Palliative care of patients with advanced colorectal cancer represents a comprehensive care of incurably ill patients. This care includes symptom management as well as psychological, social and spiritual support. The most common symptoms in colorectal cancer patients who were referred to the acute palliative care unit of the Institute of Oncology Ljubljana were pain, severe general weakness, intestinal obstruction and difficulty breathing. Palliative treatment of symptoms may differ as the disease progresses. The main objective of measures in palliative care is to maintain the best possible quality of life. In early palliative care, more complex treatment approaches (palliative surgeries, palliative irradiation, etc.) may also be used to provide a better quality of life when the disease progresses. In late palliative care (last weeks of life), the main concern is to provide comfort and the best possible well-being for the dying patients and their close relatives.Paliativna oskrba bolnikov z napredovalim rakom debelega črevesa in danke je celostna oskrba neozdravljivo bolnega. Oskrba vsebuje obvladovanje simptomov ter pomoč pri obvladovanju psihičnih, socialnih in duhovnih težav. Najpogostejši simptomi, zaradi katerih so bili bolniki z rakom debelega črevesa in danke sprejeti na oddelek za akutno paliativno oskrbo Onkološkega inštituta v Ljubljani, so bili bolečina, huda splošna oslabelost, zapora črevesja ter težko dihanje. Paliativno zdravljenje simptomov se z napredovanjem osnovne bolezni lahko razlikuje. Glavni cilj ukrepov v paliativni oskrbi je vzdrževanje čim boljše kakovosti življenja. V zgodnji paliativni oskrbi so lahko ustrezni tudi kompleksnejši pristopi zdravljenja (paliativni kirurški posegi, paliativno obsevanje ), ki služijo boljši kakovosti življenja ob nadaljnjem napredovanju bolezni. V pozni paliativni oskrbi (zadnji tedni življenja) je glavna skrb za ugodje in čim boljše počutje umirajočega ter njegovih bližnjih
