[Palliative care: research and development].

: Palliative care strives to improve the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness. In the cancer trajectory early multidisciplinary intervention achieving symptom control seems rewarding in terms of improving quality of life and even survival. Palliative care in non-malignant diseases is still an unexplored area. In palliative care the symptom pain is by far the most well investigated symptom and opioids constitute the cornerstone in its treatment, although the consequences of long-term treatment is still under investigation.