Palliative care — specialized healthcare focused on improving quality of life for patients with serious illnesses — can help urologists to care for patients with unmet symptom, coping and communication needs. Society guidelines from the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network recommend incorporating palliative care into standard oncological care, based on multiple randomized trials demonstrating that it significantly improves physical well-being, patient satisfaction and goal concordant care. Misconceptions regarding the objective and ideal timing of palliative care are common; a key concept is that palliative care and treatments seeking to cure or prolong life are not mutually exclusive. Urologists are well positioned to champion the integration of palliative care into surgical urologic oncology and should be aware of palliative care guidelines, indications for palliative care use and how the field of urologic oncology can adopt best practices.

姑息治疗——专注于改善严重疾病患者生活质量的专业医疗保健——可以帮助泌尿科医生照顾症状、应对和沟通需求未得到满足的患者。美国临床肿瘤学会和国家综合癌症网络的学会指南建议将姑息治疗纳入标准肿瘤治疗，多项随机试验表明姑息治疗可显着改善身体健康、患者满意度和目标一致护理。关于姑息治疗的客观和理想时机的误解很常见；一个关键概念是，姑息治疗和旨在治愈或延长生命的治疗并不相互排斥。泌尿科医生有能力倡导将姑息治疗纳入泌尿肿瘤外科，并应了解姑息治疗指南、姑息治疗使用指征以及泌尿肿瘤学领域如何采用最佳实践。