Researchers and clinicians in end-of-life care found three stereotyped trajectories of the last months and
years of patients’ lives.13 One of the trajectories is common among patients with various types of cancer,
maintaining good functions with a diagnosis of life-threatening illness for a long time followed by rapid
decline over a few weeks or months prior to death. This trajectory is relatively predictable once the tumor
becomes nonresponsive to treatments and continues to grow.