Palliative care needs in a patient with a neuroendocrine tumor – a case report

Neuroendocrine neoplasms, due to their rarity, diagnostic difficulties, complicated treatment, and polymorphism of symptoms, constitute a challenge for causal and symptomatic treatment. Complicated diagnostics, oncological therapy, and symptoms accompanying the disease have a negative impact on the quality of life of patients. The paper presents a case of a patient with gastric neuroendocrine neoplasm, who received palliative care during the causal treatment. The early implementation of palliative care was caused by pain with exacerbations causing sleep disturbances, lack of appetite, flatulence, constipation, and a metallic taste in the mouth. Strong defence mechanisms and the patient’s decision-making attitude resulted in the negation of the proposed treatment. A lack of support from relatives and the patient’s emotional lability had a significant impact on her well-being. Despite the early integration of oncological treatment and palliative care, cooperation with the patient based on the principle of patient subjectivity was a difficult experience for the palliative care team.