Undertreatment of caner pain

Acta Anaesthesiol Taiwan. 2015 Jun;53(2):58-61. doi: 10.1016/j.aat.2015.05.005. Epub 2015 Jun 7.

Abstract

Pain is a burdensome symptom that can commonly exist chronically along the cancer trajectory. Uncontrolled pain will impact on cancer patients' quality of life, even further negatively affect cancer survivors' employment. Based on systemic reviews of studies for past 10 years, the paper reported that although there is enormous advancement on the knowledge of cancer pain and pain management, studies still documented undertreatment of cancer pain globally. Additionally, pain distress a significant portion of cancer survivors. The pain in cancer survivors distinct from the pain related with cancer, instead emphasize on pain related with cancer treatment, such as neuropathic pain, muscular syndrome. Evidence-based pain management with common pain problems in cancer survivors is lacking. Further studies are needed to understand the pain in cancer survivors and to develop effective strategies in helping cancer survivors to manage their pain.

Keywords: cancer pain; cancer survivor; pain management; prevalence.

MeSH terms

  • Cancer Pain / etiology
  • Cancer Pain / physiopathology
  • Cancer Pain / therapy*
  • Humans
  • Neoplasms / complications
  • Neoplasms / mortality
  • Neoplasms / physiopathology*
  • Neuralgia / therapy
  • Pain, Intractable / therapy*
  • Survivors