Section 1: The worldwide status of palliative care 1.1: Carlos Centeno, Sheila Payne, and Eduardo Garralda: International progress in the development of palliative care 1.2: Lukas Radbruch and Liliana De Lima: Essential medicines for palliative care 1.3: Frank Brennan and Liz Gwyther: Human rights issues 1.4: Stephen R. Connor: Policy in palliative care Section 2: The challenge of palliative medicine 2.1: Russell K. Portenoy: Building definitional consensus in palliative care 2.2: Nathan I. Cherny and Russell K. Portenoy: Core concepts in palliative care 2.3: Davinia Seah, David Marco, Jennifer Philip, and Megan B. Sands: The epidemiology of death and symptoms: planning for population-based palliative care 2.4: Barry Laird, Erna Haraldsdottir, and Charlie Hall: Barriers to the delivery of palliative care 2.5: Jonathan Koffman and Natalia Calanzani: Ethnic and cultural aspects of palliative and end of life care 2.6: Peter S. Hall, Katharina Diernberger, and Liz Grant: Health economics for palliative care Section 3: Service delivery issues in palliative care 3.1: Breffni Hannon, Stein Kaasa, and Camilla Zimmermann: Specialist palliative care along the trajectory of illness: issues in the early integration of palliative care 3.2: Irene J. Higginson: Palliative care delivery models 3.3: Sharon Einav, Nathan I. Cherny, and J. Randall Curtis: Palliative medicine in the intensive care unit 3.4: Naomi George and Corita Grudzen: Palliative care in the emergency department 3.5: Jane Phillips and Annmarie Hosie: Palliative care in the nursing home Section 4: Healthcare professionals in palliative care 4.1: Dagny Faksvag Haugen, Friedemann Nauck, and Deborah Witt Sherman: The core team and the extended team 4.2: Nathan I. Cherny, Batsheva Werman, and Michael Kearney: Burnout, compassion fatigue, and moral distress in palliative care 4.3: Betty R. Ferrell, Polly Mazanec, Pam Malloy, and Rose Virani: Nursing Education in palliative care 4.4: Terry Altilio, Bridget Sumser, and Nina Laing: Social work in palliative care 4.5: George Handzo and Christina Puchalski: The role of the chaplain in palliative care 4.6: Maria Denise Pessoa Silva, Fiona Rolls, Lynne White, Tamsin Longley, Jane Murphy, and Jill Cooper: Occupational therapy in palliative care 4.7: Nigel Hartley: The role of the creative arts in palliative care 4.8: Samantha Cushen and Aoife Ryan: The role of the dietitian in palliative care 4.9: Lucy Fettes and Matthew Maddocks: Physiotherapy in palliative care 4.10: Tim Luckett and Katherine L.P. Reid: Speech and language therapy in palliative care 4.11: E. Alessandra Strada: Clinical psychology in palliative care 4.12: Ebtesam Ahmed: The contribution of the clinical pharmacist in palliative care 4.13: Andrew M. Cole: Medical rehabilitation and the palliative care patient Section 5: Communication and palliative medicine 5.1: Thomas W. LeBlanc and James Tulsky: Communication with the patient and family 5.2: Susan D. Block: Practical considerations including difficult conversations 5.3: Judith Rietjens, Ida Korfage, and Jane Seymour: Advance care planning Section 6: Family and caregiver issues 6.1: Carrie Lethborg and David W. Kissane: Family dynamics in the context of serious illness 6.2: Rinat Nissim, Sarah Hales, and Gary Rodin: Caregiver burden and distress Section 7: Pain 7.1: Lucy N. Wyld, Clare Rayment, and Mike I. Bennett: Definition and assessment of chronic pain in advanced disease 7.2: Anthony H. Dickenson and Richard Gordon-Williams: Pathophysiology of pain in cancer and other terminal illnesses 7.3: Nathan I. Cherny: Acute cancer pain syndromes 7.4: Nathan I. Cherny: Chronic cancer pain syndromes 7.5: Ruth Miles, Steven Wanklyn, and Joy Ross: Principles of drug therapy 7.6: Nathan I. Cherny and Marie T. Fallon: Opioid therapy: optimizing analgesic outcomes 7.7: Joseph V. Pergolizzi, Jr., Jo Ann LeQuang, Flaminia Coluzzi, Dean Mariano, Andrew Nicolaou, and Christopher Gharibo: Opioid therapy: managing risks of abuse, addiction, and diversion 7.8: Per Sjgren, Frank Elsner, and Stein Kaasa: Non-opioid analgesics 7.9: Russell K. Portenoy, Ebtesam Ahmed, and