitourinary symptoms and disorders. In addition, the multi-disciplinary nature of palliative care is emphasized throughout the textbook, covering areas from ethical and communication issues, the treatment of symptoms, and the management of pain. The Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine is a truly comprehensive text. No hospital, hospice, palliative care service, or medical library should be without this essential source of information. This sixth edition of the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine is dedicated to the memory of Professor Kenneth Fearon husband of Professor Marie Fallon and a surgeon who became a world leader in the research and management of anorexia and cachexia. He modeled a work-life balance that is so critical in our field, with devotion to both his patients and his family.

Nathan I. Cherny is Norman Levan Chair of Humanistic Medicine at Shaare Zedek Medical Center and Associate Professor of Medicine at Ben Gurion University, Israel. In 2015 he was awarded the ESMO (European Society of Medical Oncology) Award for his contributions to the development of oncology in Europe, and in 2016 was the recipient of the EAPC/EJPC (European Association of Palliative Care/ European Journal of Palliative Care) Palliative Care Policy Development Award. Nathan has diverse research interests including opioid responsiveness of neuropathic pain, opioid rotation, opioid side effects and their management, cancer pain syndromes, suffering, palliative sedation, communication issues in oncology and palliative care, bioethics, and public health. He teaches in the Hebrew University Medical School and runs courses in communication and palliative medicine. Nathan has edited five books and has published over 120 peer reviewed papers and has made numerous invited lectures worldwide. Marie T. Fallon is the St Columba's Hospice Chair of Palliative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, Honorary Consultant in Palliative Care at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh and leads the Edinburgh Palliative and Supportive Care group (EpaS). Marie serves as Chief Investigator for EpaS on a large portfolio of clinical studies spanning investigator-led randomized controlled trials examining improved management of cancer-induced bone pain, neuropathic pain, and institutionalisation of pain assessment. Marie is also the lead in an international programme of RCTs in cannabinoids in cancer-related pain and has led the development of studies using fMRI in Edinburgh, UK. Stein Kaasa is Professor of Palliative Medicine at the Institute of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway. Stein specialises in medical oncology, radiotherapy, and palliative medicine. In 1993, he was appointed as the first professor in pallia