Palliative care is a rapidly evolving field focused on the management of problems that undermine the quality of life of patients with progressive incurable medical disorders. It is fundamentally concerned with all factors- physical, psychological, social, and spiritual- that contribute to suffering, and prevent a death with comfort and dignity. Palliative care is a fundamental aspect to good clinical practice, the "parallel universe" to therapies directed at cure or prolongation of life. All clinicians who treat patients with chronic life-threatening diseases are engaged in providing palliative care, continually attempting to manage complex symptomatology and functional disturbances. The scholarly foundation of palliative care is advancing, and resources are needed to highlight the findings of empirical research. TOPICS IN PALLIATIVE CARE has been designed to meet the need for enhanced communication in this field. To highlight the diversity of concerns in palliative care, each volume of the TOPICS IN PALLIATIVE CARE Series is divided into sections that address a range of salient issues: symptom control, psychosocial functioning, spiritual or existential concerns, and ethics. The authors present and evaluate existing data, provide a context drawn from both the clinical and research settings, and integrate knowledge in a manner that is both practical and readable. The specific topics in this volume are: Pediatric Palliative Care, Management of Bone Pain, Psychopathology in Patients with Cancer, and Skin Disorders and their Management.

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Russell K. Portenoy is at Beth Israel Medical Center. Eduardo Bruera is at University of Alberta.

Noted in Cancer Forum

" ... concise, yet it contains extensive detailed references. Its language is flowing and easy to read, yet the book includes many tables for ready reference. ... a good addition to the literature, and the editors have to be credited for bringing together these four topics." Annals of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (Aug 1999)

"This book represents a strong, ongoing commitment to lead North American (and perhaps global) palliative care into the next millennium. Each topic covered reveals a timely attempt to synthesize the state of the art (and the science lacking) in this exciting and rapidly evolving field."--Doody's Electronic Journal

"This book presents four topics in palliative care: pediatric palliativecare, management of bone pain, psychopathology in patients with cancer, and management of skin disorders. It is concise, yet it contains extensive de- tailed references. Its language is flowing and easy to read, yet the book includes many tables for ready reference.... "This book is a good addition to the literature, and the editors have to be credited for bringing together these four topics." From the 'Annals of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada."