[The physical, psychological, social, and spiritual impacts of malignant fungating wounds on cancer patients].

Malignant fungating wounds (MFW) are accompanied by odor, secretions, bleeding and pain. Cancer patients must not only suffer the physical, psychological, social and spiritual impacts on their disease, but also experience considerable change in health-related quality of life. Palliative health care aims to provide comprehensive services to patients and their families. To date, no study has adopted the standpoint of palliative health care to describe comprehensively the impacts of MFWs on cancer patients, with the result that health professionals are incapable of providing comprehensive care to such patients. This study illustrates the etiology of MFWs, their physical, psychological, social, and spiritual impacts on cancer patients, and wound care strategies. It aims to improve nurses' knowledge and understanding of how to assess and identify the etiology of MFWs, in the hope that such knowledge can be applied in clinical practice and as a reference for nurses organizing MFW plans, in order to provide better patient care.