The role of palliative medicine in the management of multiple sclerosis

Palliative medicine is comprehensive care for patients and their family members, with the aim of improving their quality of life, according to the patients' needs and desires. Although palliative medicine is traditionally associated with oncologic diseases, it is no less important in the care of patients suffering from chronic neurologic diseases such as multiple sclerosis. As there is no curative therapy for secondary progressive and primary progressive forms of multiple sclerosis, palliative medicine is crucial in the treatment of these forms of the disease and for relief of symptoms such as pain, spasticity, tremor, ataxia, sphincter and bowel disturbances, and mental disorders. Unfortunately, for the majority of symptom relieving drugs in multiple sclerosis, there is a lack of randomized studies to confirm their efficacy, thus their effectiveness has to be judged from the experiences of other medical branches. Good palliative care improves the quality of life of both the patients and their families.