# What is Palliative vs. curative treatment?

Source: https://oncologyistanbul.com/glossary/palliative-vs-curative-treatment

> Curative treatment aims to eliminate the cancer entirely; palliative treatment aims to control symptoms and improve quality of life, whether or not a cure is the goal.

Curative treatment is given with the intent of eliminating the cancer completely. Palliative treatment aims to relieve symptoms — pain, breathlessness, and others — and improve quality of life; it can be given alongside curative treatment from the point of diagnosis, not only when curative options have been exhausted. A treatment plan can be, and often is, both: pursuing a cure while also actively managing symptoms along the way.

## Related
- [Remission vs. cure](https://oncologyistanbul.com/glossary/remission-vs-cure)

Full glossary: https://oncologyistanbul.com/glossary