Breathlessness is increasingly recognised as a common disabling symptom of many advanced
diseases and one that is very difficult to treat. There is now an understanding that a
multi-disciplinary approach to management can make a significant impact on the severity of the
symptom improving both the patient's and their carers' quality of life. Breathlessness is one
of the most difficult conditions that palliative care (and other clinicians who care for
patients with advanced disease) have to treat. With the improvements in pain control it is
possibly now the most difficult symptom for clinicians to manage: many feel frustrated at not
being able to give their patients better care. Many patients and families are enduring terrible
suffering. There has been little progress in improving the symptom in spite of an increase in
the amount of research and interest in it over the last twenty years. The Cambridge
Breathlessness Intervention Service (CBIS) has been established since 2004 and is a
research-based service which has being evaluated since its inception: its model of caring has
been shaped by the patients and families who use it and the clinicians who refer to it. CBIS
has firm evidence of its effectiveness with patients with breathlessness with both malignant
and non-malignant disease. This book will help others to manage breathlessness in their
day-to-day clinical practice and if so desired set up their own breathlessness service. There
is a well-established website which can be used in conjunction with the book. The book is
written to give practical help in the clinical management of breathlessness and written so that
the information is easy to access in clinic ward or home.
