When is palliative care recommended for ovarian cancer?

Palliative care is specialised support focused on comfort and quality of life. For ovarian cancer, the team may help with pain, nausea, constipation, abdominal pressure, breathlessness, poor appetite, tiredness, sleep problems, or worry. It can also support conversations about treatment goals, family needs, home care, and advance planning. Receiving palliative care does not mean that anticancer treatment must stop.

The team may include a doctor, nurse, pharmacist, social worker, psychologist, or spiritual-care professional. Support is tailored to symptoms and priorities, not only to the stage of the cancer.

Tell the oncology team which symptom interferes most with eating, sleeping, movement, treatment, or time with family. Bring a short record of when it started, what makes it better or worse, and the medicines already being used. Ask whether a palliative care referral can happen during the next oncology visit, in hospital, or through community services.

A palliative care review can address medicines, nutrition, bowel symptoms, mobility, emotional support, and practical arrangements together. Family members can join discussions if the patient wishes.

Contact the oncology service promptly for new or rapidly worsening abdominal swelling, repeated vomiting, inability to keep fluids down, severe pain, confusion, fainting, fever, or difficulty breathing. Seek emergency help for severe breathlessness, collapse, uncontrolled bleeding, or sudden weakness. These symptoms need timely assessment and should not be explained away as part of ovarian cancer.

Could palliative care help with my current symptoms while treatment continues? Which service will coordinate medicines and home support? What changes should prompt a same-day call? Can my family join the care-planning discussion?