[The course of pain following hospital admission of patients with chronic tumor pain].
During a trimester time-course, pain and the efficiency of analgesic interventions were carefully analyzed over 4 weeks in 50 consecutive medical oncology patients with chronic cancer pain. Pain self-assessment was performed with help of a semi-verbal linear analogue scale (VAS). During the initial hospital stay a mean reduction in pain intensity of "40-50%" on VAS in (largely insufficiently pretreated) cancer patients was recorded within 3-7 days. Optimizing pain therapy was not accompanied by more prominent side-effects from more potent analgesic measures, which consisted in regular "pain prophylaxis" instead of PRN-orders, more frequent use of analgesics with a central analgesic action, combination of analgesics with antidepressants or neuroleptic agents and diligent use of still available potentially effective causal pain relief from palliative chemo-hormonotherapy, irradiation and supportive surgery. The (most frequent) skeletal pain situations were usually managed effectively by prostaglandin-synthetase inhibitors, and also by liberal use of palliative antitumor therapy. Visceral cancer pain was more effectively controlled by analgesics only (opiates/opioids). Strong emphasis is placed on critical interpretation of VAS pain scores and on concomitant psychosocial issues.
Heimgartner
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Onkologische Abteilung, Kantonsspitals St. Gallen.
Senn
H J
HJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000700:Analgesics / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002047:Buprenorphine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009020:Morphine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011446:Prospective Studies
D000700:Analgesics; D002047:Buprenorphine; D009020:Morphine
Schmerzverlauf nach Spitaleintritt bei Patienten mit chronischen Tumorschmerzen.