Position of Appetite and Nausea in Symptom Clusters in Palliative Radiation Therapy

Cancer patients undoubtedly experience a variety of symptoms associated with their pathology and its treatment. A symptom is dešned as a “subjective experience re¬ecting the biopsychosocial functioning, sensations, or cognition of an individual” (Dodd, Miaskowski, and Paul 2001). Symptoms are multidimensional and can include a patient’s perception of prevalence, intensity and distress (Chow et al. 2007). Interestingly enough, symptoms associated with a given cancer and its treatment are becoming more and more predictable because symptoms are not presenting themselves in isolation but rather as part of a whole cluster of other associated symptoms, as demonstrated by several longitudinal studies.