Paliatívna medicína a liečba bolesti 1e/2016

Palliative care for patient with end-stage dementia

The role of palliative care for patient with end-stage dementia is to provide specialized medical care, while maintaining the highest possible quality of life until the end, allowing relatives to be close. It is neither strained prolongation of life, nor the early termination with euthanasia. Based on current knowledge, we try to define a patient with end-stage dementia, care objectives, the process of prognostication and decision making process. The main areas of interest are quality of life, symptom management, ethical dilemmas, the dignity of the patient and family support. We try to show specific instructions, opinions and recommendations of experts on this issue. In general, in this area lacks large randomized studies and recommendations are largely based on the consensus of experts.

Keywords: dementia, end-stage dementia, quality of life, palliative care