Mona Patel: Adjuvant analgesics: principles of use 7.10: Robert A. Swarm, Menelaos Karanikolas, Lesley K. Rao, and Rajiv K. Shah: Interventional approaches for chronic pain 7.11: Helena Knotkova: Neurostimulation in pain management 7.12: Joseph Winger, Carolyn E. Keeler, and Francis Keefe: Behavioral and psychosocial interventions for pain management 7.13: Noah Samuels and Eran Ben-Arye: Integrative medicine therapies in pain management 7.14: Peter Hoskin: Management issues in bone pain 7.15: Lise Ventzel and Nanna Finnerup: Management issues in neuropathic pain 7.16: Victor T. Chang: Management issues in visceral pain 7.17: Judith A. Paice: Management issues in chronic pain following cancer therapy 7.18: Renee McCulloch: Paediatric pain control Section 8: Gastrointestinal symptoms and disorders 8.1: Katherine Clark: Dysphagia, dyspepsia, and hiccups 8.2: Saskie Dorman: Nausea and vomiting 8.3: Philip J. Larkin: Constipation and diarrhoea 8.4: Alexandra Shingina and Anne M. Larson: Jaundice, ascites, and encephalopathy 8.5: Vickie Baracos and Sharon M. Watanabe: Aetiology, classification, assessment, and treatment of the anorexia-cachexia syndrome 8.6: Jann Arends and Florian Strasser: Parenteral nutrition Section 9: Cardio-respiratory symptoms and disorders 9.1: Miriam J. Johnson and David C. Currow: Breathlessness and other respiratory symptoms in palliative care 9.2: Doris Tse and Kin-Sang Chan: Cough and other pulmonary symptoms Section 10: Skin and oral symptoms and disorders 10.1: Sebastian Probst and Georgina Gethin: Skin problems in palliative care 10.2: Charles P. Tilley, Mei R. Fu, Janet H. Van Cleave, Allison R. Most, and Christopher Comfort: Palliative wound and ostomy care 10.3: Vaughan Keeley: Lymphoedema and oedema of advanced disease 10.4: Andrew N. Davies: Oral care Section 11: Genitourinary symptoms and disorders 11.1: Jennifer G. Rothschild, Noah E. Canvasser, Frederick J. Meyers, and Christopher Evans,: Dysuria, frequency, and bladder spasm 11.2: Noah E. Canvasser, Jennifer G. Rothschild, Frederick J. Meyers, and Christopher P. Evans: Obstructive urinary disorders Section 12: Constitutional symptoms and related disorders 12.1: Sriram Yennurajalingam and Eduardo Bruera: Fatigue 12.2: Lauren Kadwell, Jane Ussher, Emilee Gilbert, Janette Perz, and Amanda Hordern: Sexuality in palliative care: discussing patient sexuality and intimacy in palliative care 12.3: Kyriaki Mystakidou, Efi Parpa, and Eleni Tsilika: Sleep disorders 12.4: Simon Noble, Nicola Pease, and Nicholas Chinn-Yee: Assessment and management of thrombotic complications 12.5: Bill Hulme, Sarah Wilcox, Paul Ashwood, Laura Deacon, Hazel Gilkes, and Victoria Montgomery: Assessment and management of bleeding complications in the medically ill Section 13: Psychiatric and psychological symptoms and disorders 13.1: Tzeela Cohen and Simon Wein: Coping and resilience in palliative medicine 13.2: David W. Kissane: Depression, demoralization, and suicidality 13.3: Kerry A. Sherman and Christopher J. Kilby: Fear, anxiety, and adjustment disorder in palliative care 13.4: Meera Agar, Yesne Alici, Augusto Caraceni, and William Breitbart: Delirium 13.5: David W. Kissane: Bereavement Section 14: Palliative care in cancer 14.1: Nathan I. Cherny and Stein Kaasa: The oncologist s role in delivering palliative care 14.2: Olav Dajani and Karin Jordan: Disease-modifying therapies in advanced cancer-medical treatment 14.3: Peter Hoskin: Radiotherapy in symptom management 14.4: Robert Krouse and Brian Badgwell: The role of general surgery in the palliative care of patients with cancer 14.5: Mohamed Yakoub and John Healey: Orthopaedic surgery in the palliation of cancer 14.6: Eran Ben-Arye and Noah Samuels: Integrative oncology in palliative medicine 14.7: Tarun Sabharwal, Nicos I. Fotiadis, and Andy Adam: Interventional radiology in the palliation of cancer 14.8: Augusto Caraceni, Fabio Simonetti, and Cinzia Martini: Neurological problems in advanced cancer 14.9: Richella Ryan and Ruth Casey: Endocrine and metabolic complications of advanced cancer 14.10: Jason W. Boland and Elaine G. Boland: