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Palliative Care in Kidney Disease

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Textbook of Palliative Care

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1 Introduction

As the world’s population ages, the number of older adults is projected to increase dramatically; this will result in a marked increase in the incidence and prevalence of end-stage kidney failure (Stevens et al. 2010). While some reaching end-stage kidney failure will go on to have renal replacement therapy in the form of dialysis, others may choose (or be advised) not to have dialysis because it may have little to offer in terms of added survival or improved quality of life. Those receiving dialysis, often with multiple co-morbid conditions, who are doing less well and those managed without dialysis – called “comprehensive conservative care” (Davison et al. 2015) – often have complex palliative and supportive care needs (Kane et al. 2013; Wasylynuk and Davison 2015).

This chapter aims to present some of the existing and recent evidence, to inform best care and management of this population. Providing the best possible supportive and palliative care for people with...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre, Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, Hull, UK

    Fliss E. M. Murtagh

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  1. Fliss E. M. Murtagh
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Correspondence to Fliss E. M. Murtagh .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. HammondCare Learning and Research Centre, Greenwich Hospital, Greenwich, New South Wales, Australia

    Roderick Duncan MacLeod

  2. Vrije Universiteit Brussel, VUB-UGent End-of-Life Care Research Grou Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

    Lieve Van den Block

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Murtagh, F.E.M. (2018). Palliative Care in Kidney Disease. In: MacLeod, R., Van den Block, L. (eds) Textbook of Palliative Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31738-0_63-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31738-0_63-1

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