Page 42 - IJSA, Vol. 4, No 2, 2021

International Journal of Science Annals, Vol. 5, No. 1-2, 2022
рrint ISSN: 2617-2682; online ISSN: 2707-3637; DOI:10.26697/ijsa

Introduction
Malignant diseases are one of the biggest problems of Currently, there are departments of palliative medicine
our time. In recent years, the frequency of their in over 50 countries around the world, including the
occurrence has increased significantly worldwide. USA, Germany, France and the Republic of Bulgaria. In
Stomach cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the some countries such as New Zealand, Sweden, Norway,
world and the third most common cause of death due to Canada, Australia and Great Britain, there are even
cancer. The importance of palliative care for the university departments of palliative medicine and
duration and quality of life of gastric cancer patients is specialization of palliative medicine doctors (Deliyski,
constantly increasing (Smyth et al., 2020). 2000). It is interesting to note that in Great Britain there
Although the quality of their prevention and treatment is an overall very well-developed teaching program in
have improved, the morbidity and mortality from gastric this medicine for all professional groups involved in
carcinoma in both sexes continues to raise with the palliative care. The integration of palliative medicine is
increase in the life expectancy of the population. (Ilic & so advanced in UK healthcare that more than 50% of
Ilic, 2022), patients who die from gastric cancer are cared for by
Gastric carcinoma cases burden modern society, with specialist palliative care teams (Adolph et al., 2014).
both the severity of their course and their high financial In 2020, there are 51 registered palliative and hospice
cost for the social system. This fact obliges us to beds per 1 million inhabitants in the UK, 200-day
continue to study the essential reasons for this and to try hospices and 370 home care teams complement the
to actively counteract them, not only through primary palliative care system. In the United Kingdom, only a
and secondary prevention, but also through the short time after the foundation of the hospice “St.
prevention of the mental and social impacts of the Christopher” in 1975, the idea of hospice became a
disease (Hanauske, 1997). phenomenon, leading to numerous hospices being
Stomach cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the founded in the 1970s. Unlike the well-organized system
world. It is the third leading cause of death from cancer in Great Britain, in other Western European countries,
(after lung cancer and liver cancer), with, according to separate palliative wards and hospices were established
statistics from 2020, 750,000 deaths worldwide. It for the first time in the 1980s, and a health system
occurs twice as often in men than in women and occurs covering palliative medicine was established at first in
in more than half of cases in patients over 75 years of 1990s.
age (Lordick et al., 2011). It is difficult to give exact statistics for the different
Most of the cases of this carcinoma are caused by factors European countries. In general, it should be noted that
such as lifestyle, including poor diet, smoking, obesity, especially in the years from 1990 to 2015, a significant
alcohol use and infection with Helicobacter pylori number of palliative and hospice facilities were
bacteria (Deliyski, 2000). registered. In Sweden, the number of inpatient units
Stomach cancer changes the lives of patients and of their increased from 2 to 22, and in 1994, and in Poland from
relatives. The disease and its treatment can burden the 16 (1992) to 83 (1993). In France, their number
patient not only physically, but also mentally (Ajani et increased from 6 (1992) to 30 (1994). Norway started
al., 2010). Consequences of the disease include family very early with palliative medicine and the training and
problems, financial worries, professional and social specialization of medical staff in this field was
burdens, early retirement. When stomach cancer is in an strengthened from the beginning on. Another important
advanced stage, it most often cannot be removed and the aspect in Norwegian healthcare is the introduction of the
treatment of cancer patients is palliative. Palliative care so-called “Supportteam” to support palliative cancer
aims to alleviate the mental and physical suffering of the patients. From 1984 to 1996, the number of these
patients and are of great importance for the duration and hospital/home teams increased to 210. The first title of
quality of life of the patients (Harada et al., 2020). “professor” in the field of palliative medicine took place
The word “hospice” comes from the Latin “hospitium” in Norway in 1994, and a year later, the first department
and means guests of monasteries. The first hospices date for palliative care was established. In 1989, the
back to the Middle Ages, when members of religious European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) was
orders housed dying people, where they cared for them established and in 2004, it had already more than 50,000
until they died. The actual concept of modern hospice collective members.
care was built by two medical persons in the 1970s in The World Health Organization (WHO) describes
Great Britain – Cecily Saunders and Elizabeth Kübler- palliative medicine as treatment for patients with
Ross, who developed hospices with the effective incurable, progressive and advanced disease with a
treatment of pain as their main goal. Even at this early limited life expectancy, for whom the main goal is to
stage of development of care for dying patients, there is improve the quality of life. This definition limits
a developed sensitivity for preserving a dignified life, palliative treatment options not only for malignant
which is also related to the treatment of pain and other diseases (in this case stomach cancer), but also excludes
symptoms having a direct impact on the patient’s quality many patients with chronic diseases and disabilities.
of life in his last days. The first palliative care unit was Although alleviating pain is the task of all physicians,
built in 1975 at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, regardless of the type of disease and how advanced it is,
Canada. palliative care clearly aims to mitigate suffering at the
end stage, when the focus of treatment is entirely on

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