Korean J Anesthesiol.  1999 Nov;37(5):872-876. 10.4097/kjae.1999.37.5.872.

The Pain Alterations in Terminal Cancer Patients Who Received Pain Control

• Lee JS
• Choi HY

• KMID: 2239031
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4097/kjae.1999.37.5.872

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of cancer pain was 64% in advanced or terminal cancer patients. In the world, about 25% of all cancer patients had been died without pain control despite of severe pain. We relieved cancer pain with the three methods of treatment such as continuous epidural morphine infusion, alcohol sympathetic block and continuous epidural morphine infusion with alcohol block in the patients requested from other departments. The change of pain was investigated retrospectively.
METHODS
The alteration of cancer pain in 26 terminal cancer patients were recorded in visual analogue scale from June 1996 to May 1998 retrospectively.
RESULTS
Patients lived average 38.5 days from beginning of pain control. All patients complained severe pain at the point of time requested to pain clinic. But 2 days after pain control, most patients were comfortable or tolerable to pain. At 1 week before death, pain were aggravated and sometimes uncontrolled.
CONCLUSIONS
At first time, cancer pain was controlled but it becomes uncontrollable and aggravated in the patients time was drawing near.

Keyword

Anesthetic techniques, epidural, sympathetic block; Pain, cancer

MeSH Terms

Humans
Morphine
Pain Clinics
Prevalence
Retrospective Studies
Morphine