Malignant Bowel obstruction 14.11: Catriona R. Mayland and Simon N. Rogers: Palliative care issues in head and neck cancers 14.12: Thomas W. LeBlanc and Arjee El-Jawahri: Palliative care issues in populations with haematological malignancies 14.13: Nancy Zhu and Cynthia Wu: Anaemia, cytopenias, and thrombosis in palliative medicine Section 15: Issues in populations with non-cancer illnesses 15.1: Meera Pahuja and Peter Selwyn: HIV/AIDS 15.2: Natasha Smallwood and Nicole Goh: Advanced diseases of the lung 15.3: Steve Pantilat, Patricia Davidson, and Mitch Psotka: Advanced heart disease 15.4: Eric Widera, Shaida Talebreza, and Rachelle E. Bernacki: Dementia 15.5: Stefan Lorenzl and Raymond Voltz: Neurological disorders other than dementia 15.6: Arpan Patel and Anne Walling: Palliative care and end-stage liver disease 15.7: Fliss E.M. Murtagh: End-stage kidney disease 15.8: Anne Wilkinson and Marianne Matzo: Palliative care in catastrophic disasters and humanitarian crises Section 16: Issues of the very young and the very old 16.1: Erna Haraldsdottir and Sally Paul: Involving children and families when someone important is dying or has died 16.2: Myra Bluebond-Langner, Richard W. Langner, and Ignasi Clemente: Care of children with advanced illness 16.3: Meera Agar and Jane Phillips: Palliative medicine and care of the elderly Section 17: Spiritual issues in palliative medicine 17.1: Susan McClement, Genevieve Thompson, and Jamie Penner: Spiritual issues in palliative medicine 17.2: Yvan Beaussant, Alexandra Nichipor, and Tracy A. Balboni: Integration of spiritual care into palliative care service delivery models Section 18: The terminal phase 18.1: Christian T. Sinclair: Predicting survival in patients with advanced disease 18.2: David Hui and Masanori Mori: Physiology of dying 18.3: Judith Lacey and Nathan I. Cherny: Management of the actively dying patient Section 19: Ethical issues 19.1: Robert C. Macauley: Practical bioethics in the care of patients with advanced illness 19.2: Alexander A. Kon: Requests for futile or inappropriate interventions near the end of life 19.3: Nathan I. Cherny: Autonomy and shared decision making in a multi-cultural world 19.4: Linda Emanuel, Rebecca Johnson, and Lara Boyken: Truth-telling and consent 19.5: Richard D.W. Hain: Ethics in paediatric palliative care 19.6: Lars Johan Materstvedt: Ethical issues in physician aid-in-dying 19.7: Danielle Ko, Hannah Evans-Barns, and Craig Blinderman: Withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining treatment (including artificial nutrition and hydration) 19.8: Eric L. Krakauer: Medical and ethical considerations in palliative sedation at the end of life Section 20: Assessment tools and Informatics 20.1: Afaf Girgis, Amy Waller, and Breanne Hobden: Palliative care needs assessment tools 20.2: Jennifer Tieman and David C. Currow: Informatics and literature search 20.3: Madeline Li, Tracy A. Balboni, Rinat Nissim, and Gary Rodin: Validated assessment tools for psychological, spiritual, and family issues Section 21: Teaching and training in palliative medicine 21.1: Karen Forbes and Jane Gibbins: Physicians 21.2: Geana Paula Kurita and Philip J. Larkin: Nurses 21.3: Myra Glajchen, George Handzo, and Ebtesam Ahmed: Teaching and training in palliative social work, chaplaincy, and pharmacy Section 22: Research in palliative medicine 22.1: Marianne J. Hjermstad and Stein Kaasa: Research in palliative care 22.2: Miriam J. Johnson and David C. Currow: The principles of evidence-based medicine 22.3: Pal Klepstad and Stein Kaasa: Understanding clinical trials in palliative care research 22.4: Kate Flemming: Qualitative research 22.5: David K. Kissane, Christopher H. Grossman, and Clare O'Callaghan: Research into psychosocial issues 22.6: Tyler Tate and David Casarett: Ethical issues in palliative care research 22.7: Jon Havard Loge and Stein Kaasa: Quality of life and patient-reported outcome measures 22.8: Tinne Smets and Luc Deliens: Health services research in palliative and end-of-life care 22.9: Irene J. Higginson and Mevhibe B. Hocaoglu: Clinical audit in palliative medicine