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Palliative Care for Motor Neurone Disease

Palliative Care services provide valuable input into symptom management for improved quality of life. There are many palliative care teams across metropolitan and rural South Australia. A referral to a local palliative care service is sometimes best made early in a person's disease process to support with symptom management.

However, when the focus of care becomes palliative and patients are thought to be in the final phase of life, their condition can deteriorate quickly. Additional supports may need to be mobilised rapidly, particularly if the patient wishes to die at home. 

When the focus becomes palliative and patients are thought to be in the final phase of life, their condition can deteriorate quickly. Additional supports may need to be mobilised rapidly, particularly if the patient wishes to die at home.

Palliative Care information for GP

Specialists in Palliative Care can help navigate complex care issues and symptoms such as:

  • Respiratory failure due to muscle weakness, aspiration, or infection and managing associated dyspnoea.
  • Bilevel positive airway pressure ventilation (BiPAP) dependency and client request for withdrawal.
  • Multi-system organ failure MOF) and gut dysfunction.
  • medication management. Many clients with MND take medications via a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube.  In the presence of MOF including gut dysfunction, consideration and support can be offered from the palliative care team with medication prescription (particularly pain relief) and altering dose, route (e.g. s/c in place of PEG), and delivery method (e.g. infusion in place of injection).
  • pain management which can be complex and very distressing. Careful consideration is given for administration of background analgesia and breakthrough pain.    
  • withdrawal of enteral feeds
  • management of increased secretions and prevention or minimisation of risk of aspiration.

For further information about palliative care contact the specialist palliative care service. 

Best practicce care of people with MND includes early involvement of palliative care specialists. 

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