ABSTRACT
Palliation has been part of surgical practice since the dawn of medicine, yet the meaning of palliative surgery has evolved over time and varies from surgeon to surgeon. In the past, palliative surgery simply meant “not curative.” Today, we define palliative surgery as any operation that removes symptom(s) or impending symptom(s). Thus, a palliative operation that completely eradicates disease can also be curative. The terms are not mutually exclusive, and refer to different oncologic goals. As people are living longer with advanced or metastatic disease due to newer chemotherapeutic agents, issues of quality-of-life (QOL), and effective palliation, become more and more important.
