Dyspnea: the continuing challenge of palliative management.

The management of dyspnea is a challenge even for the most experienced palliative medicine teams. In the absence of effective treatment for the underlying disease, therapeutic options are limited to the supplementation of oxygen, the use of opioids, and multidisciplinary nonpharmacologic interventions. There is increased research into both the physiology of dyspnea and the correlates of the symptom in advanced disease. Hopefully, this research will lead to improved therapy in the future. This article reviews current literature on dyspnea with a focus on publications in 2001.