J Korean Pain Soc.  1991 Jun;4(1):31-36.

Intraspinal Neurolytic Block for the Treatment of Cancer Pain

• Choe H
• Choe HK
• Kim DC
• Han YJ

Abstract

Intraspinal alcohol or phenol administration has been used for the treatment of intractable pain due to terminal cancer. It has been alleged to produce good pain relief with minimal complication if perfomed carefully. We analysed 35 patients who received epidural or subarachnoid neurolytic block out of 83 patients with malignancy who were referrecl to our pain clinic. Most of the patients needed additional treatment modalities including epidural catheterization or systemic narcotic administration. The incidence of complication was high, especially when the neurolytic agents were administered in the lumbar region. This suggest that intraspinal neurolytic block is unreliable and unsafe, although it may temporarily reduce the analgesic requirement.

MeSH Terms

Catheterization
Catheters
Humans
Incidence
Lumbosacral Region
Pain Clinics
Pain, Intractable
Phenol
Phenol