WASHINGTON (AP) - The single-minded search for a cancer cure has shortchanged patients who need pain relief and better physical and emotional care throughout their treatment, a National Academy of Sciences advisory panel said Tuesday.

The National Cancer Policy Board issued recommendations seeking to improve what it calls palliative care of cancer patients - care focusing on controlling pain and psychological, social and spiritual stress.

"There's much that needs to be done," reflected Elizabeth Clark, who watched her sister battle cancer for 13 years before dying four years ago.

This type of care has been a neglected area, she said, especially the social needs of patients and their families. "That's one that needs a great deal of attention, even if we get pain under control.

"There were times when my sister's care was wonderful and there were times when it did not meet her needs," said Clark.

"There are many examples of people whose pain is not managed well at the end of life," she added. When another relative lay dying, she said, "it took a while to get the doctor to agree to prescribe the level of pain medication needed."

The doctor was afraid of giving an overdose, she said, "but the man was dying in tremendous pain."

"There are times when people need an advocate to get the care they need," said Clark, head of the National Association of Social Workers.

Ellen Stovall, a member of the panel that wrote the report and president of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, said the study "is very specifically focused on ... managing and controlling the side effects, symptoms and sometimes the disease itself. It basically says we should be always delivering the most appropriate care for people with cancer."

While advances have been made in curing some cancers, half of all patients diagnosed with the disease will die within a few years, a toll of more than a half-million American lives annually, said the panel.

"In accepting a single-minded focus on research toward cure, we have inadvertently devalued the critical need to care for and support patients with advanced disease and their families," the board said in its report.

As a result cancer patients with significant distress "ranging from existential anguish to anxiety and depression" are not readily identified and given treatment.

"There are no villains in this piece but ourselves and our culture," the panel concluded.

Among the problems it cited were the separation of hospice care from programs offering life-prolonging treatment, inadequate training and standards for health-care professionals in treating dying patients, disparities in care for minorities and the low-level of spending on research in palliative care.

Terri Ades, director of health content for the American Cancer Society, said the report "identified an area of growing concern and interest" for the society.

"As we look at ways we can help people improve the quality of their lives, obviously the quality at the end of ones life is of importance," she said, "and this points to some areas we can begin to look at" including physicians talking with patients about their prognosis and improving the education of health professionals.

The panel called on the National Cancer Institute to designate cancer centers to specialize in cancer symptom control and palliative care and to increase funding for this research.

NCI should call a special meeting to discuss the state of the science of palliative care and establish areas to focus research.

In addition, it called on the Health Care Financing Administration to fund demonstration projects in ways to integrate palliative care and life-prolonging treatment for patients.

Insurers should provide compensation for end-of-life care, the group said.

And it called for improved training for medical personnel and establishment of treatment guidelines for them to follow.

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