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Supportive Care

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Supportive care refers to all the care and support that can be offered to a person with cancer throughout the course of the illness, alongside specific treatments when applicable, in order to provide the best possible quality of life.

These services can take place within the care facility or on an outpatient basis near the patient’s home.

Supportive care is intended for patients and their families, addressing the physical, psychological, and social aspects of their needs while taking their diversity into account.

These services will be offered from the start of your care (diagnosis), after a systematic assessment of your needs, and throughout your care pathway, including after treatment has ended (“post-cancer”).

The pillars of supportive care

The disease, treatments, and necessary medical procedures for your care (bone marrow punctures, lumbar punctures, injections, dressings, blood tests) can cause pain.

Preventing and managing this pain, regardless of its intensity, is essential throughout your care journey.

Pain management can involve medications or non-medical techniques such as hypnosis, virtual reality, aromatherapy, and music therapy.

Mobile Pain Management Team (to be contacted by the patient’s referring physician) – Pain Center – Saint Louis Hospital

Both the disease and its treatments can cause malnutrition and deficiencies. Treatments may lead to loss of appetite, changes in taste, or nausea, which can limit food intake. Inflammation of the mucous membranes (mucositis) caused by some chemotherapies can also make oral intake difficult.

Some treatments, such as corticosteroids, require adherence to specific dietary guidelines to prevent potential complications (steroid-induced diabetes, high blood pressure). Other treatments (chemotherapy, immunosuppressants during a bone marrow transplant) require particular vigilance and temporary exclusion of certain foods.

Dietary and nutritional care, including advice on dietary rules to follow in the hospital or at home, and/or the implementation of enteral or parenteral nutritional support, may be prescribed for you.

Your referring physician will contact the dietitian:
Dietary Service – Saint Louis Hospital
Phone: 01 42 49 98 19

Psychological support is systematically offered throughout your care journey, including after the end of treatments.
This support can also be offered to your family, in which case it is provided by a different psychologist.

Your referring physician will connect you with the psychologist from the service.

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The onset of the disease is a personal, family, and professional upheaval.
You will receive full coverage under the long-term illness framework.
You will also be placed on extended sick leave.

A meeting with a social worker will be offered to help you with various administrative procedures and to discuss possible financial or material assistance.

Your referring physician will connect you with the social worker from the service:
Social Services – Saint Louis Hospital
Phone: 01 42 49 93 20

Complementary Supportive Care

Other forms of supportive care exist but may not be available in the unit or facility where you are being treated.

Do not hesitate to ask your healthcare providers if it is possible for you to benefit from them.

Physiotherapy aims to assess and treat any impairments or disabilities related to respiratory, cardiovascular, neurological, or musculoskeletal dysfunction. It seeks to restore or compensate for altered functions through active or passive rehabilitation and re-education. This helps promote autonomy and overall rehabilitation.

Ask your referring physician or contact the Rehabilitation Service at Saint Louis Hospital directly.

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Given the hospitalizations, treatments, and resulting immunosuppression, it may be appropriate to review your use of psychoactive substances and any potential dependency in order to provide support or detoxification if you wish.

Addiction Medicine Consultation – Saint Louis Hospital or Addiction Medicine Service – Fernand Widal Hospital.

Before starting treatment, you will discuss with your referring physician the potential impact of the therapy on your fertility. They may offer fertility preservation options (sperm freezing for men, oocyte or ovarian tissue freezing for women).

For more information, please refer to the “Fertility Preservation” fact sheet.

Palliative care is offered to people with a serious, progressive illness, as well as to their families. Its goal is to intervene as early as possible to relieve pain, ease physical suffering, preserve the dignity of the patient, and support their loved ones. Palliative care can be provided in dedicated units or through specialized mobile palliative care teams.

Palliative care is delivered by a multidisciplinary team, which includes pain specialists, psychologists, and healthcare professionals with specific training, in coordination with the physicians treating the underlying disease.

Mobile Palliative Care Team – Saint Louis Hospital
Phone: 01 42 49 95 25

Maintaining physical activity during treatment helps reduce risk factors and functional limitations related to the disease, as well as improve symptoms such as fatigue, psychological and emotional well-being, and overall quality of life. You will be supervised in this activity by professionals specifically trained in Adapted Physical Activity (APA).

Ask your service or your physician for information on organized workshops.

Socio-aesthetics helps prevent and relieve the aesthetic side effects of treatments and restore self-esteem. It is intended for both men and women and may include massages, makeup, manicures, wigs, and other interventions.

Ask your service or your physician for information on organized workshops.

Saint-Louis Project

A new supportive care platform is being established at Saint-Louis Hospital.

The project is led by Dr. Audrey Lebel and Ilana Quazez.
It will centralize access to supportive care through day hospital services before, during, and after treatment, provide a range of consultations (individual consultations / group workshops), and serve as a health information center.

Host foundation and founding members